As tuition costs rise, so does the need for college aid. This means students are obtaining more than one student loan to get through the years at college. When it comes time to pay all those loans, they become unmanageable, trying to pay several different payments to several different lenders. With consolidation, borrowers can merge all their loans into one and only having to make one payment a month.

For those with poor credit, finding a lender to consolidate loans is a tough one. Many times a co-signer is required. Yet changes are happening fast within the student loan debt environment. One company, Earnest, is a trailblazer for other loan consolidation companies. There are limited consolidation companies who take on those with bad credit.

Earnest Student Loan Consolidation

The leading contender now in student loan consolidation companies is a newcomer called Earnest which is a San Francisco based company that provides personal loans to those with less than perfect credit. The reason they are becoming wildly popular is because they have pioneered a new approach to tackling student loans. In 2014, Earnest processed a whopping $8 million in personal loans. They are that good.

So what makes Earnest different? They have created an innovative algorithm which uses between 80,000 to 100,000 data points for helping give borrowers a fair chance in loan repayments. It is called ‘merit-based’ lending. With this concept, Earnest uses thousands of data points to qualify borrowers and then assign a much lower interest rate. It basically boils down to giving borrowers a personalized interest rate.

They offer both fixed and variable interest rates as low as 1.92% leading up to 7.5% with flexible terms ranging from 5 to 20 years.

On top of this, Earnest appeals to people with scarred credit histories. They have easy eligibility requirements for their loan process.

Eligibility Requirements

  • Must have completed an eligible undergraduate or graduate degree program
  • Must be a U.S. Citizen or Permanent Resident
  • Applicants must be employed or have written job offer
  • Must live in one of 30 eligible U.S. states

Earnest’s Unique Benefits

  • Commitment-free 2-minute rate check
  • Check your rate in minutes without any effect on your credit score
  • No set credit score or income requirements
  • Earnest uses thousands of data points to evaluate financial responsibility
  • Change your loan as your life and needs change
  • Switch between fixed and variable rates and adjust due dates to suit your needs
  • Skip a payment once a year
  • Superior customer service
  • No interviews or repetitive document processing
  • No hidden fees, no late fees

The bottom line it is very clear Earnest is out to help borrowers with debt relief. Their website is thoroughly explained. They educate borrowers on the whole loan process. Earnest load consolidation is the go-to company for help with student loan debt.

Another good company to consolidate your student loans with bad credit would be AchieveLending. Com. Achieve Lending was founded in 2014 as a loan comparison tool to help people find the absolute best loan for their individual needs. Users can compare shop and search for the top loan providers at Achieve Lending. They provide multiple loan types in customized results. Because they are a new start up company, Achieve Lending is also bending the rules and creating new ones. They are simplifying the loan process down to a mere 30 seconds. Achieve Lending is the first tool of its kind to aggregate loan offers from over 40 in under 30 seconds.

Federal Student Loan Consolidation Options

Two federal programs which currently offer bad credit student loan consolidation are the Direct Consolidation Loan program and the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) Applicants for these programs may apply online. Be prepared to have existing loan information available to complete the application. These loans do not require credit history checks, as they are a part of the guaranteed loan program offered by the federal government.

Eligibility for federal consolidation loans is confined to those students who have already graduated, as are subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford Loans, Perkins Loans, Health Education Assistance loans, and Nursing Loans.

Interest rates on federal consolidation loans are always fixed, and are calculated by taking a weighted-average between the interest rates of the borrower’s existing loans and how much of the total debt each existing loan represents.