My student loans will be coming out of forbearance soon (with the exception of one that I've started paying) and I wanted to consolidate before they were due. Consolidating my student loans was and still is a very tiresome process. Definitely not as simple as I would have liked it to be.
To start, I had to determine who all my lenders were. This alone made me glad to be consolidating! Then I went to each lenders website and obtained the current balance on every single loan. I think I had like from 14-17 in all with 5 lenders.
To start my application, I had to visit the student loan consolidation website and enter each loan one by one. After verifying a bunch of information, I was prompted to sign and mail in some forms. I thought I was done after this, but I received a letter in the mail asking to submit another form. I had to submit my pay stubs as well because I'm applying for the ICR repayment plan. I chose that plan because I will qualify for student loan forgiveness in two more years.
One thing I like about the process is that you are provided with an estimated payment amount for each plan. The amounts for me are listed below...
I will only have $17,500 forgiven, and the ICR will allow me to pay less interest with fewer payments.
As of this moment, my application status is in certification. This means that they are still contacting all the lenders to verify the amounts, and will then send me an updated payment schedule. I submitted my application on July 6th, so I guess that gives you some kind of idea of how long this takes. My student loans are part of the main reason I'm moving home because I'm sure I would not be able to afford it any other way at this time.
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