Feeling Financially Strapped? Here's Three Methods You Can Use to Reduce US Federal Loan Payments!

There are three possible ways to reduce your studentLoan Debt Burden Forbearance: This forbearance
loan payments, provided you are making monthlyallows you to postpone or reduce the amount of your
payments to the U. S. Department of Educationmonthly payment for a limited and specific period of
student loan programs. This article will focus on thetime if you provide acceptable documentation showing
"General Forbearance" as the main tool to reducethat your monthly payments for eligible education
your student loan payments.loan(s) exceed 20% of your total monthly gross
1. You Can Request A Forbearance.income.
2. You Can Request Student Loan Consolidation.Teacher Loan Forgiveness Forbearance: This
3. You Can Change Your Student Loan Repaymentforbearance allows you to postpone your monthly
Plan.payment for a limited and specific period of time while
Types Of Forbearance:you are performing qualifying teaching service as a
Having trouble making those student loan payments?teacher in an eligible elementary or secondary school.
You may qualify for a student loan forbearance. A lotIf you write your monthly checks to the U. S.
of people think that you either have to be in the militaryDepartment of Education, you may apply for a
or be completely financially destitute to qualify for a"General Forbearance" at:
student loan forbearance. Not True! ANYONE withStudent Loan Consolidation:
trouble making the payments may qualify for aYou can also go to the same site to have you your
"General Forbearance," provided your student loansstudent loans consolidated, provided you have U.S.
are held and managed by the U. S. Department ofFederally Subsidized loans and you are currently
Education.making your payments to the U.S. Department of
Listed below are the four types of forbearanceEducation.
options and their requirements.The interest rate for a Direct Consolidation Loan , is
General Forbearance: This forbearance allows you tothe weighted average of the interest rates on the
postpone or reduce the amount of your monthlyloans being consolidated rounded to the nearest higher
payment for a limited and specific period of time.one-eighth of one percent. As of this writing, the
I will also note here that the "General Forbearance"current rate is somewhere around 6%.
allows to you to skip all payments for one year andStudent loan consolidation can be very tricky, therefore
may be annually renewable for as long as you qualify.I suggest you call the consolidation hotline
You can also use the "General Forbearance" to simply1-800-557-7392, to estimate your weighted average
reduce your payment. You can cut your payment ininterest rate and to see what your loan payments
half, if you so choose.might be.
Americorps (CNCS) Forbearance: This forbearanceChange Your Student Loan Repayment Plan:
allows you to stop payments temporarily if you areIf a forbearance or loan consolidation is not for you,
serving in an approved national service position. Theyou can always choose to select a "Graduated
forbearance form must be certified by the CorporationRepayment Plan" which can also be very low for the
for National Community Service (CNCS).first couple of years. Either way, you don't have to
Internship/Residency Forbearance: This forbearancestarve to death to make those payments. Once you
allows you to postpone or reduce the amount of yourhave your PIN number, you can simply go here:
monthly payment for a limited and specific period of... and you can change your payment option to
time if you have been accepted into an Internship"Graduated Loan Repayment Plan" to get the lowest
Residency Program.possible monthly payments. That's all there is too it!