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Wiggy Marie
Jan 16, 2006

Meep!
OneZeroSix, the funds are normally disbursed to the school within 2 weeks of your first day of class. The school chooses the date of disbursement, so if you need the funds earlier you'll need to talk with the financial aid department of the school. I always recommend that students NOT rely on their disbursements for things like rent because they do not come in time most times.

From my experience schools always use these loans to settle balances they might have, but it's best to verify that with the bursar's office. Schools are wacky.

As for living on or off campus, unless they're going to pull random audits on students (which I've never heard of but who knows!) I can't imagine anything bad will come of it. Inevitably you're still paying the funds back. Your excess funds are your money. You can spend it on whatever you want. It's preferred that students spend it on education-related expenses but if you need a down payment for a car then hey, it's your money!

Don't worry about asking questions that've already come up, I don't expect you guys to read the entire thread before asking :)

Fatty Patty, we meet again! Nah, you don't need to notify them if the school updates through the NSLDS. It never hurts to call the servicer and make sure they get the updated information, though.

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Lyndon LaRouche
Sep 5, 2006

by Azathoth
I finally graduated! Now the reality of repayment hits soon. :/

I've got a number of loans (sub and unsub Stafford) serviced by Sallie Mae (from 2006-2008), one unsub Stafford serviced by Direct (which I got waaaaay back in 2002). The total balance for them all comes to around 30k and their interest rates range between 4~6.8%. I also have a private loan with about $300 left on the principal (and a nasty interest rate) that I'm just gonna pay off ASAP.

So, how best should I consolidate my federal loans and how do I get the lowest interest rate possible? Should I wait until my grace period ends on my Sallie Mae loans before doing this or get the ball rolling ASAP?

Wiggy Marie
Jan 16, 2006

Meep!
Well your interest rate will be a weighted average of all of your current rates. If you have all of your information (loan totals and rates) available, go ahead and give Direct a call. They can hold off the consolidation until your grace has expired, if I'm not mistaken. So you can get the paperwork ready to go and not have to worry about it later!

http://loanconsolidation.ed.gov/

Also, congratulations on that private loan balance! That's awesome. Get that sucker paid off.

Farcus
Jan 11, 2004
Togetha?
Ok so my mom was wrong on the rates but the guy she found working for a bank says (the loan officer) that their rates are between 3.5-4.5 depending on variables. The thing is I need at least 45k by August to officially enroll in pharmacy school. The loan officier says it'll take at least 6 month for this thing to process if it does process* (he says they get 20k applicants and takes only 120-150 people annually). So what are my best options right now? Stafford loan is so freaking high, and I have no credit so I don't know if I can do GradPlus.

Another thing, my parents own a restaurant for four - five years and if they cosign loan with me would I have better chance?

Also she keeps on hassleing me about educationfirst.com but whenever i go there its not a freaking loan website.

Also if i'm a student and my personal income for 2008 was like 550$ do i still have to file income tax?

Farcus fucked around with this message at 09:59 on May 20, 2009

Wiggy Marie
Jan 16, 2006

Meep!
Wow, lots of questions! I hope I get them all for ya!

By "this thing" do you mean the FAFSA? What thing would take 6 months? The FAFSA is estimated at 2-3 weeks for processing, depending on the time of year, so I'm not sure what other thing he's referring to.

What level student are you? Would this be considered graduate/professional level? If so you do have a fighting chance for a GradPLUS loan, and GradPLUs loans do accept an endorser if needed so you can go that way too. I will never recommend a private loan over a federal loan, for sure.

I've never heard of educationfirst.com, so stop trying to go there. You can however try simpletuition.com to shop for Staffords/GradPLUS incentives. But I can make the search easy for ya - there's hardly any incentives out there anymore :(

If you filed taxes last year then you need to include that information on your FAFSA.

I would need more information about your situation to get any more specific in my advice. Hope this helps!

Wiggy Marie
Jan 16, 2006

Meep!
Anyone reading this thread, I need your help. If you are a customer with NELNET can you please PM me? I have some questions for you about your account with them (nothing personal, would be general info).

Swine Flu
Apr 29, 2009

by Fistgrrl
Will marrying my girlfriend help declare myself independent and get more money for school?

Wiggy Marie
Jan 16, 2006

Meep!
Yes, if you are married you are considered independent on the FAFSA.

