Part of the delay was due to our house hunt. I didn’t want to mess with our finances while we were getting our mortgage company to review our finances. We managed to get a good deal on our mortgage loan (5% fixed for 30 years). After we painted and moved in the new place, things have settled down enough for me to go ahead and get this off my to do list.

Why Consolidate My Student Loans?

I’ve been wanting to consolidate my student loans to obtain a much lower interest rate.  Currently consolidating student loans with Direct Loan Servicing can lower them to around 2.49%, which is a great deal and would decrease the required monthly payment. That’s incredibly low and I want to take advantage of them.

The plan is to continue paying the same amount on the student loans, but with a lower interest rate, more of that payment would go towards principle.

Consolidating Student Loans

I stayed with federal loans for my education because they have a competitive rate and I went to an instate school (which lowered my costs and loan needs). If you have private student loans, please check with your specific  lender, as some do have minimum amount to consolidate.

Here are the loans I applied for consolidation:

• Subsidized Federal Stafford Loans
• Unsubsidized Federal Stafford Student Loans

The average interest rate for these loans is 5.368%. For a list of other loans that your can consolidate under Direct Loans, check their site.

You can apply for a student loan consolidation three ways:

• Online: You file  and submit your application online with Direct Loan Servicing.
• Phone: If you have your information in front of you, you can call 1-800-557-7392.
• Paper: The slowest to due (I’m a procrastinator), but you can take the time to fill out at your leisure.

I chose with the online option. The process was easy and it took about 20 minutes.Unfortunately for some reason I couldn’t submit my application online, so I printed my filled out forms and mailed them.

The application is in the mail and I’m hoping to be approved quickly. I’m happy to cross that off my list and I’m working to acheiving some other financial goals of mine in 2010.

Your Take

How about you? Have you consolidated your student loans? How much money have you saved?

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