December 29th, 2009
If you need to consolidate your student debt and you’re looking for a plan, you’re not the only one. Every year a huge number of people graduate from college and they look for a job, only to find out that they can’t find one that easily. By that time, a lot of them will owe thousands of dollars in student loans, and now they can’t pay it back.
This was the situation for both my sister and my brother, as they finished college. At that point we were living in the Oregon area, in Eugene, and in many cases people that graduated were sharing houses with other people to cut the costs or working in fast food restaurants. It was a bleak period for everyone and we had to move elsewhere eventually.
Be careful when you want to consolidate your student debt and you should look at all the options available to you. There are a number of financial companies that are specialized in working with people that are in the same situation as you.
You should take precautions though, and read the contract before you sign it. If the fine print isn’t something you’re good with, ask someone that knows.
In some cases, loan companies will ask huge amounts of money, so you can end up paying a lot compared with your current rates. You could pay your debt for more years than your initial period and waste thousands of dollars if you choose wrong.
A loan company such as this has only one benefit, the fact that you can’t claim federal student loans if you’re implicated in proceedings for personal bankruptcy.
If you used a private loan in order to consolidate the student debt you have, you can liquidate it if you really need to. What I’m saying here is not that you should do unethical things or to go bankrupt, but only that this is the single thing that can be positive, if you can make the needed payments.
By: Ricky Lim
December 27th, 2009
If you run a home business, you know that budgets can be pretty tight. Saving money wherever possible can be the difference between the business that succeeds and the one that fails. This article represents a broad survey of things you can do, from consolidating your student loans to getting small business deals on supplies, that will help you spend less each month.
Next Time You’re Online, Buy Something
Billions of dollars are spent each year online. Rather than suggest that you hurry and move your business online, I’d like to suggest that you add some of your dollars and cents to those billions already spent. Companies who move operations online reduce their overhead costs and often pass on those savings to you. Computers, airplane tickets, even student loan consolidation, can be purchased or arranged online. It has been my experience that I can find almost everything I want online for less than I can find it anywhere else. Next time you’re thinking about biting the bullet and making that big purchase, spend a little time shopping around online and see if you can’t save a few dollars.
Consolidate Student Loans and Get Your House in Order
Chances are good that you’ve been out of school for a while, but don’t skip this paragraph. If you consolidate student loans or other financial obligations, you will typically save a great deal of money each month on your monthly payments. Running a home business often blurs the line between personal expenses and business operating costs – do yourself a favor and make sure you have your personal financial affairs taken care of before you find yourself overwhelmed with past obligations. The government might not have cared about your credit score when they gave you those student loans, but banks looking to give business loans are a whole different story. Making sure everything is taken care will keep financial doors open that, once they’re closed, are very difficult to reopen.
Score One for the Little Guy
Believe it not, most people want small businesses to succeed. There are a lot of people willing to give you a break on prices because you own a home business, but you might need to ask about it. Office supply retailers and computer distributors sometimes offer discount prices to registered small business owners. The savings are not always monumental, but even the smallest savings multiplied over a year or two start to add up to pretty substantial amounts. Shop around to see if the suppliers you use are willing to offer you a discount on supplies or equipment.
Do Without…For a While
I’m probably not the only person that drove a car that was older than I was during college, or who ate Ramen noodles more than once almost everyday. Don’t forget the lessons you learned while you were a poor college student – the same ability to make do with what you have can save you a lot of money in the long run. I had just graduated from college and I wanted to get a new computer to replace the older, though fully functional one I was using. This was before I took my own advice to consolidate student loans, so money was still pretty tight. I wanted to kick myself when I saw that the price on the computer I bought dropped $300 in three months. Some expenses are necessary and unavoidable. For everything else, look to see if you can manage with what you have for a while longer.
Don’t Do It Alone
Nobody likes data entry – it’s time consuming, boring, and time consuming. If you find yourself spending too much of your day punching numbers into spreadsheets, consider hiring someone or outsourcing it to another company. If you think that you can’t afford the part-time salary, do an inventory of your time and see if what you would pay someone is worth the amount of time you’ll be able to invest into the meatier matters of your business.
I know I’m risking sounding like your father giving you a lecture about money, but remember that a penny saved is a penny earned. A successful business minimizes costs while maximizing profits.
By: Nick Smith
December 21st, 2009
The Federal Student Loan Consolidation Program offers numerous benefits including locked-in interest rates that may save borrowers thousands of dollars and may cut monthly payments by up to 60 percent. NextStudent, the Phoenix-based premier education funding company, takes those incentives one step further by offering students a .6 percent discount if they consolidate their student loans during the six month grace period after graduation.
More Student Loan Consolidation Benefits from NextStudent
The interest rates for federal consolidation loans are set by the federal government, so the only true difference that individual companies can offer on their student loans are their incentive or discount packages. NextStudent offers substantial discounts both in the form of the .6 percent “New Grad” discount and additional incentive packages.
Borrowers have the option of choosing from three benefits packages. These packages include the “Standard Locked” package which offers a .25 percent discount when the borrower opts to pay via Auto-Debit and a 1 percent LOCKED RATE reduction after 36 consecutive on-time payments; the “2 %” package which offers a .25 percent discount when the borrower opts to pay via Auto-Debit and 2 percent rate reduction after 36 consecutive on-time payments (not locked); and the “Google” package which offers a .25 percent discount when borrower opts to pay via Auto-Debit, .375 percent discount after six months of on-time payments and the 1 percent discount after 36 consecutive on-time payments (not locked).
Qualifying for Federal Student Loan Consolidation
There are numerous advantages to student loan consolidation with NextStudent, regardless of which incentive package a borrower chooses. Qualification is simple with NextStudent’s “4-step easy e-app.” There are no credit checks, fees, or co-signers required. However, borrowers must have a total student loan balance of at least $10,500. In as little as 5 minutes applicants can qualify for student loan consolidation over the phone, and get their questions answered by a personally assigned Education Finance Advisor.
Students and parents can save significantly when they consolidate their student loans with NextStudent and take advantage of up to a 30 year repayment term, incentive packages and .6 percent “New Grad” discount.
NextStudent believes that getting an education is the best investment you can make, and it is dedicated to helping you pursue your education dreams by making college funding simple. Learn more about student loans at NextStudent.com.
By: Jeff Mictabor