Medical student loan consolidation is similar to student loan consolidation where you combine multiple loans into one single monthly payment.
And as the name implies, this consolidation program is only limited to medical students and physicians.
You can do this with the federal government or the private sector.
When you consolidate with federal government, you will enjoy fix interest rate and you can be free from the worry that you have to pay more when the interest shoots up.
Although you might not enjoy fix rate when consolidating with the private sector, many private loan consolidators do offer immediate interest reduction when you sign up for their auto debit payment program.
Some of them will also lower your interest rate when you can bring along a good credit co-signer to the consolidation.
And besides the two mentioned privileges, the same consolidators might reward you for an interest reduction when you are on time with your payment after a certain period.
So, remember to ask them about this extra benefit.
Now, consolidating your medical student loans with the private sector doesn't seem so bad after all.
Right? When you are consolidating your medical loans, please remember to look into the different repayment plans.
And looking at the fact that you don't make much money during residency, you can take the graduate repayment plan to pay off your consolidation.
The benefit of this plan is that you can start servicing your loan with lower monthly payment and increases the payment gradually every two years.
And because you are practicing as a doctor, it is logic that you will make more money when you progress with your career.
And of course you are not limited to this plan only.
If for some reasons that you believe that the extended repayment plan suits you better, you are free to go for that.
If you don't want to join any repayment plan, you can choose to take a deferment or forbearance so that you don't need to pay for your consolidation.
And as a medical graduate, you are eligible to defer or forbearance your loan for three years.
However, you have to show evidence of your financial difficulty before you can qualify for these two financial helps.
What if you are looking into a medical career in public service like practicing your medical profession in a facility that services low income people? In that case, you might want to consider about loan forgiveness.
This is a condition where all or part of your medical student loans will be cancelled.
However, this depends on the state government approval and the period of your service with the facility.