loan consolidation

[luvmyfam444]

is there a company that's best for student loan consolidation?

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I don't know if there is a company that specializes in that. I work in lending, and we do debt consolidation, but we absolutely, positively will not touch a student loan.

 

[Suger Mag]

Are your loans private or federal?

when my husband and I did our consolidations we used the tool through the federal student loan websit.

I consolidated mine way back in 2012 and he just did his this Feb 2025. We wanted to use the Fed system as both of us were in Public Service Loan Forgiveness programs. Mine were forgiven and his are still working through the system.

 

[_19disnA]

Borrowing more money to 'consolidate' your debts never seemed like a sound financial approach.

 

[kdonnel]

Borrowing more money to 'consolidate' your debts never seemed like a sound financial approach.

Debt consolidation can help a great deal.

It can bring lower interest rates, simplified/lower payments, faster payoff, and improved credit utilization.

The big question is if spending habits got the person in debt, will they make a change to prevent additional debt from occurring?

In this case the OP is specifically asking about student loans so likely they are not running up debt indiscriminately.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

My husband used SoFi to consolidate his student loans

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Borrowing more money to 'consolidate' your debts never seemed like a sound financial approach.

Student loans are in an entirely different category of debt and loans. Not only the terms of the loans but the types, the way it is taken out, when it is taken out, the repayment period, the interest calculation, etc

That isn't even getting into the absolute debacle several programs have been, then the pandemic-related pauses, the companies who were shut down from being able to hold the loans (thus shifting your loan from entity to entity) because they were doing bad stuff, etc.

 

[LuvOrlando]

There are many and before Covid I looked into it a lot for my kids and would recommend reading articles on the topic because once the loans are in private space they behave differently, meaning you can't get any forgiven for certain kinds of jobs.

Just understand what you are doing before you jump.

At the time I think we determined Discover was the best choice and SoFi a close second choice but I don't remember precisely why, we ended up sorting things out on our own so I can't say more. I just looked it up and Discover has since left the market and moved their business to Firstmark

https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/loans/student-loans/consolidate-student-loans

 

[tvguy]

Apparently all student loans were not forgiven.

 

[Marrila]

Apparently all student loans were not forgiven.

No surprise there. If they had been, it would have been big news.

 

[tvguy]

No surprise there. If they had been, it would have been big news.

I guess it could be a "glass half full, glass half empty" situation. But the $188+ Billion in student loans that were forgiven certainly qualifies as big news to me.

 

[Marrila]

I guess it could be a "glass half full, glass half empty" situation. But the $188+ Billion in student loans that were forgiven certainly qualifies as big news to me.

Which is your opinion.
But you did use the word all.

 

[tvguy]

Which is your opinion.
But you did use the word all.

The $188 billion part is a fact. Another fact 5.3 million had their student loans forgiven. All.....okay, some things are never all.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Isn't it still possible to have Student Loans forgiven if a student does certain jobs in Public Service sector for a certain number of years? This isn't new, it was around for a long time but the system was such a mess people weren't getting processed properly because there was no oversight or meaningful means of appeal but I think things were corrected during the Covid Pause.... some of the stories were very upsetting.

Anyway, if a loan is touched in any way the time in gets distorted and if it goes private I think the option is off the table.

 

[barkley]

There are many and before Covid I looked into it a lot for my kids and would recommend reading articles on the topic because once the loans are in private space they behave differently, meaning you can't get any forgiven for certain kinds of jobs.

they also lose the ability to be forgiven for total and permanant disability and in some cases are not discharged upon the death of the borrower (important to know esp. if a co-signer is involved).

 

[LuvOrlando]

they also lose the ability to be forgiven for total and permanant disability and in some cases are not discharged upon the death of the borrower (important to know esp. if a co-signer is involved).

Good point, I suppose if I was struggling and looking to consolidate for financial reasons I might spend time to strategize.

Hedging comes to mind, maybe I'd pull just a few of the higher interest or higher payment ones into another loan and keep a few in wherever FAFSA put me to hedge my bets. This way I have some wiggle room for money but I wouldn't close the door on opportunities for forgiveness until I was 100% certain no roads would lead to forgiveness. I imagine consolidation is always an option and can be done at any time.

 

[Suger Mag]

Isn't it still possible to have Student Loans forgiven if a student does certain jobs in Public Service sector for a certain number of years? This isn't new, it was around for a long time but the system was such a mess people weren't getting processed properly because there was no oversight or meaningful means of appeal but I think things were corrected during the Covid Pause.... some of the stories were very upsetting.

Anyway, if a loan is touched in any way the time in gets distorted and if it goes private I think the option is off the table.

in theory... 10 years of payments while working for a qualified employer makes you eligible for PSLF (Public Service Loan Forgiveness).

The program was created and then people like myself were part of it, but no loans were getting forgiven until the program was overhauled a bit under Biden allowing forgiveness to actually proceed more easily

My remaining loans were forgiven in Feb 2025 under PSLF. I qualified as a research scientist and also as community college staff

My husband is still waiting on his to work through the system, so we shall see how this works out in the new admin.. He was a public school teacher and now works social work.

 

[barkley]

now works social work.

I saw and felt so bad for so many that came to work for DSHS with horrific student debt. it took forever-in the BEST circumstances-for any of that public service forgiveness to happen and in reality we had in-house programs people could hire in to and get their entire college educations/msw's paid in full for in addition to getting a salary and full employee benefits/credit towards a pension we were aching for staff but the powers that be never thought to publicize the programs that would have attracted masses of applicants. the only way someone heard about it was word of mouth. I know a young person right now who was going to start on a path of massive student debt going for a nursing degree until an existing nurse at a local large hospital group clued her in to a program associated with her hospital group and the top nursing university in our region-young lady is now a few years into the identical program she would have pursued at the identical school but the hospital group is paying for it and she has a job that scheduals around her classes.