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Monday November 23, 2009 12:17 PM ET
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Consolidating Student Loans Not Always Best Option
Loan consolidation no longer makes sense for most people. Here are the alternatives.
 
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Posted 10:37 AM EST September 19, 2009
Posted by: Consolidating Student Loans Online - What You Need to Know about Consolidating Student Loans
[...]Consolidating student loans is a fairly easy process. As you begin to rack up student loans, you will start getting phone calls from lenders trying to get you to consolidate. Before you agree to anything, know all of your options and gather information...[...]
Posted 9:38 AM EST August 07, 2009
Posted by: eitelj99
I agree with TheLoanster in that you should completely rule out the option of consolidating fixed rate student loans. A story over at <a href="http://consolidatingstudentloansonline.com/">Consolidating Student Loans</a> talks about this issue, and it really comes down to "doing your homework" after graduation. In other words, it's up to you to weigh your options and decide which student loan repayment plan is right for you. Plus with new student loan legislation being passed like never before, it's tough to keep up with changing limits, rules and rates.
Posted 7:38 PM EST July 04, 2009
Posted by: Credit Repair|Debt Free Living - Consolidating Student Loans
[...]The Rewards of Consolidating Student Loans Into One Account Being a college student is not easy at all especially if your needing to consolidate student loans and don’t know where to start. Between tuition, books, and living expenses, there are n...[...]
Posted 12:54 PM EST April 03, 2008
Posted by: TheLoanster
Never say Never!!!!

SmartMoney, your article suggests one should never consolidate fixed rate loans without mentioning those with a combination of fixed and variable rate loans. Most students graduating between Spring of 07 and Spring of 08 are going to want to see how there variable rate loans effect the weighted average on all of their loans (including fixed rate volume) come the July 1 reset.
Posted 2:11 PM EST March 20, 2008
Posted by: Craigclc
I have been involved with this for the last 5 years with one out of college into repayment and one just starting, and my recommendation is to study this article very carefully. It is a very confusing topic, as you can tell from the article, and there are significant dollars at stake based on the interest rate. BTW, it sure looks like you can do better with a home equity loan than with PLUS and unsubsidized loans.
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