College Student w/ CC debt - am I in that bad of shape?

Consolidation doesn't hurt your credit negatively. If you are unable to make bigger payments, you can opt for this program. Paying the minimum amount only is adding towards the total interests and other financial charges. When you take a consolidation program, the company negotiates with your creditors to wipe off these extra charges. Hence, you get a reduction in the total debt and no further charges will be added on it. If you stick to your monthly payments, the program will be a success for you and your credit report will take a good shape.

If I am in your shoes, I will opt for a consolidation program looking at your present situation. If you are thinking anything negative about this program, I will suggest you some good options. You can give a thought!

Hi andyyoung-

I would be very open to any options you may have as to consolidation companies! Thanks!

-Pam

For me consolidation works the best. Talk to your consultant. If you feel comfortable, go ahead with the plan. You will see your debt shrinking over a period of time.

Good for you Pam on making your payments on time. It is refreshing to see a younger person who is responsible with money and is concerned with her financial future. When your student loans come due, remember they will defer if you decide to continue on to grad school or they can sometimes be deferred or postponed on financial hardship basis (say if you weren't making enough money or something---check with your lender when the time comes).

But don't you have some sort of something as collateral to qualify for debt consolidation? I also heard that even though you have lower interest rate but your debt stretches out for a longer period of time so you'll end up paying more. Is that true? As for you Pam, I think you're just like lots of other people out there with student loan and credit card debts and car loan. The good thing is you always pay on time and that is very important; so keep that up!! It's a good idea to consolidate your debt; that way, you only need to make one payment instead of many, and with many monthly payments, it's easy to overlook. My suggestion to you is keep paying on time, try to stay within budget and when you graduate, of course your financial future will be big different because you'll work full time, you'll have a career and make big money :D then pay off all your credit cards, car loan first because as you said, you won't have to start to pay your student loan until a year after your graduation, right? But right now, what you're doing is good: paying on time and don't go over the limit because then the over limit fee, the interest will start to explode! So you have nothing to worry about if you do what you're doing now.

I don't know if you are correct about the student loans not coming due until a year after graduation. Mine all came due 6 months after graduating.

Actually, you're right Lorri! Mine is also 6 months after graduation. But it was long time ago so I thought maybe it's different now. And in case if you still can't find a job I think you can fill out the form to ask them to extend to until you have a job... I can't remember the details, it's been a long time ago. Anyway, the only thing is that tuition is really so expensive nowadays, especially for medical school. My student loan back then was only $7,000 and I saw that some of my friends took advantage of low interest of student loan to borrow money to buy new car or take vacation!