As parents, we start to teach our children to be responsible for themselves throughout their childhood. We teach them to go to school, and that college is a very important part of their education.

Student loan consolidation programs are available, but it takes some research to figure out which education consolidation loan is right for you, or your children. Here is some helpful information.

We try to prepare them for almost everything. We are proud of them when they graduate from high school, and are even prouder when they exceed all expectations and seem to sail through the curriculum with what seems like almost no effort at all, oblivious to the mounting costs of higher education.

When a student is faced with having to pay back all of the loans that have accrued for four or more years, they can be overwhelmed at first. It is important for them to understand what all of their options are.

Upon graduation, a student goes out into the world with the optimism of finding employment in their chosen profession and will maintain a certain lifestyle.

When he or she is faced with the reality of the real world he or she is inundated with not only weekly and monthly bills, but also paying back student loans. They find themselves disillusioned with the prospect of years of debt repayment and see no end in sight.

Government and private lenders realize that the repayment process can be too much for some to bear, and special repayment programs have been developed to help alleviate the hardship that the repayment process may cause.

Student loan consolidation was created to combat the rising cost of higher education and make the repayment process more bearable.

Student loan consolidation can be done either through the government or through private lenders. It is a process where all of the student loans are consolidated into one loan, making the repayment process easier and less stressful for the student. It allows the student to save hundreds of dollars each month, allowing them some breathing room while paying back the loans.

There are four major types of student loan consolidations in the United States today:

1. The first is a standard student loan consolidation. This is when a student has employment and knows that they can pay a certain amount each month toward their student debt. It has a fixed interest rate so the student does not get any surprises when the bill comes in every month.

The repayment period for a standard student consolidation loan is ten years. When the payments are stretched out over this period of time, the payment amount is usually very manageable.

2. The second type of student consolidation loan is called an extended repayment plan. This type of loan is comparable to the standard consolidation loan however the repayment time is extended up to thirty years.

It is important to note that with the extended loan, there are interest charges throughout the life of the loan and can add up to more than the student originally owes in school debt.

3. The graduated student consolidation loan was created specifically for students who have employment upon graduation. It is a loan that the repayment process is designed individual’s pay rate and usually the payments start out very low, and increase in two-year increments.

The increase is based upon the premise that in the workplace, raises and promotions occur often. The repayment time for a graduated student consolidation loan can be anywhere from fifteen to thirty years.

4. The most involved form of student consolidation loan is called a contingent plan. It is a long and complicated process where financial information is obtained from not only the student, but also the family as a whole.

When all the information is obtained, a repayment amount is figured. Because this type of loan is long and involved, it is only used when the student does not qualify for any other type of consolidation loan.

It is important to remember that any type of education consolidation loan comes with an interest rate. Determining what the interest rate will be depends on the student’s circumstances and what type of loan they are applying for.

It is also important to be informed and understand you are signing a legally binding agreement and that repayment must be made every month.

Student consolidation loans can be obtained through the government or through private lenders. It is recommended that if obtained your tuition through a private lender, that you obtain a student consolidation loan through that lender.

It is crucial that you research your options very carefully and understand all of the terms and condition of your consolidation loan.

Although it is an option to repay your student consolidation loan early, for most students, it take years to fully repay their debt.

When you as a part time student, or previous student, feel that you must time your student loan consolidation in order to get the best possible rate.

Thankfully for the most recent graduates, there is still plenty of time to figure this out. This is because of the fact that congress has made a few recent changes for the year of 2008

These changes have helped students by lowering the Stafford loan rates so that it is fixed at the low rate of 6.8 percent. For those students who qualify for the subsidized Stafford loans, then your rate would decrease over the course of a few years until the rate of 3.4 percent is reached in the year of 2011.

For students who are beginning their search for student loan consolidations, especially the federal student loan consolidations, it is better to try for the month of May. This is because of an auction that occurs during that last week. It is the United States Treasury Bond Auction and it is held annually during the very last week of May.

