Student Debt Consolidation Terms

This is going to be a simple start to defining what consolidation is and how it is done to help out with the financial situations of many students and former students out there. These terms will be important for any person to understand as you go through this web site.

Debt consolidation-

This means taking out a loan to pay off several other loans. The intention behind this is to secure a lower interest rate or to establish a fixed interest rate that otherwise may not have existed before. Some loans that are consolidated from several to one, really have the exact same rates, but the intention is to save time by focusing on just one loan instead of trying to pay off several loans. Debt consolidation can be transferred from several unsecured loans to an unsecured loan of some kind, but more often it is transferred to a secured loan.

Secured Loans-

The borrower pledges some asset like a car or property as collateral for the loan. If the borrower defaults (not able to pay the loan) then the debt may be satisfied by the lender taking possession of the object and by selling off the collateral to pay for the debt. This is legally done under the Bundle of Rights laws for property ownership.

Unsecured Loans-

This is simply any type of a loan where there isn’t collateral required in return for a loan in case the borrower was to default. These are often more difficult to get and require impressive credit to do so.

Collateral-

An object such as a car or a house that a creditor can repossess in case the borrower fails to make a payment on a loan. The lender can use the collateral and sell it to erase the debt or just simply keep it for their purposes. This portion of a loan contract may create a lower interest rate.

Default-

This is where the debtor has violated some form of the contract of the loan by not making a payment or violating some other condition in the terms. If they are simply unable or unwilling to pay the debt then the whole debt may be immediately required to be paid off and the creditor could take possession of any collateral.

Federal Student Loans-

The Federal Family Education Loan Program and the Federal Direct Student Loan Program consolidate loans from Stafford Loans, PLUS Loans, and Federal Perkins Loans into one single debt to pay off. This means reduced monthly repayments, a longer term for the loan, and this will have a fixed interest rate. In essence this buys you more time and you have to spend less money initially.

These will be 10-30 year terms, and yes you will pay less initially, but eventually you will pay more down the road because of interest. The interest weight is calculated as the weighted average interest rates of the other loans being consolidated. These weights are rounded up to the nearest .125% and capped at 8.25%. This gives companies a more accurate average to the amount of the loans compared to the interest rates.