My dear husband got some notice from our loan providers that he qualified for consolidation b/c he's made x number of payments on time, blah blah blah. it reduces his payments per month because of a lower interest rate, and every penny helps as we are about to enter of the world of paying double daycare. So I decided to call the loan folks to see if I could consolidate. Ugh.
First, I read all the info online and printed out all my loans from my two lenders. I studied the info. I could make no sense of it. Seriously. I needed to talk to someone, and I have ELEVEN years of higher education behind me. Wth?
Then I called Direct Loans and got a lady, we'll name her Sherry, on the phone. She had quite the chip on her shoulder and didn't laugh at any of my jokes. She accused me of giving her false info quite strongly once, and after about an hour on the phone (during which I broke a sweat), she broke it down to me like this:
Consolidation would = monthly payments of approx $300 for the next 25 years.
Currently loans = monthly payments of approx $550 for the next 8 years.
Why does consolidation look like a worse off deal? Granted, making our loan payments the next few years might = me selling a kidney or becoming a surrogate for some rich celebrity (actually, I think I'm too old now...), but do I really want to lock myself into a 25 year payment plan when I only have 8 years left of my current sitution?
Hellz no.
I don't get it.
25 years is a long time.
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