Consolidation Help?

Greetings:

I am terribly new to this forum, so I'm not entirely certain how everything here works yet, but I wanted to throw this out to the community to see if I could get some advice. After just finishing 7 grueling years of college, including an undergrad in biology/natural resources at Cornell and a masters in biology at Towson, I have collected a rather large amount of student loan debt, including nearly $33,000 worth of Direct Loans plus a bit over $31,000 of TERI loans through Bank of America, now handled by AES. Add to this about $4000 in credit card debt (working as a TA at Towson paid quite poorly...), and if managed to accrue an incredibly intimidating debt load. I have recently determined that the TERI loans I have cannot be consolidated, at least through federal consolidation plans, and I am currently at a loss as to how to get the student loans lumped together. I must admit to having a terrible financial naiveté, and any help I could get would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

- Josh

Hi Josh and welcome to the forums. Basically you only have 1 option on your private loans and that is simply to try to refinance....possibly combining your credit card debt along with these and obtain 1 payment that might make things a little easier. I am posting a direct link to a page below that explains options concerning private student loans. However, please be aware that this site is sponsered by Citi-Bank and they have just recently been exposed along with Sallie Mae as being among the worst offenders in dealing with student loans. However, the link does explain the options available to Private loan holders.

http://www.finaid.org/loans/privateconsolidation.phtml

Now as to your Direct Loans....the very best possible option you have there is to consolidate through the Direct Loan program as they offer income contingent repayment plans. I am also posting a link below to a site explaining that program.

http://loanconsolidation.ed.gov/

Now if you do not know exactly who is currently holding all of your loans ..... here is a phone# that can help you locate exactly what is where concerning your DOE loans. 1-800-4FedAid or if you know your pin# simply visit them at their website

http://www.pin.ed.gov

I hope this helps a little. Please just don't do what I did and wait to long....because all of mine are in default and they are killing me. Good Luck and God Bless......and remember someone is always here to help you in anyway that we can.

P.S. Josh....Nelnet is also listed among the companies offering consolidation plans. They too have been involved in the recent scandals exposing kickbacks, and such to schools for adding them to their preffered lenders list. So it's just my personal advice here.....as I am dealing with Nelnet....I would avoid them also if at all possible.

Greetings, Moondanzer:

Your advice is already extremely helpful. Interestingly, I tried consolidating just the Direct Loans a couple of weeks ago online, but for some reason I could never seem to get the last step of the process to work. I cannot remember the exact error, but after filling out the application several times, I got rather frustrated and put it off for a bit, requesting a forbearance for the time being until I can get this business figured out.
I am a bit disheartened, though, to hear that I most likely will not be able to consolidate the private and federal loans; I have a tremendous appreciation for simplicity, especially where my finances are concerned, and was hoping that would be a possibility. Ah, well, I suppose reducing the load down to two payments still amounts to a considerable improvement. Thank you again, and any further advice is more than welcome!

- Josh

Oh, bother, I forgot to log in for that response...

...and somehow double-posted the above reply here... Sorry about the mess.

- Josh

Well now Josh I am by no means an expert....just another ex-student in trouble. I don't know whether you could possibly combine your Federal along with your private through a refinancing program from a private agency. However, I contacted these guys.

http://www.naca.net/know-your-consumer-rights/

Now they are a group of attorneys currently involved in lobbying against these absolutely ridiculous situations some of these companies are putting students through. At their site is a listing for Attorney's who specailize in student loans in each state. The 1st consultation is free. Now I actually did this, and, this guy gave me about an hour or more of his time....at no charge and I obtained quite a bit of info. during that 1 consultation that is helping me. So you might want to check it out....hey it's worth a shot. I know they helped me and didn't charge a cent. Good Luck!

Ah, well, expert or no, everyone's knowledge and experience is extremely valuable to me. Any information I can get is helpful, as I am quite clueless with regards to how to proceed with this matter. Thank you, again!

- Josh

Moondanzer-that was a TON of useful information you posted!! I know who I will be coming to when I am done with school!!!

Josh-welcome. You have come to the right place. I don't have any advice as far as student loans go because I am still in school but I wanted to say hello and welcome you. Please ask us anytime if you have questions or need help.

I really appreciate the warm welcome so far! I am thrilled to know that this community exists for the clueless and inexperienced such as myself. I'll be sure to update this as I progress with this matter. Thanks again!

- Josh

Well we are thrilled to have you here among us also. And yes as we are all in the same boat here. We most definitely would appreciate any knowledge that you have to share also.