Superexciting topic: Private student loan consolidation

[HeartofCheese]

I applied for a fixed rate loan consolidating my current private loans and they asked for a co-signer. Without going into details, please trust that I am an excellent candidate for a loan, so I'm thinking of shopping around. Their rate isn't that competitive and - in fact - they won't even tell me the rate I would get with a co-signer for me to even decide if it's worth my time. So I'm thinking of doing more shopping for a different loan consolidator. So anyone who has consolidated private loans:

1. Did you need a co-signer?

2. Is a co-signer requirement standard for a consolidation loan? 

[waverly]

Nope and nope.

[mustardseed2007]

I did not need a cosigner and I probably had a lot less money than you when I consolidated my loans.

When I did consolidate my loans it was not at a great rate and today me would have told the me that consolidated to shop around or wait.

[sdlaura]

mustardseed2007 is there a prepayment penalty, or could you get a better rate from someone else now?

[mustardseed2007]

sdlaura , no the good news is that it had no prepayment penalty and I actually paid the consolidated loan (and my other loans) off -- before we had kids I made this a big priority and sank all my extra money into paying off debt.


ETA: But! I didn't need to consolidate for the interest rate they were giving me. KWIM? 

[sdlaura]

Got it mustardseed2007!

[sandandsea]

Dh and I both did this after graduation back in 2002-2003 ish. We didn’t need a co-signer. It was to get a lower fixed rate and we made sure there was no prepayment penalty. It was pretty simple from what I remember. I’d shop around more.