Swine Flu
Apr 29, 2009

by Fistgrrl

Wiggy Marie posted:

Yes, if you are married you are considered independent on the FAFSA.

Ok, so if we marry. (well common law affidavit) and we make less the 30,000 I should get boat loads of money for FA?

Wiggy Marie
Jan 16, 2006

Meep!
Well it would make you eligible for additional Stafford as an independent but the amount you're actually offered is determined by the FAFSA processing by the financial aid department. So really your answer is "maybe."

Swine Flu
Apr 29, 2009

by Fistgrrl

Wiggy Marie posted:

Well it would make you eligible for additional Stafford as an independent but the amount you're actually offered is determined by the FAFSA processing by the financial aid department. So really your answer is "maybe."

Well what do I have to do to get as much free school as possible? I went to adult prison when I was 17, my mom went to prison when I was 17, im 19 now. I mean what do I have to do to improve my chances?

Swine Flu fucked around with this message at 02:40 on May 21, 2009

Wiggy Marie
Jan 16, 2006

Meep!
There's not really a way to guarantee you'll get the maximum. Your best bet is to talk to the financial aid office of the school you're attending/want to attend, explain your situation and ask why they might find you eligible for. But you can't *know* until you file the FAFSA and they give you your awards package.

Roulette
Sep 17, 2006
My situation-

27, divorced, never gone to college, have poo poo credit with a score of 523, no co-signers available at all.

I want to stop working my 9-5 office job and go to community college full time for the next couple of years and get a degree, and work part time maybe for the school through Work Study or whatever I can do really.

I turned in my FAFSA back in mid-March or so for the Fall semester (EFC was 0 since I was unemployed most of last year) and I turned in my "Application for Financial Aid" at the community college here April 4th. I haven't heard a thing back from them! I have called a couple of times and they said I don't need to do anything more, that all my paperwork is good to go and I should have gotten an award letter 4-6 weeks after turning in my Application for Financial Aid. It's been 7 weeks now and still nothing.

Registration for new students in June 18th, and while yes that's still about a month away I'm starting to get paranoid about everything. I mean, I'm changing my entire life around and putting myself in huge debt presumably, and I can't make any living arrangements or future plans of any kind really until I get that letter and get this stuff figured out.

I'm also utterly confused about the entire loan process. From what I've been told, my FAFSA is my application for all my loans and grants. Is this correct? Does that mean that the Award letter will basically have multiple options for me to pick and choose from and if I feel I need them all I can pick them all, and just assume the responsibility of paying it all back after I graduate? Do I not need to apply for loans through my bank or Sallie Mae? Also, with such a crap credit score and no co-signer I'm scared I won't be able to get enough money to pay for school, books, supplies, AND living expenses like rent and food. Thankfully my monthly expenses are pretty low but I'm still worried since I don't want to live like a hobo:

Rent - $400 (Share a 2/2 with someone currently, can't change those plans until I know what my financial situation will be)
Utilities - $150
Car insurance - $55
Fuel - $60
Phone - $80
Groceries - $300 (estimate, I have no idea really, I eat at home often and split grocery cost with roommate usually)

Finally, I read that I won't actually see a dime of this money until about two weeks to a month in to the semester. What am I supposed to do for money until then? I'm trying to save up what I can now, but I'm not sure I'll have a large enough nest egg to balance quitting my full time office job and going to school until the time I get the money. Also, I think I have to pay the first portion of my tuition and my books out of pocket since I will have to pay for those before the semester even starts, is that correct? This is all so confusing!

Thanks for any help.

Roulette fucked around with this message at 16:35 on May 21, 2009

Sirotan
Oct 17, 2006

Sirotan is a seal.


I've skimmed a bit of this thread and didn't really see this addressed anywhere. I have just graduated and in about 6 months will get to begin paying off ~$75k worth of student loans. I don't have a job yet (yay me!) but that's besides the point right now. I guess I always thought that once I was out I would consolidate all my loans (75% with Direct Loans and the rest with Citibank) to lower the average interest rate and make my payments more manageable.

