Rush to Refinance

With Saturday’s increase in rates for Student Loans thousands of college students joined the rush to lock in rates. The interest rate for student loans will go up almost a harsh 2% - leading to much higher debt due to interest accumulated over the life of the loans. Reportedly, the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority is receiving calls at the rate of 15 a second – and they are not alone.

Sallie Mae, the largest student loan holder, is already nearing the ability to meet and even exceed last year’s rate of student loan consolidations. Indiana Secondary Market for Education Loans has already received 83% more loan requests this year than last. Ohio, Iowa, Texas, it is this way across the board with education finance companies.

Each year on July 1st the federal government reviews and adjusts the rates on student loans. The rate will shoot up to 6.54% for students and to 7.14 for graduates – up from 4.7 and 5.3 respectively.  ■