Though the bond auction occurs in May, the new interest rates for federal student loans and federal student loan consolidations don’t take effect in until the first of July. Between May and July, lenders have a chance to decide on a lower rate than they are currently consolidating loans for, and, if they feel that it will benefit them, then they lower the fixed interest rate. If they don’t feel that it will be any kind of benefit for them, then they will wait until the new rates will take place in July.

After the auction is over, any student who are looking for student loan consolidations should begin watching the markets as soon as soon as the U.S. Treasury bond auction has ended because that month before the new interest rate is fixed is when the individual loaners will start to drop fixed rates for the student loan consolidations in order to get more business.

There are things to watch out for when you are deciding on any kind of student loan consolidation or any loan consolidations for that matter. There are scams, especially on internet searches. These scams will ask for a fee to be paid upfront, before anything else happens. Even though there are a few specific types of loans that will have a consolidation fees, none will ask for them upfront. When you are looking for your student loan consolidation you will rarely come across anything that asks for fees, because they slightly raise your interest rate to pay for it instead.

When you are looking at federal student loan consolidation, you need to be sure to keep all of your federal student loans together and separated from federal loans. This will allow you to take advantage of offers that you can get from the federal loans that will be ruined if they are grouped with private loans. Remember to time your student loan consolidations for the best benefits and offers you can get.

There are reports every day on the news that unemployment is rising, and more and more companies are planning layoffs.  A recent report by Watson Wyatt states that 26% of companies surveyed are PLANNING on layoffs over the next 12 months.  That doesn’t take into account the 19% that have already had downsizing and layoffs, or the rest of the companies that will have to also, even though they aren’t “planning” to layoff employees.   

There are the obvious things you can do to try to avoid being laid off, but in actuality, you really have no control over your employment status.  Being on time, working diligently, and learning new skills are things that can make you a more valuable employee.  But when a company reaches a point when the work is just not there, it doesn’t matter how skilled you are, there will still be cuts made.  At that point, the planning that you have done, or not done, will be what makes the difference in a layoff being a financially stressful time, or being a time of opportunity to better yourself and your family.

The best way to prepare for unemployment is to get protection against it.  How can you be protected?  It’s actually quite simple.  Throughout Europe and most other countries they have had what is called “Unemployment Insurance”.  This is an insurance plan, similar to life insurance, the difference being that you don’t have to die to get the benefits.  The unemployment insurance benefits are paid to you when you become unemployed.  The good news is that there is a similar Unemployment Protection Plan available in the U.S.  This is a membership plan that pays its members a cash benefit if they become unemployed.  This is not an “insurance plan”; it’s a group membership plan that has an insurance benefit along with other useful legal and financial benefits. 

The national average unemployment check is only about $378 a week.  That isn’t that much and I know that wouldn’t be enough to get most people by for even a month.  Now consider that the average length of unemployment is about 16.5 weeks.  That’s enough time to drain any savings you may have.  Many Americans are living check to check though, and don’t really have the safety net of a 6 months income in savings.  This is where an unemployment protection plan is really necessary.  Even if you are fortunate enough to have saved up several months of income, do you really want to burn right through that while looking for another job?  Wouldn’t you rather keep saving that for something else like home improvements, family vacations, or keeping it for an emergency? 

An unemployment protection plan can make it possible for you to survive through a job loss and unemployment, with out the stress of creditor calling, bills going unpaid, and possible foreclosures.  This will help you keep your head clear while you concentrate on your hunt for a new job.

For more information on protecting yourself and your family during unemployment, visit http://www.TheSalaryGuard.com and see how quickly and easily you can be protected.

While traditional lenders and banks have been sticking to their strict underwriting guidelines there are several creative business financing options that may just help get you the funds you need.

Before getting into the details let me be the first to remind you that separating your personal credit from your business credit should be your primary goal. If you’re at the early stages of building your company’s credit file then you may have to use your personal credit to secure financing until your company becomes creditworthy.