Well today I get some stuff in the mail from Direct Loans saying that I have to choose my repayment plan and send it back to them. The interest rate on all my Direct Loans is a fixed 6.80%, and from the brief searching I have done, it seems there is nothing I can do at all to decrease this. In fact if I were to consolidate all my Direct Loans into one, it would actually increase my interest rate by 1/8%. Hilariously, my private loans right now are all at a 4% variable rate, and will probably go down again after July 1. I guess I always assumed (a big mistake) that consolidating my student loans would be just like consolidating a mortgage: I'd shop around for a lender who would essentially pay off all my old loans and give me just *one* brand new loan to repay for x amount of years (probably many).

So my question I guess is, is there any way at all to reduce the interest rates of my Direct Loans? And I mean more than the 0.25% they offer for paying via your bank account and stuff like that?

dividebyzero
Jun 26, 2006

by angerbot
(Reposting from law school thread)

Ok, I have a lovely situation to contend with...

I have to pay off my tuition for last semester. I'd already applied for the GradPlus loans to take care of that, and assumed everything was more or less taken care of since I'd done it plenty of times before.

Turns out, I was denied because my credit score was too low. I thought I had flawless credit, so I wasn't sure what the problem was. It took about three and a half months of sleuthing to figure out that I'd been "identity jacked" and that was what hosed my credit up.

Needing to get the money in so I could register for the fall semester, I went and got a cosigner while the credit agencies slowly unfucked my score. I did this three weeks ago, figured everything would be okay and that my school would tell me that my balance was paid off and I could register. In the meantime, I busied myself with exams.

Approaching the registration deadline, I call the loan company to ask what's going on. Turns out the school never certified the loan, which they've done automatically in the past. I call the financial aid office and they tell me they never certified the loan because I never *told* them it needed to be certified. Since when do I need to tell them to certify loans?! Apparently, because I didn't tell them before May 12th, the school *can't* certify the loan which means I'll *have* to get a private loan instead (according to the financial aid officer).

I paid for undergrad out of pocket, so this world of loans and certifications is completely new and bizarre to me. Does this situation sound right? Is there any way I can avoid taking out a big honking private loan so I can register?! I'm pissed and worried :(

T0MSERV0
Jul 24, 2007

You shouldn't expect to defeat him, he is designed to be a war machine.

Sirotan posted:

I've skimmed a bit of this thread and didn't really see this addressed anywhere. I have just graduated and in about 6 months will get to begin paying off ~$75k worth of student loans. I don't have a job yet (yay me!) but that's besides the point right now. I guess I always thought that once I was out I would consolidate all my loans (75% with Direct Loans and the rest with Citibank) to lower the average interest rate and make my payments more manageable.

Well today I get some stuff in the mail from Direct Loans saying that I have to choose my repayment plan and send it back to them. The interest rate on all my Direct Loans is a fixed 6.80%, and from the brief searching I have done, it seems there is nothing I can do at all to decrease this. In fact if I were to consolidate all my Direct Loans into one, it would actually increase my interest rate by 1/8%. Hilariously, my private loans right now are all at a 4% variable rate, and will probably go down again after July 1. I guess I always assumed (a big mistake) that consolidating my student loans would be just like consolidating a mortgage: I'd shop around for a lender who would essentially pay off all my old loans and give me just *one* brand new loan to repay for x amount of years (probably many).

So my question I guess is, is there any way at all to reduce the interest rates of my Direct Loans? And I mean more than the 0.25% they offer for paying via your bank account and stuff like that?

Short of finding a person (and I do mean a person - banks aren't loaning money for unsecured debt at anything approaching a good rate) who'd be willing to front you the money as a personal loan or tying it into a secured debt (heloc or something), you can't get it lower.

However, federal student loan payments are going to be reworked in the next month or two such that you can reorganize them based on how much you're making rather than the size of the overall debt, so you may get options then when the new rules take effect. This may end up effecting only payment sizes rather than rates, but at least it's something.

Fill Baptismal
Dec 15, 2008
I'm about to about to enter college for the first time, and to attend the school that i want to attend, i'll have to take out about $21,000 per year in loans. My parents don't really approve of this, and so neither is willing to cosign (they want me to go to a cheaper school). I've never taken out a loan in my life before, and I don't know what to do without a cosigner. Is it even going to be possible to take out that much just on my own? Is it insane to take out $80,000 for undergrad? I'm pretty lost right now.

