I need to refinance my student loan

J

Jim Anchower

100+ Posts
Has anybody here done this? I did a google search and seems like there are a million + one institutions offering to do this but I was hoping somebody might recommend one that they had a positive experience with. Right now my interest rates are 3.25% on half of it and about 4.5% on the other half. Ouch.

Thanks
 
Mine are 2.75% and 3.25% and i called around "just because" to see if i could get lower and everybody agreed that was about as low as they could get.
 
I paid 7 or above, but it's been a while since I was in school. So maybe there are even better deals out there.
 
Nope, it gradually went down. I graduated undergrad in dec. 2000. I think it was around 7% when i first started paying it back. Just do not miss any payments or have any lates.
 
I have no idea what on earth would make you think you could get a better deal if you are at 3.5% interest.

even if by some miracle you could get 2% interest you are talking about a NEGLIGIBLE difference in your monthly payment.

If you have $10K in student loan debt on a standard 10 year repayment plan then your monthly payment with the 3.25% rate is:

$97.72

at 2% its $92.01

In other words- it isnt worth refinancing. you save 6 bucks a month which is only 72 a year and it usually costs more than $700 to consolodate student loan debt.

I started at a 8.25% rate in 1995 (accrued 2 years of interest) and my first payment was made in Dec 97 at 8%. Luckily I picked the variable stafford loan and up until the last 4 months I was sitting at just at or under 2% for almost 5 full years. Its now around 4% but so much principle has been paid that I dont even notice the extra- and besides its a full tax deduction right off the top.

If you consolodate the loans, then there is a very good chance you lose the tax deductible option as well.

You are fine at 3.5 & 4.5 % stay with it.
 
KC

I see what you're saying and you're probably right but your calculations are way off.

I have two loans that were initially around 12k each and the payments for them were a combined $300 when I first started off. I've gone into forebearance a few times since I graduated so I'm not even sure where I'm at with it but as of right now my payments are still around $280 month.

I dunno, maybe my interest rate went down and I didn't even notice it? Anyway, thanks for the advice - maybe i don't have to sweat this after all.
 
Is there a way to consolidate to a fixed rate while I'm waiting to get my law license, without triggering immediate repayment?
 
Jim,

I am not trying to get into an "i'm right" mode, but I encourage you to search for a loan calulator on the web-

pick anyone of the free ones available

put in a 10K loan for 120 months at 3.25%

and you will get the exact payment I gave you above +- $.01

There is a very precise and well known interest calculation formula and it is always correct. (no I have no clue what it is)

your payments are probably off because you are catching up on the interest accrued when you didnt make payments and those late fees are very hefty.

I had about a $13,500 total loan (including all accrued interest) I started paying in Dec '97. My exact payment is $128.04 and I was on the 10 year plan. (I think I have 32 months left).

my payment corresponds very closely to the example I wrote in my first post and my loan was $3500 more to begin with.
 
I consolidated my loans about 2 years ago, and somehow my daily interest went up about 10 cents.
mad.gif
I have no idea why that happened. But I'm only paying 4% now so I'm not real concerned.
 
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