Merchant Cash Advance

This option has many benefits if you are in need of short term business financing. In a nutshell you are borrowing against your company’s future credit card sales in order to receive cash immediately.

Best of all you can qualify with bad credit, no personal guarantee and no collateral.

Some of the requirements are: -At least 9 months in business -Process $5k or more in monthly credit card sales

Finally your repayment is based only on your credit card sales and it’s automatically debited so you don’t even have to worry about a payment schedule.

Social Lending

Lending networks like Lending Club and Prosper provide a way for you to obtain creative business loans that range from $1k to $25k for your business. Rather than go through all the red tape that traditional lenders impose on you these networks make the process so much easier. You simply post a loan listing and set the rate you want to pay and they do the rest.

The rate is fixed and so are your payments but best of all you don’t have to take the loan if you don’t like the rate.

Some of the requirements are:

*Personal credit score of 640+ for Prosper

*Personal credit score of 660+ for Lending Club

*Debt-to-income ratio of 25% (excluding mortgage)

Even though you’re securing the loan using your personal credit the interest rate you will pay is much less than the rate you will pay if you use your personal credit cards for funding.

Vendor Lines of Credit

Another alternative to creative business loans is obtaining vendor credit from your suppliers and other companies whose products and services you can use. This not only helps you conserve cash flow but also builds your business credit file too.

In most cases you can qualify with no personal credit check or guarantee which supports your overall business credit building strategy.

Equipment Leasing

When you need business financing for business equipment and you can’t secure finances through traditional sources like a bank than leasing is a viable alternative. You not only benefit from tax deductible lease payments but you also can get a buy-out option as well.

In addition you get a low fixed rate and a low down payment which is usually one or two lease payments upfront. Compared that to a traditional loan, where a bank requires up to 20% down of the total price of the equipment.

As you can see there are many creative business financing options that will provide your business the financing it needs short term or long term while you continue to work on establishing the creditworthiness of your company.

Completing a college education is very expensive. Even with scholarships and grants most students and or their parents will have seek student loans to pay all the education expenses. The average American college or university graduate will have a student loan debt in excess of $18,000 and a good many will incur more than $40,000 in student loan debt.

In many cases a student will receive several student loans during their collegiate career. These will include both public and private funded loans with different interest rates. Shortly after graduation you will be expected to begin making payments on your student loans Many people are surprised at how much the monthly payments will be. All at a time when a new graduates income levels are relatively low. One possible solution to this problem is a student loan consolidation.

A student loan consolidation will combine all the eligible student loans In most cases you will be required to apply for a loan consolidation package from the lender that first provided your federal student loan There are some exceptions to this requirement. If the interest rate is too high or you are unable to combine all your student loans with the lender then you have the option to shop around for a better loan package,

Not all student loans are eligible to be combined into a loan consolidation. It would be a good idea to visit the university financial aid office for student loan consolidation advice prior to making any loan application. In many cases they will be able to tell what the best approach is for combining all your student loans Contacting several different student loan providers that offer student loan consolidation packages is also a wise investment in time and effort.

The points that need to be considered when comparing student loan consolidation packages include amortization period, interest rates, income sensitive payment options and payment grace periods. Most student loans must be repaid within 10 years of graduation. Lengthening out your payment period or amortization to 20 or more years will greatly lower your monthly payments. However you will pay more in interest over the life of the loan An income sensitive payment option will tie payment amounts to your level of income. This feature will give you lower initial payments when you need them most.

Ignoring or failing to pay your student loans can result in serious long term problems including a reduced credit score, dealing with online debt collection agencies and even the IRS. Not dealing with your student loan debt problem is really not a sensible option. Seek good financial advice and take take the steps necessary to manage your student loans.

Doing your homework and seeking good student loan consolidation advice before applying for a consolidation loan may save you considerable amount of money over the length of the loan In many cases you may find loan packages that have lower interest rates as well. Using a consolidation loan to bring all your student loans into a single loan package is a wise choice for most recent college graduates.