Question about consolidating student loans

[marypoppinswannabe]

I have been trying (unsuccessfully) to consolidate my student loans. I have been out of school for a year and appears that no one is consolidating loans any more...

I have called both places (Sallie Mae and AES) where my loans are through and neither of them can do a consolidation. Sallie Mae has just stopped doing them all together and AES cannot do it because the guarantor (sp?) on the loan through them is with someone else.

Has anyone had any success consolidating student loans in the past year? And if so, who did you use? I may not be asking the right questions, but I was under the impression that consolidating loans was a relatively painless process.

Can anyone help me?

Thanks so much!!!

 

[jedijill]

I consolidated mine through MOHELA (Missouri Higher Education Loan folks). Sallie Mae was horrible...took me over a year to finally consolidate because they wouldn't release my payoff amoutn to MOHELA. My loan is serviced by AES.

Not sure if MOHELA would work for you but I've had great luck with them.

Jill in CO

 

[akcire]

Back in the stone ages...when online payments were brand new circa 2000, I consolidated all my husbands student loans with the Kentucky Higher Education Student Loan Corporation, at the time they had the best technological solution I could find. I could not have been happier with their help, their customer service agents, and the whole experience. Everything about dealing with the company was a pleasure.

Joe, my husband, had a lot of loans, something like 16 different loans (couple of undergrad degrees & graduate school). Just getting it consolidated into one payment was immensely helpful--we did not extend the payment time and in fact paid the loans off in 4 years.

I can't say if they will be able to help you, but I tell everyone how much I appreciated all of the interactions and professionalism of the company.

 

[marypoppinswannabe]

It appears that both of you went through your states. Perhaps that is the direction I need to go in.

Thanks for the input.

 

[reginasue]

I just consolidated my loans through the US Department of Education, Direct Loan Servicing Center. The website is www.dl.ed.gov. I did everything online and my loans were consolidated and paid off in less than 2 months. I also had multiple lenders and guarentors including both AES and Sallie Mae. I don't know if it will help you, but there are places that are still consolidating.

 

[deerhart]

I have loan consolidation (spousal which is no longer done) through AES (originally done through Mohela and sold to AES), and I have my law school fed loans consolidated through sallie mae (done in 06)

 

[akcire]

It appears that both of you went through your states. Perhaps that is the direction I need to go in.

Thanks for the input.

Actually I did not go through my state. I went though KY, but we live in IL--at the time it was just the best technology solution...so if at the end of the month after I paid all my bills if I had an extra $20 I could send that to them also.

No kidding there were months when I would send them one "regular" payment and 4 or 5 payments of $20-50, they never complained once, nor did they ever make any accounting errors or charge any fees for the extra payments. I hated the student loans with a passion, my husband and I both had full time jobs + part-time jobs and I would even babysit peoples kids just to have money to throw at the loans.

Now it has worked out, his education has led him to a very high paying career, but when he wanted to go back and get a third graduate degree I told him only if he could pay cash....he negotiated with the school got a huge scholarship and we wrote a check for the rest. He is once again, now that it is 2010, eligible for a small amount of tuition reimbursement from work---so I am sure he is plotting his next educational pursuit. Again my rule will be only without loans, but really how many graduate degrees does one person need?

 

[Lisa_M]

If you're consolidating federal student loans, probably going straight through the government on the Direct Loans website is your best bet. If you're consolidating private student loans (not Stafford or Perkins), then you're likely out of luck. A few years ago, companies were consolidating private loans giving you a fixed rate based on your credit score, but I don't think anyone is doing that anymore.

We consolidated our federal and are chipping away at the private ones; one by one.

Good Luck!

 

[Cindy B]

I just consolidated my loans through the US Department of Education, Direct Loan Servicing Center. The website is www.dl.ed.gov. I did everything online and my loans were consolidated and paid off in less than 2 months. I also had multiple lenders and guarentors including both AES and Sallie Mae. I don't know if it will help you, but there are places that are still consolidating.

I used them as well-- just a few months ago. And yes, there was a problem with the ONE Sallie Mae loan that I had.

Since I just graduated Dec. 2008 (barely a year ago) I won't have them paid off in two months.. but it does help without sending two checks places.