Federal Loan Consolidation for Medical Students

By the time you graduate you will most likely have at least $200,000.00 in student loan debt.

Then add the interest they might have to pay a total of more than $ 500000.00, it is very important to make sure you are getting the best deal possible with your consolidation loan. Probably will have both federal and private loans, but for this article we are going to deal only with their federal loans.

Loan forgiveness –

The first thing to look into is if you will be eligible for any loan forgiveness, you don’t want to lose your eligibility by not knowing what is required. In general you have to practice in a facility that serves low income people for a number of years but the conditions do vary by state. Check with your state’s department of education for the specific rules. With Stafford loans it doesn’t matter if you’ve consolidated the loans or not, they can be forgiven either way. With Perkins loans you lose any chance of forgiveness if you consolidate them so you should check into it before deciding to add them to a consolidation. The National Health Service Corps offers loan forgiveness programs for physicians who agree to serve a certain number of years in areas that lack adequate medical care. Many hospitals and private care facilities offer loan repayment as an employment incentive for medical personnel.

Deferral and forbearance –

Upon graduation and go to their residence or scholarship loans switched to the status of the return and you will have to make arrangements to pay. Since most students in the residence or scholarships that do not make much money who want to defer their payments. All federal loans come with the benefit of three years of patience and three years of postponement. The postponement that the government pays the interest on subsidized part of their loans in forbearance you are responsible for all interest. You must qualify for the deferral, but some scholarships qualify from the residence is considered employment the only option if he can demonstrate that there is an economic hardship. In general your loan payments exceed 20% of their disposable income to meet the requirements of economic hardship.

One of the advantages of consolidating its postponement and the indulgence of time is renewed. This can be important for a medical student looking for a long stay, that if we want to wait to build until they have used all of their time for postponement so you can take three more years of it. It is important to remember that you are collecting interest during this time, but mostly subsidized portion of the loans in the postponement, the costs can really add up. Most lenders will allow you to make payments as can be during the deferment and forbearance, if you think you will be able to offset their costs by paying nothing in the meantime, make sure your lender accepts payments when they are considering of a company consolidation.

Capitalizing interest –

When choosing a consolidation company ask how often they capitalize interest during your deferral or forbearance period. A company that capitalizes quarterly will cost you more in the long run than a company that capitalizes yearly.

A student loan consolidation can save you thousands of dollars in interest but you must choose your company wisely. Ask questions before you decide who to consolidate with. Know how much you will be paying in total.