I am in the process of consolodating my student loans with UHEAA, and have found Fatwallet to be very helpful. It seems to me that a lot of us FWers have chosen UHEAA, so I wanted to start a thread on how it has gone.
So far my consolodation has been a breeze. When I call the toll free number, I never hold for longer than a minute or two, and they have been very nice. The one thing I am concerned about is when I ask if they sell loans. I have asked this question several times to several different CSRs and their answer has been very similar. They always say, that they don't anticipate selling your loan.
My question to those of you who have consolodated with UHEAA... how long have you been paying on your consolodated loan? And have you had any problems with UHEAA.
I'm suspicious because of the 1.25% auto debit incentive they have. Why are they 5x higher than everyone else???
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Utah Higher Education Assistance Authority Address: PO Box 45202 Salt Lake City, Utah 84145-0202 Website: (http://www.uheaa.org) Phone: 1-866-444-3204
Consolidation Info pre-May 1, 2006:
1.25% rate deduction instantly for auto debit
Additional 1% rate deduction after 48 consecutive on-time payments
You do not have to be a Utah Resident
When the rate deductions kick in, you do not pay less per month. Your monthly payment stays the same and the principal is paid off in a shorter timeframe (ie, 21 years instead of 25).
Additional 1% rate deduction after 36 consecutive on-time payments
You either have to have a loan guaranteed by UHEAA, be a Utah Resident, or go to a school in Utah to qualify
When the rate deductions kick in, you do not pay less per month. Your monthly payment stays the same and the principal is paid off in a shorter timeframe (ie, 21 years instead of 25).
Message edited by: ThiftySpender on 2006-03-28 09:18:06 CST
My consolidation was finalized this past month, so my first pymt is coming up later this month. As you said, everything was a breeze. After sending in the appl., everything was all said and done in about 5 weeks.
I heard about UHEAA before FW through a newsletter that my university's financial club provided to subscribers, the advisor said that it's about the best student loan consolidation program avaliable. I don't know why 1.25% off, but believe me I'm not complaining. I think it's just a small firm and that's the best way to attract. It has seemed to work. Also I believe that previously they only consolidated in UTAH.
Also remember that after 48 PAYMENTS, it gets reduced by another 1%. Thus, you can reduce it earlier if you pay twice in one month for 2 years so that it will take only 2 years to reduce the interest rate instead of 4 years. However, the time value of money may be more valuable to you instead of making a doule payment
I haven't really found out much information regarding Utah Higher Education. I did see that they advertised the terms you mentioned but that's about all I know. I know nothing about their customer service and/or if they sell these loans at some point. The reason that I mention this is that you are committing to a 30 year relationship with these folks so you want to be sure that you know enough about them to work with them.
One thing I wanted to clarify is that THE has the .75% bonus that is awarded each month and that is not an interest rate deduction but an actual credit to your account so your payments are immediately reduced. One thing to also remember is THE will honor that bonus as long as you are not more than 60 days delinquent - even if you were and then got back on track, you would just miss the bonus for that month and then it would pick up again. Other lenders, including Utah, would only qualify after 48 payments have been paid and if you are late on one, you lose the benefit forever and you can't get it back. Studies show that only 7 - 12% would ever quailify for a benefit like that and 4 yrs is a long time to go w/out being late one time i.e. vacations, family emergencies, etc. can happen so don't count on that - it's a bonus if it happens. Another point to remember is that if you have only lender, you MUST consolidate with that lender so if you have only borrowed your STafford loans with THE, you'll only have the option of consolidating with them due to the "single lender rule".
nmehta211, UHEAA *does* give a grace period. Any payment within 15 days after the due date is considered on-time, and in addition they allow three payments that are paid within 30 days to count as on-time.
The .75% annualized interest rate credit that is paid out monthly by THE is in no way comparable to the UHEAA benefits. .75% verses 1.25% immediately for UHEAA with electronic payments. Then, 48 months later UHEAA will have another 1% advantage over THE.
UHEAA's customer service has been excellent for me and a lot of other people. They respond quickly, and give straightforward answers to every question. To this day they have told everyone who has called that they DO NOT EXPECT TO SELL THE LOANS. How much more plain can they be?
I made the mistake of consolidating with AES Graduate Services. BIG mistake! Not only are their reps unknowledgeable, but they have a serious attitude problem. Once I receive another loan this Fall I'm consolidating them all together during the 180 day grace period. UHEAA sounds really good, another good company *I think* is Total Higher Education, website here. email Federal Loan Consolidation: Toll-Free 1-866-562-6672 Has anyone had any luck with this company or Southwest Student Services Corporation?
