Student Loan Consolidation Reviews
seven in 10 Arkansas college seniors (71%) that graduated this past year had student loan debts that averaged $29,400 per borrower
Little Rock, AR (PRWEB) August 07, 2014
Arkansans are definitely having a problem with student debt. It has gotten to the point where some of them have been forced to default on their loans since they can’t even get them discharged through a chapter 7 bankruptcy.
The sad fact is that seven in 10 Arkansas college seniors (71%) that graduated this past year had student loan debts that averaged $29,400 per borrower. And from the year 2008 through 2012, the total of federal and private loans at graduation increased an average of 6% each year or at a much higher rate than inflation.
Arkansans graduating with student loan debts did better as their average debt ranked 35th in the nation. Of course, there are several reasons why they owe so much on student loans. But the most important factor is the ever-growing cost of going to college. As an example of this the total cost of going to the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2012 was $20,523. The one-year cost of attending the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith was better at $16,257 but the cost of going to the University of Arkansas for one year was $20,464.
For residents of Arkansas struggling with student loan debts the good news is that there is help available in the form of student debt relief.
The online research company Studentloanconsolidationreviews.org recently investigated the companies that offer debt relief to debt-burdened residents of Arkansas. The purpose of this was to determine which ones could be trusted to provide effective services. Its analysis determined that the two top debt relief companies are National Debt Relief and SoFi (Social Finances Inc.)
Of these two companies,Studentloanconsolidationreviews.org gave its top ranking to National Debt Relief. Studentloanconsolidationreviews.org liked the fact that this company has continually maintained an A rating with the Better Business Bureau and because it operates very ethically. As an example of this, National Debt Relief charges its clients nothing unless it's able to find a better repayment plan with lower payments than what they currently have.
National Debt Relief spokesman, Michael Smith, said about his company’s service, “What we do is analyze our customer's financial situation. We evaluate his or her employment status, educational background, financial situation, outstanding debts and more. We review his or her loan profile with the US Department of Education (ED). We then go to work to see if there might be another repayment program that would be better for that person. If we are able to find such a program, we then prepare all the paperwork required to get her or him into it. While people can do this for themselves and for free it’s sometimes better to turn to accompany such as National Debt Relief and let a professional handle the job.”
National Debt Relief offers a number of federal student loan repayment programs including Extended Repayment, Graduated Repayment and the four Income-driven repayment programs – Pay As You Earn, Income-Contingent, Income-sensitive and Income-based. It is also able to help its clients obtain a Federal Direct Consolidation Loan if this represents the best solution.
National Debt Relief never charges an upfront fee and its services are totally performance-based. What this means is that if it’s not able to find a program with better payment terms then what the customer currently has, it charges her or him nothing.
Studentloanconsolidationreviews.org ranked SoFi second best. It offers debt consolidation loans with fixed-rate and variable-rate interest and terms of five, 10 and 15 years. SoFi also offers loan-refinancing services.
Studentloanconsolidationreviews.org found two problems with SoFi. The first is the inflexibility of its loans as they have both a fixed interest rate and a fixed term with no repayment options. If a person were to become sick or in some other tough financial situation, he or she would not be able to take advantage of the benefits of federal loans such as changing to a different repayment plan. Instead, he or she would be stuck with the terms of the SoFi loan and with no chance of switching to a better repayment program.
Second, SoFi relies on peer-to-peer lending. The loans actually come from alumni of the school that the borrower attends or attended. This means for a person to be eligible for a SoFi loan, he or she must be an alumnus of one of the schools that belong to the SoFi network.
Residents of Arkansas that are struggling with student loan debts should definitely go to Studentloanconsolidationreviews.org for more information on debt consolidation and these two companies.