I love sharing the story of my student loan consolidation because it was so quick and easy.
I had accepted my first real job offer a few weeks before graduation, and I knew I would have a steady paycheck coming in and that the interest rates on my student loans were at record lows. It was the perfect time to lock in my interest rate for the life of my student loan.
I did my research and found the best student loan consolidation program available, and signed my name on the dotted line. Payments began immediately, I had forfeited my deferment period by consolidating, but the interest rate I had locked in more than made up for that fact.
The payments were reasonable and I was excitant that only a month out of college, I was well on my way to tackling my student loan debt and paying for my education, while my friends were wasting away their deferment time spending their money on frivolous things and still working a part time job.
Five years later, and the interest rates have steadily increased, making me very thankful that I took the bull by the horns and signed up for a student loan consolidation program when I did.
The year I started college, 2004, my friend consolidated his student loan debt at an interest rate of 2.5% crazy! Now it’s at least double that and I’m not done with school. Ugh.
I consolidated at 2.3%, and after 12 months of on-time payments, Sallie Mae lowered my rate by an additional 1%. That’s right…I have $30,000 financed at 1.3%…I’m not in a big rush to pay it off at that rate because I can concentrate on other debt first.