T0MSERV0
Jul 24, 2007

You shouldn't expect to defeat him, he is designed to be a war machine.

themrguy posted:

I'm about to about to enter college for the first time, and to attend the school that i want to attend, i'll have to take out about $21,000 per year in loans. My parents don't really approve of this, and so neither is willing to cosign (they want me to go to a cheaper school). I've never taken out a loan in my life before, and I don't know what to do without a cosigner. Is it even going to be possible to take out that much just on my own? Is it insane to take out $80,000 for undergrad? I'm pretty lost right now.

Undergrad in what program? At what school? 80k for undergrad is a lot, but it really depends on the degree and the caliber/notoriety of the school.

Fill Baptismal
Dec 15, 2008

T0MSERV0 posted:

Undergrad in what program? At what school? 80k for undergrad is a lot, but it really depends on the degree and the caliber/notoriety of the school.

I don't know, probably something in the social sciences, or maybe business. The School is Tulane.

Wiggy Marie
Jan 16, 2006

Meep!
T0MSERV0, thank you so much for your help! Sorry about the delays guys.

Roulette, first I'd suggest contacting the financial aid offices and asking them what your awards are/were. They also post these online at a lot of colleges, if there's a student portal you can enter. Even if you haven't gotten the package you can get the info, and they're obligated to give you the numbers if you ask.

You're correct that the FAFSA is your application for federal loans and grants, which is why the awards package is so important. Once you've gotten the awards package, if it's not enough you can contact the financial aid department about appealing what they've decided. Some schools allow appeals and some don't. If you still can't get enough through federal loans then you'll need to turn to private loans - but if you have no co-signer and bad credit your chances of getting one are extremely slim. Don't apply for ANY other kind of loan until you know for sure what your awards package for federal funding shows. Stick to the federal loans battle, and good luck!

As for finances, you can discuss the first date of disbursement with your school and see if they can move it up for you. I always tell students NOT to use these funds for their budgets because the timing on them varies all over the place. But you can try working with your financial aid office and see what they can do for you! Worst comes to worst, explain your situation to your professors and that you intend to buy your class supplies as soon as possible, then make use of the textbooks available in the school library or make friends with someone else in your classes. I saw kids do that in my own college and lots of them even ended up not even buying the textbooks, giving them more funds for other necessities/pizza/whatever :)

dividebyzero, likely what they're talking about is you accepting the funds. If the student doesn't accept the funds, either in writing or online through a student portal, then the school cannot certify them. Did you ask the financial aid office what you need to do to let them know the certify the loans? If not, call them up again and ask what the fastest method will be. That nonsense about the loans no longer being available is nonsense, though. If they push that issue you can call your Ombudsman and take the issue higher up, because forcing a student to take out private loans rather than the federal loans they're eligible for is wrong.

themrguy, people have done it but the act of paying them off later always makes them regret it - unless they have Mom and Dad footing most of the bill. Are you certain that you want to take out THAT much debt for a degree? Is there no other university you can attend instead that's cheaper? What's your personal situation? There's a lot of variables that need to be taken into account to give you a fair assessment.

Roulette
Sep 17, 2006

Wiggy Marie posted:



Roulette, first I'd suggest contacting the financial aid offices and asking them what your awards are/were. They also post these online at a lot of colleges, if there's a student portal you can enter. Even if you haven't gotten the package you can get the info, and they're obligated to give you the numbers if you ask.

You're correct that the FAFSA is your application for federal loans and grants, which is why the awards package is so important. Once you've gotten the awards package, if it's not enough you can contact the financial aid department about appealing what they've decided. Some schools allow appeals and some don't. If you still can't get enough through federal loans then you'll need to turn to private loans - but if you have no co-signer and bad credit your chances of getting one are extremely slim. Don't apply for ANY other kind of loan until you know for sure what your awards package for federal funding shows. Stick to the federal loans battle, and good luck!

As for finances, you can discuss the first date of disbursement with your school and see if they can move it up for you. I always tell students NOT to use these funds for their budgets because the timing on them varies all over the place. But you can try working with your financial aid office and see what they can do for you! Worst comes to worst, explain your situation to your professors and that you intend to buy your class supplies as soon as possible, then make use of the textbooks available in the school library or make friends with someone else in your classes. I saw kids do that in my own college and lots of them even ended up not even buying the textbooks, giving them more funds for other necessities/pizza/whatever :)

Thanks for the advice, it's helpful for sure. The only thing though, is that I've contacted the Financial Aid office a few times now and they just keep telling me to wait for my letter even though I have no holds and turned everything in in early March. I have to register for class June 18th and I'm starting to get antsy about the lack of any financial aid updates and the totally unhelpful attitude of the staff in the Financial Aid office. Is there anyone I can contact over the school? Anyone involved with the FAFSA? Sorry if that's a dumb question, I just honestly have no idea about any of this.

