How do you keep track of all of your student loans?

[syncracirca]

Hi CB'ers. Between my wife and I, we have 12 student loans and we're paying a total of $500/month on all of them. My wife has some lates on hers from just not being aware they'd gone into repayment, but mine are current so far. How do you keep track of your loans? All of my lenders have online payment systems, but we're needing to log into each one and it's driving me nuts. We have no trouble paying, it's keeping track that's the issue.

 

The worst part about it is that each disparate payment system is LOCKED DOWN HARD. We wouldn't want some hacker breaking in and.........paying our student loans or something!

[thecollector]

Hi CB'ers. Between my wife and I, we have 12 student loans and we're paying a total of $500/month on all of them. My wife has some lates on hers from just not being aware they'd gone into repayment, but mine are current so far. How do you keep track of your loans? All of my lenders have online payment systems, but we're needing to log into each one and it's driving me nuts. We have no trouble paying, it's keeping track that's the issue.

 

The worst part about it is that each disparate payment system is LOCKED DOWN HARD. We wouldn't want some hacker breaking in and.........paying our student loans or something!

 

 

 

Call the dept of ed. (800)-433-3243 the loan tracking # simple as that.

[jph5125]

Are any of these federal loans? If so you can probably consolidate some of them.

[syncracirca]

Are any of these federal loans? If so you can probably consolidate some of them.

 

All of them are federal loans. I have no knowledge of or experience with student loan consolidation. How do you begin the process? Sorry, I really am very ignorant about student loans!

[snowpuppy]

Are any of these federal loans? If so you can probably consolidate some of them.

 

All of them are federal loans. I have no knowledge of or experience with student loan consolidation. How do you begin the process? Sorry, I really am very ignorant about student loans!

It

 

Get your FAFSA pin (wife as well) and log into the National Student Loan Database (NSLDS). You will find a listing of all your Federally backed student loans. Do a print out or list them individually. Wife should as well.

 

Then use a SL consolidation calculator. Many on the web and at Direct Lending as well. It will give you an estimate of your SL payment as well as your interest rate. Consolidation may increase or decrease the interest but my experience is not by much. If you choose to consolidate, Direct Lending is the only place you can do so. You and your wife will have 1 SL payment per month.

 

One exception: Never, ever consolidate Perkins loans if you are eligible for forgiveness. Perkins has many benefits if you are a teacher, nurse, work in public safety, etc. Once a Perkins is consolidated, you lose all forgiveness options.

[johnny5]

Two things -

 

Completely agree with previous posters about consolidating the loans! If they are all federal its pretty simple, no credit checks, just fill out all the paperwork and in about 60 days you will have 1 loan for you and 1 loan for your wife. Obviously consider all the other aspects of the consolidation and make sure its the right thing but personally I don't see a down side to it... but i'm sure there are situations where it is less than perfect. Perhaps someone here can share their thoughts on the flip side.

 

Federal Direct Consolidation Loans: https://loanconsolidation.ed.gov/AppEntry/apply-online/appindex.jsp

 

Tracking in general... I use mint.com Between my 6 credit cards, 3 savings, 2 checking, 1 brokerage, 1 car loan, 1 ira, was 12 student loans, now 2. Its one quick easy place to log in and see all my accounts in a glance, it can generate alters and reminders based on due dates it pulls from the accounts and you can customize those and create your own. Mint.Com only pulls data, transaction history, etc from your accounts you give it - you can't actually access functions of the individual sites you still have to go log into each separately. It also helps me stay on track with my budgeting and such, which is helpful. I also make all of my payments via BillPay attached to one of my checking accounts so its a single place to log in and schedule all my payments, though a few lenders that are not electronic with bill pay I go to those lenders sites and schedule ACH for them, personally I hate depending on the mail for my payments.

Edited May 25, 2012 by johnny5

[syncracirca]

Two things -

 

Completely agree with previous posters about consolidating the loans! If they are all federal its pretty simple, no credit checks, just fill out all the paperwork and in about 60 days you will have 1 loan for you and 1 loan for your wife. Obviously consider all the other aspects of the consolidation and make sure its the right thing but personally I don't see a down side to it... but i'm sure there are situations where it is less than perfect. Perhaps someone here can share their thoughts on the flip side.

 

Federal Direct Consolidation Loans: https://loanconsolid...ne/appindex.jsp

 

Tracking in general... I use mint.com Between my 6 credit cards, 3 savings, 2 checking, 1 brokerage, 1 car loan, 1 ira, was 12 student loans, now 2. Its one quick easy place to log in and see all my accounts in a glance, it can generate alters and reminders based on due dates it pulls from the accounts and you can customize those and create your own. Mint.Com only pulls data, transaction history, etc from your accounts you give it - you can't actually access functions of the individual sites you still have to go log into each separately. It also helps me stay on track with my budgeting and such, which is helpful. I also make all of my payments via BillPay attached to one of my checking accounts so its a single place to log in and schedule all my payments, though a few lenders that are not electronic with bill pay I go to those lenders sites and schedule ACH for them, personally I hate depending on the mail for my payments.

 

Thanks for the information, this REALLY helps to know...especially the fact that there will be no new inqs and that the process takes 60 days.