1. You are eligible for our Federal Consolidation Loan as long as you, at the time of funding: (1) are in your loan grace period or have entered repayment on each loan chosen for consolidation; and (2) consolidate eligible federal student loan debt meeting CFS’ minimum balance requirement. Other criteria also apply. Please call for details on all criteria. CFS reserves the right to modify, extend or discontinue this program at any time without notice. Changes to this program, if any, will not affect loans that previously qualified for these or any other benefits as long as they are held by a participating lender. Benefits will not transfer if the loan is sold or consolidated. Borrower benefits will not lower your monthly payment. Interest rate reduction benefits will reduce the amount of interest that accrues. Therefore, a larger percentage of each payment will be applied to the principle balance, thereby decreasing the repayment term. Principle reduction benefits will reduce the principle balance thereby decreasing the amount of interest paid over the life of the loan. The Principle Reduction benefit is based on the principle balance at the time the benefit is earned. Cash rebate borrower benefits are based on the consolidated loan balance and will not affect the monthly payment or the amount of interest paid over the life of the loan. All loan rate reductions and other borrower benefits terminate upon either a loan default or failure to continue to meet a borrower benefit qualification. Borrower benefits apply (1) after a qualifying period expires and as long as monthly payments are received within five (5) days of the payment due date and/or (2) upon initial receipt of completed Automatic Debit Authorization form and for as long as you continue to have your payments automatically withdrawn. If any automatic payment is not made due to insufficient funds in your account or for any other reason, the automatic payment reduction no longer applies and you will be charged the non-discounted rate. All payments must be received by the Payment Due Date to be considered “on-time”. Please call for details on our current benefit offering(s).
The 3.50% interest rate assumes an in-grace rate of 4.75% and a 1% rate deduction after 36 months when the first 36 consecutive monthly payments are made on time and a 0.25% discount for having loan payments automatically debited from a bank account.
2. Tax information is provided as a general overview. Collegiate Funding Services is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, tax, or other professional advice services, and we are not qualified (nor is it our intent) to provide individual tax advice. Consult your tax advisor.
3. Current estimated monthly payment uses a 5.30% interest rate under a standard 10-year unconsolidated repayment plan. Monthly estimated payment amount after consolidation is calculated under the Federal Consolidation Program Level Repayment Plan using an example interest rate of 5.375% with extended repayment terms. Your actual rate and payment may differ.
For loans first disbursed on or after July 1, 1998. Loans disbursed before this period have slightly higher interest rates. The interest rate for your consolidation loan is fixed for the entire time you are repaying the loan. The rate is calculated as the weighted average of the interest rate on the loans being consolidated rounded up to the nearest one-eighth of a percent. By law, the interest rate will never exceed 8.25 percent. The actual interest rate for your consolidation will be calculated using the interest rates certified by your current loan servicers/lenders. Extending the repayment period increases your total interest costs because you will be making smaller payments over longer period of time. However, you may prepay all or any portion of your loan at any time without penalty. Prepayment is encouraged as it can significantly reduce the term of repayment and therefore reduces the total amount of the interest paid over the life of the loan. Extended repayment periods in the examples are based on loan balance: $10,000-$19,999, 15 years; $20,000-$39,999, 20 years; $40,000-$59,999, 25 years; greater than $60,000, 30 years.