Wiggy Marie
Jan 16, 2006

Meep!
Not a dumb question, no worries! This stuff isn't exactly easy to navigate!

The ombudsman is really the only person you can contact above the school. What you can do is go into the financial aid office/call them and ask specifically if your awards letter is ready yet. If they say yes then ask them for the numbers, and if they still insist on you waiting for the letter then keep pushing. It sounds like a case of LAZY FINANCIAL AID STAFF. Ugh.

Barring that yes, you can contact the ombudsman (you'd need to get the contact info from the school) and explain your situation.

Roulette
Sep 17, 2006

Wiggy Marie posted:

Not a dumb question, no worries! This stuff isn't exactly easy to navigate!

The ombudsman is really the only person you can contact above the school. What you can do is go into the financial aid office/call them and ask specifically if your awards letter is ready yet. If they say yes then ask them for the numbers, and if they still insist on you waiting for the letter then keep pushing. It sounds like a case of LAZY FINANCIAL AID STAFF. Ugh.

Barring that yes, you can contact the ombudsman (you'd need to get the contact info from the school) and explain your situation.

Fantastic! Thank you so much, you have removed a great deal of confusion/stress.

Wiggy Marie
Jan 16, 2006

Meep!
No problem! Good luck!

dividebyzero
Jun 26, 2006

by angerbot

Wiggy Marie posted:

dividebyzero, likely what they're talking about is you accepting the funds. If the student doesn't accept the funds, either in writing or online through a student portal, then the school cannot certify them. Did you ask the financial aid office what you need to do to let them know the certify the loans? If not, call them up again and ask what the fastest method will be. That nonsense about the loans no longer being available is nonsense, though. If they push that issue you can call your Ombudsman and take the issue higher up, because forcing a student to take out private loans rather than the federal loans they're eligible for is wrong.

Thanks for your reply, Wiggly! However, I don't think that's the case here. There generally isn't any sort of method provided by which students can "accept" their funds here. I got the impression that they're not willing to certify the loan simply because with the rush of first-year students applying for them now, that it'd be *inconvenient* for the school itself to certify it because I didn't do it in time. Now, I agree, it doesn't make any sort of sense to have to get a private loan when I'm already eligible for federal, and I'm not gonna do it besides even if it means delaying graduation by a semester.

But again, thanks for your help. Not aware of any ombudsmen we have, but I did write the Dean of Students and will report back with what he says.

Realjones
May 16, 2004

themrguy posted:

I'm about to about to enter college for the first time, and to attend the school that i want to attend, i'll have to take out about $21,000 per year in loans. My parents don't really approve of this, and so neither is willing to cosign (they want me to go to a cheaper school). I've never taken out a loan in my life before, and I don't know what to do without a cosigner. Is it even going to be possible to take out that much just on my own? Is it insane to take out $80,000 for undergrad? I'm pretty lost right now.

Completely insane for a non-Ivy league school, especially if your parents aren't paying for it. Please go to a cheap public state school. You might not be 100% thrilled with it now, but I guarantee you that in 10 years when you look back and are debt free you'll be happy you did. You aren't even sure of your major; you don't want to be the guy who's making $40K a year with 80 grand in loans (there are far too many examples of this out there).

Let me offer you a window to the future. $80K in undergrad loans in $700 a month for 15 years! Don't go to Tulane if you have to take out loans. Once you get your first job it won't matter were you went to school. You'll have as much fun at a state school as you would at Tulane - college is college. You may have your heart set on Tulane, but this is one of those times you should listen to your parents.

Wiggy Marie
Jan 16, 2006

Meep!
Listen to Realjones. Trust me.

I'm still looking for someone with a Nelnet account, if anyone is willing. I got one taker (thank you very much!!!) but I'm still looking for information. Specifically what I'm looking for is email vs. paper - what do they email to you versus what is sent by mail? Did you ever opt in to the emails? Did you receive notification?

My one glorious taker mentioned receiving a postcard. If anyone has a copy of that by any chance I'd love you forever!

