While there seems to be an urgent need to consolidate student loans, there are really times when to get student loan consolidation programs should be deferred. Borrowers with merged debts might be qualified for such deferment benefits; this actually depends on the student's personal circumstances. For example, you might have exhausted your privilege to defer on your government debts. However, this should not be a cause for you to fret. One you merge your multiple loans, this allows you to obtain more options to defer.
So, when is the most appropriate time to consolidate student loans? The best time should be after the borrower has graduated from college. For students, their loans will be due around 6 months after graduation. This is the standard grace period, and is a good time for the borrower to get his debts organized and even be merged via student loan consolidation programs.
Within the six months, you can perform all that is necessary to ready up your loans for merging. However, the actual consolidation should not be until after six months grace period. With the unmerged loans, the federal government should be the one responsible for loan interest payments during the six months. However, if you decide to consolidate student loans with your grace period, you and you alone have the responsibility of immediately paying your loan.
Another thing, before getting into student loan consolidation programs, there are important facts that should be known about college debts. It is important to distinguish the private from the federal student loans. Private student loans have a much higher rate of interest than the government debts. This is because the former is considered unsecured while the governments loans are government-backed by the government.
This fact only means that federal student loans have a lower rate than the private debts when refinancing. Most students both have these two kinds of debts. And definitely you may refinance them. However, it is a must that you do not mix these two loans. Consolidate these two groups of student debts separately to retain the benefits that one can gain from them.
