Consolidating home and car loans

So, for instance: If the average comes to 6.15%, your new interest rate will be 6.25%.

Additionally, you’ll get a new loan term ranging from 10 to 30 years.

To find the best plan for you, check out Federal Student Aid’s repayment estimators before you begin the consolidation application.

The tool shows you how much you’d pay per month on the various plans.

Your financial history — including your credit score, income, job history and educational background — will dictate your new interest rate when you refinance.

You typically need a credit score at least in the high 600s to qualify, and rates range from around 2% to more than 9%.

Consolidating your federal loans through the Department of Education is free; steer clear of companies that charge fees to consolidate them for you.

When you consolidate federal loans, your new fixed interest rate will be the weighted average of your previous rates, rounded up to the next ⅛ of 1%.

Consolidate Your Debt Now Debt consolidation is combining several unsecured debts — credit cards, medical bills, personal loans, payday loans, etc. Instead of having to write checks to 5–10 creditors every month, you consolidate bills into one payment, and write one check.

You can choose one of four servicers for your new direct consolidation loan: Fed Loan Servicing, Great Lakes Educational Loan Services Inc., Navient and Nelnet.

If your loans are already with one of those servicers, you can stay or choose a new one.

If you need help getting out of debt, you are not alone.

Although signs show an upturn in the economy, many Americans are deep in debt, and not everyone can work overtime or a second job to pay down that debt.