Student Loan Consolidation – Detailed Facts and Guidelines to Follow Before Applying
Student loans are undoubtedly a great financial aid for those who cannot afford to fund their education. However, these multiple loans burden students with overwhelming debts soon after they graduate from college. Writing more than one repayment check every month, in the very beginning of a career, is next to impossible. In most cases, failure to make multiple payments within the stipulated time period causes the debts to accumulate. Consequently, interest rates keep escalating and the student eventually falls into a debt trap!If you want to avoid this situation in future, you should apply for a Student Loan Consolidation, which would allow you to merge all your current loans into a single loan with lower interest rates and a very flexible repayment plan. However, before applying for it, there are certain important facts that you should be aware of and a few guidelines you should follow:1) Is this Option Right For You?:You should opt for loan consolidation if and only if you are finding it difficult to make monthly repayments of your current loans in time. In case the total balance amount left on all your loans is very less and you are close to paying it off soon, do not opt for consolidation as it might not be worth it at all.2) Interest Rates:The interest rate for the consolidated loan is estimated by taking out the average of the interest rate of all your current loans and then rounding it up to the next 1/8th of a percent. The maximum interest rate is 8.25 percent. Also, the interest rate is fixed and does not increase with time. You can also use online mortgage calculators to calculate your interest rate.3) Repayment Amount:- If you wish to reduce your monthly repayment amount and save big on consolidating your loans, it is necessary to extend the repayment duration of the loan. By extending your repayment plan, you can even reduce your current monthly payments by 54%.- Usually, the repayment period is 10 years, but it can be extended to as long as 30 years. However, this largely depends on the balance amount you are consolidating.- Although extending the repayment term is beneficial, you will have to pay more in interest as you would take a little longer to repay the entire loan. However, the good news here is that no pre-payment penalties are charged in case you choose to pay off the loan early.4) Eligibility:Following criteria should be met to meet the eligibility requirements for loan consolidation:- Should be having loans from at least two lenders
- Your current student loans have not been consolidated earlier
- The total balance loan amount on all loans to be consolidated should exceed $7,500
- You should be in your six-month grace period of your loans after your graduation or you should have started making the repayments.5) Loan Approval Process:The entire loan consolidation process usually takes a month. Sometimes, you might have to even wait for more than 45 days. Therefore, it is better to plan for it accordingly.6) Types of Loans that can be Consolidated:- Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans
- Federal Subsidized and Unsubsidized Federal Stafford Loans
- Direct PLUS Loans and Federal PLUS Loans
- Direct Consolidation Loans and Federal Consolidation Loans
- Guaranteed Student Loans
- Federal Insured Student Loans
- Federal Supplemental Loans for Students
- Auxiliary Loans to Assist Students
- Federal Perkins Loans
- National Direct Student Loans
- National Defense Student Loans
- Health Education Assistance Loans
- Health Professions Student Loans
- Loans for Disadvantaged Students
- Nursing Student Loans7) Choosing the Lender:- If all your current loans have been acquired from a single lender, it is better to consolidate with the same lender.- Alternatively, you can get the student loan consolidation either through the U.S. Department of Education or through a financial service that is registered in the Federal Family Education Loan Program.Thus, with the help of the above facts and guidelines, you can get the best deal on a student loan consolidation at the right time from the right lender. Consolidating education loans is a simple way to get relief from the overwhelming debts, and should definitely be considered to ensure a secured future.
Windows Small Business Server 2008
In big business it isn’t entirely difficult to create a computer atmosphere that is robust, serves its users well, and is not broken down more often than not. The trick is to hire the right people to build and maintain the network and deal with IT projects as they come up. OK, maybe it’s not quite THAT simple but it doesn’t need to be a nightmare, provided the right resources are in place.In the small business world, things often become entirely different. Many small businesses simply don’t have the resources to build – let alone maintain – a network that will adequately take care of business needs. Many small businesses wind up with a mismatch of different parts put together piece by piece by whichever technician was available at any given time and was offering the right price. Nobody’s really sure how the pieces fit together and why this was done or that was configured differently. Just finding a password for a router can be a gargantuan challenge in its own right.I doubt I’ve ever met a small business owner who wouldn’t do whatever it would take to make their network stable and more importantly, useful and to manageable, were the resources to do so in place. From a software vendor’s point of view, it’s great to charge lots for your product and have a niche base of large businesses who can afford it. We all know that small business is in many ways driving the economy. Is it really wise to target only those large businesses and leave a wealth of opportunity on the table?Sure, there are plenty of free and open source products out there that can take the edge off of ferocious software prices, and in fact I’ve bestowed their virtues here oh so many times. I am indeed a firm believer in the value of open source in business. My view of those benefits begin to fall apart however when we consider running an entire business on open source software when resources are limited.Open source products are typically more difficult to manage than their commercial counterparts and support can at times be hard to find. Even the best technician needs technical support from time to time and when it’s not available – especially when a critical system is down- things can get hairy.To me, it makes more sense for a small business to run critical servers etc. on mainstream software and leave open and source to the likes of non-critical desktop computers, web servers, and even some email servers. A small business can survive a day or two without email but is dead in the water without point of sale or accounting software.Windows servers can form the foundation of a Windows network and let’s face it; Windows is the most dominant operating system out there. Windows servers can also serve Mac, Linux, and UNIX computers as well, so all told they’re not a bad choice for a network foundation. The problem is, they are usually not all that inexpensive.Microsoft saw an opportunity to address the needs of small businesses, provide some higher end products that would help drive those businesses, and of course increase their own ‘[revenues. Small Business Server is a bundle of a number of products and is priced a great deal below what one would pay for the individual packages if they were bought separately. Small Business Server was first released in 1997and frankly the first couple of versions were – well, let’s just say “not so great”.It really wasn’t until Small Business Server 2003, released in (you guessed it!) 2003 that Small Business Server came into its own right. Small Business Server 2003 includes the standard Windows Server plus Microsoft Exchange Server, Windows SharePoint Server, and a plethora of “wizards” that make managing the server relatively easy for a small business owner. The Premium edition also includes Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft ISA Server It doesn’t much matter at this point what these things are except that they are excellent business tools.Taken together, these products provide a solid foundation for a network that includes shared calendar, contacts, and tasks. Also included is a team web site (also known as an Intranet) and with the Premium edition, a database server and a network firewall.If you consider the standard edition weighed against the individual software packages for 5 users, Small Business Server 2003 comes in at about $575 while the individual packages are priced at about $2100. That becomes roughly $1150 compared to about $2700 when you license 10 users. The savings go and on as users are added.So, what’s the catch? Small Business Server 2003 can handle a maximum of 75 users, domain trust relationships are not available, and only the Small Business Server 2003 can be a domain controller. It doesn’t matter a hoot what those things mean except that very few small businesses would ever know the difference.Microsoft is due to release Business Server 2008 in November 2008. If you own a small business and are in the market for a new server, Small Business Server 2008 will be one of those products you’d be remiss to overlook. If you need a server today you can buy the 2003 version with software assurance and get the upgrade for free. Just beware though, Small Business Server 2008 will be 64 bit only so be careful to buy the right hardware!