BC Student Loan Consolidation
You’ve finished your education, started your career, and now it is time to repay your BC student loans. Did you realize that you had so many different student loans? A British Columbia Student Loan consolidation makes it easier to get them all paid when repaying your BC student loans.
First, you need to distinguish between Canadian Student Loans and BC Student Loans. Canadian Student Loans come from the Canadian Federal Government. BC Student Loans come from the Province of British Columbia. The two separate types of loans cannot be consolidated together, because they are administered through two separate organizations – the BCSL and the NSLSC – or the British Columbia Student Loan Service Bureau and the National Student Loan Service Centre.
Start by consolidating your BC loans. This starts with a consolidation agreement. You do not have to seek out this agreement, or ask for it. This is automatically sent to you about a month and a half after you enter the repayment phase for your BC student loans. You simply fill out the agreement, and all of your BC student loans are consolidated, allowing you to make just one payment each month for those loans.
This only relates to Direct Lend BC Student Loans, as Risk Sharing and Guaranteed Student Loans are no longer issued. If you have those types of loans, you will have to make other arrangements for consolidation. The same is true for any student loans that you’ve received from a private financial institution.
Make sure that you read the consolidation agreement before signing it to ensure that the information is correct. If you have questions, contact the BCSL or Student Aid BC for clarification. The agreement should show details concerning your outstanding BC student loan balance, the amount that you will have to pay each month, the date that the payment is due each month, how long you will be paying the loan, the interest that is being charged on your loan, and the bank account information if you have elected to have your loan debited directly.
Through the BC student loan consolidation agreement, you also have the option of increasing your monthly payment, and changing your interest rate from a floating rate at prime plus 2.5% to fixed at prime plus 5%. You can change the bank account where the payments will be withdrawn from, and even change the date that your loan payment is due, to make it more convenient for you. If you do not change this date, the payment will automatically be deducted on the last day of each month.
Consolidating your BC Student Loans simply makes sense, which is why it is virtually an automated process for all students with more than one BC student loan. For example, if you attended school for four years, and you received student loans for all four years, you have at least four BC student loans, which need to be consolidated. Obviously, consolidation does not reduce the amount you owe, but it does make repaying what you owe more manageable, in terms of making the payments. It certainly beats sending eight different payments each month – one for each of your BC student loans, and one for each of your Canadian student loans. This is why you also need to take the time to consolidate your Canadian student loans as well, allowing you to make two payments per month, as opposed to eight payments.
For more information regarding how you can consolidate or repay your BC student loan visit: British Columbia student loan consolidation. For information regarding the consolidation of your Canadian Student Loans visit: Canada student loan consolidation.
