by Leigh » 28 Dec 2010, 16:14
Absolutely not. Three reasons:
(1) Once you consolidate, your repayment starts now. If you're still in school, that means you're probably paying off one loan with another, which is a bad investment.
(2) After July 1st, the Feds are switching systems. Your old loans will continue to be variable rate, but new loans will be fixed rate. If you're not in very deep yet on your student loans, then keeping the variable rate isn't going to matter much because the majority of your loans will be fixed anyway.
(3) After you graduate, if you make less than $60,000 you can write-off the repayment costs of your loans on your income taxes. And most lenders and schools and graduate programs (and even employers) have loan repayment assistance programs.
All that adds up to -- don't consolidate now!! Ask yourself one question -- what do banks want to do on a loan? Answer -- make money!! So if the bank wants you to do something like consolidate now... the reason why is so they make money. Don't take the bait.