|
With the recent cut in interest rates, how do you think the rates for student loans will change? If I remember correctly, they aren't usually revised until the summer.
|
#
?
Jan 24, 2008 06:50
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 11, 2024 12:10 |
|
|
That is correct, and unfortunately since they've been fixed they will NOT be directly affected by anything that happens to other interest rates. Private loans should be affected, though. As of July 1st of this year, the interest rate on the Federel Stafford Subsidized loan will drop annually for the next 4-5 years. That's right, the subsidized only. All you kids with unsubsidized get to keep that fabulous 6.8% fixed rate.
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2008 00:02
|
|
|
I'm 25 and want to go to school this fall. I'm living on my own. I have a crappy part time job where I only make about 300 per week so I've decided I want to get a degree. I'm curious if anyone knows how easily I will be able to get student loans. I only just got my first credit card. By the time I will be applying for student loans the oldest account on my credit history will be about 8 months. Am I going to be able to get approved to pay for school? I don't have anyone that can co-sign my loans.
|
|
#
?
Jan 29, 2008 18:15
|
|
|
Skycks posted:I'm 25 and want to go to school this fall. I'm living on my own. I have a crappy part time job where I only make about 300 per week so I've decided I want to get a degree. I'm curious if anyone knows how easily I will be able to get student loans. I only just got my first credit card. By the time I will be applying for student loans the oldest account on my credit history will be about 8 months. Am I going to be able to get approved to pay for school? I don't have anyone that can co-sign my loans.
|
|
#
?
Jan 29, 2008 21:23
|
|
|
I was just accepted to a two-year master's degree program in the UK. I'll know about funding by February 8th. If I get funding, I'll need to take out about $20k in loans to complete the program. If I don't get funding, I'll need to take out about $80k in loans to complete the program (I probably won't go if I don't get funding). Will I be able to take out student loans to go to school abroad? Does that affect my eligibility at all?
|
|
#
?
Jan 29, 2008 21:57
|
|
|
Where can I get a student loan for 5,000$ with somewhere between 3-4 years of good credit (before that i had no credit) with little income? edit: the loan will also need to be uncertified as i have already borrowed the max "COA" my school has determined.
|
|
#
?
Jan 29, 2008 22:58
|
|
|
murderknobs posted:Where can I get a student loan for 5,000$ with somewhere between 3-4 years of good credit (before that i had no credit) with little income?
|
|
#
?
Jan 29, 2008 23:14
|
|
|
This may not be your thing, but I have some massive private loans for law school that I'm curious about. Currently, my loan interest rate is pegged to the 3-month Libor + 2.55%. There are random incentives for repayment thrown in as well. Is this a decent rate? Will it be going down with the fed rate cuts? Should I consolidate at some point? Should I switch to a different lender for my last year? The other potential options are all tied to the prime rate
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2008 02:19
|
|
|
Foucault's Dog posted:This may not be your thing, but I have some massive private loans for law school that I'm curious about. Currently, my loan interest rate is pegged to the 3-month Libor + 2.55%. There are random incentives for repayment thrown in as well. Is this a decent rate? Will it be going down with the fed rate cuts? Should I consolidate at some point? Should I switch to a different lender for my last year? The other potential options are all tied to the prime rate I have a ton of private loans as well, and as of now I am not going to mess with them. The interest rate on all of them has gone down 1% since the feds starting dropping the rate. I'm not sure if the 75 point drop done a couple weeks ago has been updated yet or not. If I were going to consolidate, I would only do it if I'd be getting a better interest rate with no origination/other crappy fees.
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2008 04:40
|
|
|
wolffenstein posted:I'm sure there's plenty out there, but off the top my head I only know about My Rich Uncle. I have heard of MRU but I would like to see if there are any other options first. Does anyone know of a site that isnt MRU?
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2008 16:58
|
|
|
murderknobs posted:I have heard of MRU but I would like to see if there are any other options first. Does anyone know of a site that isnt MRU? There's a ton of them out there...Monticello, Astrive, Citibank, GE Money, Nellie Mae...the simpletuition site linked in the original post has a bunch too. http://www.simpletuition.com/undergraduate/form
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2008 17:49
|
|
|
Skycks posted:There's a ton of them out there...Monticello, Astrive, Citibank, GE Money, Nellie Mae...the simpletuition site linked in the original post has a bunch too. Preferably I would like to deal with someone that someone on here has personal experience with, some of those places have low income requirements (like 12k) but I dont reach that, others dont mention a limit and I'd like to know my chances of approval without having to take all the hits on my credit report.
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2008 00:51
|
|
|
Sorry for the wait guys! Skycks, what wolffenstein said in regards to private loans. You would likely be able to take out federal Staffords as those have nothing to do with credit. Staffords do not have co-signers and are based on income and dependancy status, not credit. Also, thank you for recommending some private loan lenders to our fellow goon  Intaglio5, it depends on the school. If they are recognized as an accredited institution by the US Dept. of Ed, you can use Staffords, but you would need to contact the school for private loan programs they participate with. murderknobs, the only place I ever recommend for shopping for private loans is simpletuition.com, OR checking the school's website to see who they list. I don't have any company that I prefer over another; I think they're all the devil Foucault's Dog, since your interest rate is based on the London index and not prime here in the States, I am going to assume that it would not be affected by what's going on. This is not my forte by any means so I may be wrong, but it seems logical to me that the LIBOR doesn't care what's happening Stateside. Prime-based private loans are being affected. Realjones, I believe you are making the right decision. The only benefit consolidation has is extending repayment periods, when it comes to private loans. 99% of private loan consolidations do NOT have a fixed interest rate, so if you can afford the payments as they are I recommend you leave them separated. