Should You Consolidate Your Student Loans with a Mortgage Refinance?

Do you have an existing student loan that you want to pay-off? There is one strategy that you might want to use to pull this off.

Hello, this is Noel Dalmacio, your ultimate CPA at LowerMyTaxNow.

Due to the lower interest rate, consolidating your student loan debt by using a mortgage refinance is one of your best options. However, before pursuing this option, here are the pros and cons that you need to consider:

Pros

1. Take advantage of lower interest rate – if your student loan interest rate is higher than your mortgage rate, then you can save money.
2. Lower monthly payments – by consolidating and having a lower interest rate and longer term, your monthly payment will be lower.
3. Tax deductibility of the mortgage payment if structured as home equity loan. Equity loan up to $100K is tax deductible no matter how you used the proceeds for.

Cons

1. You are converting an unsecured debt (student loan) into a secured debt (mortgage) once you consolidate it via mortgage refinance. If you cannot pay for your home, you are putting your home at risk of foreclosure.
2. Pay more interest if you consolidate. If your student loan has 10 or 15 years, you will be extending your payment period to another 15 or 20 years. That means you will be paying more interest over time.
3. Incur refinance closing costs. Need to account for additional closing costs when analyzing the benefit of consolidation.

So if you decide to do this, please carefully consider the pros and cons before consolidating your student loans with your mortgage refinance.

Until then, this is Noel Dalmacio, your ultimate CPA at lowermytaxnow.com.