Student Credit Forums and Discussions

[Wangta]

I keep reading about all these great consolidation options for people who took out loans BEFORE July 1, 2006 because of the variable interest rate component of their loans.

But what options do people who took out loans AFTER 6/1/2006 have? My Grad Plus loan is up near 8.5% (reduced 1-2% for consistent payments, etc), which seems awful high compared to ANY rate in history. Considre mortgages are around 5% now - how am I riskier than a mortgage, especially given the turmoil in the housing/mortgage markets??

Are there any options for those of us who got loan disbursements AFTER 6/1/2006? Anyway for us to take advantage of these historically low rates?

[Credit Card Guy]

The quick answer is no, there is nothing further you can do to lower your interest rate at this time. It is a sad reality to a flawed federal consolidation process in my opinion.

If you have fixed interest rate loans or consolidated previously and secured a fixed interest rate that way you can not re-consolidate for a lower rate, like someone who would say refi their mortgage. I know this doesn't seem fair, but that is the current rules that are in place.