If you are going to graduate from college soon or have recently graduated, chances are high that you have a ton of student loans that will need to be paid back. It's pretty nice when you are still in school, since most of those programs don't require that you start making payments on the loan until after you graduate. But after you graduate, it may come as a very rude awakening that you now need to start making payments on that huge figure, which could be as much as $40,000 or even more.
Hopefully while you were in college, you also had a credit card in your name and made regular payments so at least you've got a good start on having a decent credit score. This is important because as you start to enter the very competitive job market, more and more employers are starting to look at a job candidate's credit score as one of the factors to determine if the job should be offered, and if so, at what salary.
But a huge downside here is that can you maintain your good credit score now that you are taking on payments on that huge college loan bill? If it starts to tarnish your credit score, even at the low interest rates that many student loans carry, chances are good that your future job promotion opportunities will be diminished as your credit score starts a downward spiral.
There are many ways to approach this situation, but one of the easiest and often overlooked options is a college loan consolidation program. This is significantly different from a personal loan, because with a personal loan, you are given the money and expected to put it all on your student loan bill. The temptation to skim some money off the top of that loan and put "most" of it instead of ALL of it on your student loan is frequently too difficult to resist. Besides that, getting a personal loan for that huge amount of money is going to be almost impossible, especially at the extremely high interest rates you would get, which would almost certainly be much higher than the interest rate on your existing student loan.
A college loan consolidation program can help. You are not given the money up front, so the temptation to spend it elsewhere is not an option for you. As long as you are making regular and timely payments to the debt consolidation loan company, your student loan obligations are being met, and your credit score and credit report do not suffer.
So why get into a situation where it appears that you are borrowing from Peter to pay Paul? The biggest advantage with a student loan consolidation or college bill consolidation program is that typically your monthly payment amount is less, sometimes significantly less than if you did not enroll in the program. Remember, part of the whole equation here is to lessen the amount of money going out of your pockets every month, and a college loan consolidation can do that for you.
Don't allow yourself to be at a disadvantage in today's job market by having this huge debt hanging over your head. Look into a college loan consolidation program to give yourself the financial breathing room you need as you venture into the real world.
by Jon Arnold
