You likely
owe multiple lenders and must write separate checks or make separate payments to each, usually with different due dates.
Not exact matches
Simply put, the debt to income ratio expresses the relation between the total amount that you are earning and the total amount that you
owe as debt to one or
multiple lenders.
If you
owe multiple student loans to
multiple lenders and student loan programs at a variety of interest rates, it might make sense to consolidate your loans into one monthly payment at one interest rate.
With debt consolidation, all of your debt is typically restructured into one loan that encompasses everything you
owe - you then repay your new
lender on a monthly basis, most typically with reduced interest and smaller payments as opposed to what you were paying to a stack of
multiple lenders previously.
The problem compounds itself when you
owe multiple debts to various
lenders, and have rising payments on a fixed income.