grad school loans - consolidation ?
 

Does anyone know the best way to consolidate graduate school loans? I'm just about finished with school with little then 3 months left before I finish my Master's degree. I'm currently looking at Sally Mae (who has a large portion of my student loans in their name already) as a consolidator but I get offers, in the mail, constantly from all these private companies that I've never heard of in my life. I'm sort of scared, for some reason, to deal with these companies I've never heard of and their promises of keeping the interest rates at a low rate. Does anyone have any advice or practical experience when consolidating big time student loans (around 30 k)? Who ever said education is an investment? Damn..

Something to look into: it may be different in the states, but in Canada student loan interest is tax deductable, but if you consolidate the loans the interest is NOT tax deductable any more. Just a heads up.

first things first, you must have more than one lender to consolidate with another party. in other words, if you only have loans from one lender, you have to deal with that lender. if you have lender a and lender b, then you can consolidate with either company (assuming they do consolidation) or a private company.

second, all the loans to be consolidated must be federal education loans. you can't consolidate the educational loans with private loans. in other words, if you received stafford loans from sallie mae or wells fargo, that's fine. but you wouldn't be able to consolidate them with a private loan from bank a.

third, if you're going to consolidate, do it before july 1... which means get it done before may is up (since paper work will take about 30 days). the interest rate goes up july 1, and you'll save money locking in a rate now.

four, ask your financial advisor at your school what companies out there are good. i'd also try a google search, as it can't hurt. there are a ton of companies out there, but how can you tell the difference between a legitimate institution and some guy at his kitchen table?!?! idk. perhaps consumer reports would also be a good resource. personally, if i haven't heard of the company, i wouldn't mess with them.

fifth, 30k isn't big time debt!