Thanks guys!

madkapitolist
Feb 5, 2006
I am super poor and go to UCSB, I never had to pay out of pocket because the UC grant, pell grant, and some other grant covers my entire tuition. I am planning on being in school for a 5th year, will these grants most likely cover my 5th year or is this something I have to talk to my financial aid advisor about?

Wiggy Marie
Jan 16, 2006

Meep!
You'll need to discuss that with your financial aid adviser. There's a possibility that the grant may have a time limit, but a lot of them will cover up to 5 years these days. Check the terms of the grant you receive and get with your adviser to see what they say :)

LiterallyAnything
Jul 11, 2008

by vyelkin
I work for college admissions and I know the institution I work for no longer uses the "FFEL Program" (Stafford loans through lenders) but instead we do Federal Direct Loans. Now, I missed the workshop we had on this, so I'm still sketchy on the details.

I guess my question for you is, how does this affect your company? I'm not sure WHY my intuition decided to make the switch, but I imagine it has something to do with the economy? From what I understand, students can still gets loans from lenders, but we are treating them as "third party" loans, which are usually put on lower priority and take longer to process.

What are the benefits, for the student, to getting a Direct Loan from the government as opposed to a Stafford Loan from a lender?


Even though I don't work in Financial Aid, it's good information to know, plus I'm still a student myself. Feel free to school me on anything I got wrong too, Financial Aid is not my strong point.

Wiggy Marie
Jan 16, 2006

Meep!
Hey Brady, in answer to your question I'm going to quote one of my own posts instead of rewrite it. The short version is that Congress passed a budget which put yet another nail or three into the FFEL program, which means a lot of schools are going to be switching to Direct in the next year. There's still a gasping hope for FFELP right now but it's a gasping hope.



Wiggy Marie posted:

Ok everyone, I figured I'd go ahead and write this post as an FYI.

The budget that was passed this week in Congress includes what they call reconciliation language, specifically translating to elimination of the FFELP program to save money and reinvest it into Pell grants and Direct lending. The idea is the the private sector (FFELP) will be entirely gone by 2010 and you students will have no choice but to use Direct.

Yes, Direct. With its notoriously horrible servicing. Don't go there. At least they do offer good programs to you guys, depending on your major.

There was some language included which demands that the current private sector receive some purpose in the upcoming years. We do not yet know if that means the current companies can stay and originate loans, will be relegated to servicing loans for Direct (a contract that is already being bid on by various servicers around the country), or what. The language is ridiculously vague so that honest answer is no one knows what the hell is happening.

What this means for you guys is that you will be seeing quite a few colleges dropping the FFELP program and shifting everything over to Direct. It's estimated that the average time for this shift to be a comfortable fit is 9 months, including learning new systems/programs and all the training involved. What all of this translates to for you students is a potential drop in quality customer service from both your school and your servicer as they deal with the new changes.

Another potential that many of you may be facing is that some of your loans are being sold to Direct. This was a program created last year which allows any FFELP lender to "put" their loans with Direct, who immediately pays the total of those loans and gives the lender additional capital to fund additional loans. Originally this program was supposed to be temporary. As of right now all signs point to permanency.

Right now the atmosphere in the FFELP sector is leaning toward "confused". It's not a dead industry yet, but it's fair to say that it's dying a little bit more every day as schools either switch to Direct or drop federal funding entirely. I wanted to make you guys aware of these changes so that they don't blindside you in the coming months.

that one guy
Jun 3, 2005
http://www.fastweb.com/financial-aid/articles/525-interest-rates-on-federal-education-loans-to-drop-july-1

According to that article, on July 1st people will be able to consolidate Stafford and Plus loans down to 2%.

It appears I am out of luck. My wife and I accumulated about $90k in Stafford Loans at 6.8%, starting in 2007. According to the article the only people eligible to consolidate down at 2% are those whose loans originated before July 1st, 2006.

I am pretty sure we're out of luck...I just want to confirm...I am properly reading the article, right? Our loans are all Stafford Loans, and all originated in 2007-2009. drat.

Wiggy Marie
Jan 16, 2006

Meep!
Yep. After July 1st 2006 the annual rate changed from variable to fixed, so any loans you have after that will be fixed at the rate you received. Sorry man :(

that one guy
Jun 3, 2005
Weak! Thanks for confirming my suspicions, anyway.

