You can go for student loan consolidation if you are facing problems in staying current on your student loans. There are 2 ways by which you can consolidate your student loans – with the help of a consolidation program or by taking out a consolidation loan. If you want to repay debts with professional help, then you can enroll in a consolidation program offered by a number of online debt consolidation and settlement companies. This article gives an overview of these 2 debt consolidation methods.

With the help of a consolidation program

In a student loan consolidation program, a debt consultant reviews your financial situation and decides upon an affordable monthly payment that you need to make towards your debts. He/she also negotiates with your creditors to reduce your loan interest rates. As you make the monthly payments, the consultant (on behalf of the online debt consolidation and settlement company) distributes the payments amongst your creditors after deducting the agreed upon professional fee.

However, you can only take help of a consolidation program if you are not enrolled more than half time in school and you should be in the repayment status of your student loans.

By taking out a consolidation loan

You can also take out a consolidation loan (similar to a personal loan) and pay off all your existing student loans at once. However, you should have multiple student loans and should also face problems in paying them back. You need to fulfill these criteria in order to consolidate your student loans with the help of a consolidation loan.

Though an online debt consolidation program can help you to repay your student loans, yet you cannot combine your private and federal student loans together. In such a situation, a consolidation loan is a better option as you can pay off all types of student loans with it.