I consolidated with UHEAA last year. The loan is serviced by Nelnet and you can setup online payments. I have been very pleased with them. I have a student loan repayment bonus from the National Guard and they make once a year payments on the loan. They made one last August and I don't have a payment until May 2006. This August though I'm expecting another 1700ish loan payment from the Guard. That should kick me out to late 07 to early 08 to make a loan. I haven't figured it out, but I won't have to make a loan payment for a good couple of years which is OK with me due to the 1.62% interest rate. I've got more expensive loans to payoff like my mortgage.
fatbelly, I am in the process of consolidating with UHEAA. Before I turned in my application I asked them whether they will sell their loans. I posted their answer to this question in the student loan consolidatio thread...but essentially they said that they will not sell anyone's loans now and do not plan to because they service their own loans now, as opposed to before when they were just a guarantee service. Don't be too alarmed by emre100's post that his loan is now serviced through Nelnet. He probably consolidated with UHEAA when they were just a guarantee agency. either way, it sounds like Emre1000 still retained his borrower incentives despite his loans being serviced by Nelnet. I'll let you guys know how my UHEAA consolidation goes. Nobody in the original student loan consolidation thread have reported their UHEAA consolidation loan being sold yet. So most likely, your loan is safe with UHEAA. - Dave
Thanks for the input. One of the loans I consolodated is currently serviced by Nelnet, so I am very comfortable with them. Very easy to pay online.
The reason I brought this up, is because the incentives sound too good to be true. 1.25% is so much more than everyone else.
My loan should be processed by the end of this month, so I will post again once my loan is completely with them.
So far, so good. I have been impressed with UHEAA. Thanks for the input.
somdave2005 said:fatbelly, I am in the process of consolidating with UHEAA. Before I turned in my application I asked them whether they will sell their loans. I posted their answer to this question in the student loan consolidatio thread...but essentially they said that they will not sell anyone's loans now and do not plan to because they service their own loans now, as opposed to before when they were just a guarantee service. Don't be too alarmed by emre100's post that his loan is now serviced through Nelnet. He probably consolidated with UHEAA when they were just a guarantee agency. either way, it sounds like Emre1000 still retained his borrower incentives despite his loans being serviced by Nelnet. I'll let you guys know how my UHEAA consolidation goes. Nobody in the original student loan consolidation thread have reported their UHEAA consolidation loan being sold yet. So most likely, your loan is safe with UHEAA. - Dave
SeriusBlack said:I made the mistake of consolidating with AES Graduate Services. BIG mistake! Not only are their reps unknowledgeable, but they have a serious attitude problem. Once I receive another loan this Fall I'm consolidating them all together during the 180 day grace period. UHEAA sounds really good, another good company *I think* is Total Higher Education, website here. email Federal Loan Consolidation: Toll-Free 1-866-562-6672 Has anyone had any luck with this company or Southwest Student Services Corporation? My loans were originally with AES and Fulton, which I thought were two separate institutions. I filed my application for a consolidation loan with UHEAA, and was denied because they claimed that all my loans were with one lender, making me ineligible. So, I ended up consolidating with AES since I didn't really have a choice. They've been ok customer service-wise, but the perks aren't as nice as with UHEAA.
i just called uhhea right now and asked them if the borrower benefits were in writing. their response was less than optimal: "it isn't on the application but you can print our the brochure as proof." does anyone else find this troubling? do none of the other lenders have the terms of the borrow benefits in writing?
I'm not sure if putting borrower incentives is a common thing in consolidation loan promissory notes. I do not remember any mention of ANY borrower incentives on any of the other consolidation promissory notes that I've seen. Your brochure clearly states the borrower incentives however. I'm no lawyer, but I think that should be good enough since it's in writing. - Dave
somdave2005 said:I'm not sure if putting borrower incentives is a common thing in consolidation loan promissory notes. I do not remember any mention of ANY borrower incentives on any of the other consolidation promissory notes that I've seen. Your brochure clearly states the borrower incentives however. I'm no lawyer, but I think that should be good enough since it's in writing. - Dave
ironically, i am a graduating law student. more than anything, i wanted to see if there were any special exceptions or if not putting borrower benefits on the promissory notes was common. the benefits that uheaa are so great that it's almost hard to believe.
I apparently have only one lender, ALL student loan corp. How can it be fair for me to have to be bound by their terms, when someone like UHEAA offers such ridiculous incentives? Is there any way around this one lender rule? Moreover, I still can't believe teh UHEAA incentives, is there any proof to this?
one more thing...take a look at this page: Lender List does this mean that your lenders have to be on this list for you to receive the borrower incentives that everyone is going crazy over? for example, if my lenders are access group and citibank, it seems i would not qualify...
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