I consolidated my Stafford loans in June and I have 3 Sallie Mae loans that aren't. Can I consolidate those?

Question

So my Stafford loans were consolidated before July 1 and I got the 4.75% for my new loan. This consolidated loan totals $19,000. But I have nearly $60,000 in Sallie Mae loan debt. Am I able to consolidate those loans after already consolidating my Stafford loans? Is there some type of rule restricting this or do I have to wait a certain amount of time before consolidating again? It's because the rates on the Sallie Mae loans are ridiculously high, each being over 12%. I want to consolidate those Sallie Mae loans with my already consolidated loan to get a lower rate across what amounts to nearly $80,000 in debt. Any insight will be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Yes you can. You cannot 're-consolidate' an existing consolidation in order to get a better interest rate, but if you have additional loans that are not presently consolidated you can add those as a new consolidation at any time.

However, if your Sallie Mae loans are at a variable rate, I would recommend waiting until next year before doing this. There is a Very good chance that the rates will go down again next June. They have increased the last 3-years and everyone in the industry I have spoken too says they are almost guaranteed to go down next June. In the meantime, you can request a income contingent rate from Sallie Mae for 12-months that should bring your payment down on those loans. Then consolidate next June at the lower interest rate.

If you consolidate now, you will see a huge increase in the interest rates of your consolidated loans as the overall rate is determined through a weighted system, which means the $60K at 12% will be weighted higher than the $19K at 4.75% and likely bring you overall interest rate to around 8.5%. Check out this site to calculate estimations:
https://loanconsolidation.ed.gov/loancalc/servlet/common.mvc.Controller?controller_task=startCalculator

Answer 2

If your loans have an interest rate higher than 12% it sounds like you have a private loan (Signature or Tuition Answer) from them? If so, private student loans generally cannot be consolidated with federal student loans (Stafford). However, Sallie Mae does offer private student loan consolidation (http://www.salliemae.com/consolidate). Your interest rate will depend on your credit history (just like it did when you got the loans). If your credit isn't great, having a cosigner with good credit can help.

Answer 3

Your best bet for the correct answer is to call your loan officer and see what they can work out. Since you consolidated before July 1st, they should be able to work out something will you. Try giving them a call today and you'll have your question answered within minutes of them pulling up your loan history.

Answer 4

Yes you can. Citibank consolidated mine and I got a great interest rate.