FyRe
Jul 28, 2003

I gotta stop laughing or I'll run out of room.
How "adverse" does credit have to be in order to be denied gradplus? I have bunch of past delinquencies on my record but all my accounts are now current. Am I hosed with regards to gradplus? If I manage to convince parents to co-sign loan, would I need good credit to be able to consolidate them onto my Stafford loans? (my parents would not co-sign otherwise)

Edit - nevermind, I'm hosed.

FyRe fucked around with this message at 21:40 on Jun 10, 2009

DrBouvenstein
Feb 28, 2007

I think I'm a doctor, but that doesn't make me a doctor. This fancy avatar does.
Quick question:

I qualify to have my loans put on forbearance because my total payments (through four different lenders, no less) are more than 20% of my income (I pay over $600 a month...)

I already did one 12-month period of forbearance for this same reason...does that mean I only have 24 months left, or is it 36 months "per time?"

Wiggy Marie
Jan 16, 2006

Meep!
Sorry FyRe :(

DrBouvenstein, it's 36 months total so you have 24 months left. I do have one question for you - is it a forbearance, specifically? Or is it a deferment? There's a pretty big difference in the two and if you qualify for a forbearance then you should qualify for the economic hardship deferment as well, which would stop interest on your subsidized.

TheShadowAvatar
Nov 25, 2004

Ain't Nothing But A Family Thing

I have been told I need to fill out a maximum timeframe petition in order to continue receiving financial aid. This is only my 6th quarter on Financial Aid, two years equvilent and the rest of my credits were from an AA plus my general fuckery that I did when I was 18-19 and very dumb.

Will the Review Team that has to look over my petition care about that at all? This seems pretty weak that they're taking those credits into consideration, I don't want to be an undergrad forever I frankly hate it.

DrBouvenstein
Feb 28, 2007

I think I'm a doctor, but that doesn't make me a doctor. This fancy avatar does.

Wiggy Marie posted:

Sorry FyRe :(

DrBouvenstein, it's 36 months total so you have 24 months left. I do have one question for you - is it a forbearance, specifically? Or is it a deferment? There's a pretty big difference in the two and if you qualify for a forbearance then you should qualify for the economic hardship deferment as well, which would stop interest on your subsidized.

So what's the point of having both, if qualifying for the bad one means you also qualify for the good one?

It sucks, because I have a job that is extremely defendant on the economy (waiting tables.) The recession means not only less people coming in to eat, but a lot of them are saving money by tipping less. :(

Sure, lots of people have lots their jobs entirely, so I'm doing better than them, but it's still a LOT worse than even just a year ago.

Edit: Ok, I looked at the difference, and no, it doesn't seem like I qualify for a deferment. It's not that I don't make too little money, it's that I pay too much in loans, so they meet that 20% minimum required for the forbearance, even though my monthly gross income is over the limit for the deferment, by just a few hundred.

DrBouvenstein fucked around with this message at 19:00 on Jun 11, 2009

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zoecore
Dec 23, 2003

I've been advised to cross post this from the small questions thread.

Help...

I am from the us and I've been living in the UK for about 7 years. I have student loans in the US. Up until very recently, I had a US bank account that received regular deposits, which I used to pay my US student loans. I no longer have that account and all of my money is in the UK.

I am having a miserable time trying to find a way to pay my student loans in the US. I have contacted the company and they will not take a payment from a UK debit card. I have no idea why. The best advice they can give me that I can send a check for the amount in UK£ (which will have to be sent at least two weeks in advance to ensure the payment is on time) and then they will cash the check and whatever the current exchange rate is. This may result in me overpaying (which is not a problem) or underpaying (which is a problem, because then I will get a late fee).

I thought about maybe doing something through Paypal, but of course I will get a fee from there as well. You would think a major loan provider would have a bank account sent up in other countries or have an easy way to pay. I'm certainly not the only person to move abroad!

More: I've just been on the phone to the student loan people and they have advised me to send a Western Union transfer every month, which will cost me a fee and be a pain in the rear end. So I called my bank and they said they can pay US bills on my behalf, but it will be a fee of £13 per transaction. My partner and I have two student loans each (with different companies) so that means we would be paying £56 (which right now is about $90) per month for the privilege of paying a bill. This is totally unacceptable and frustrating!

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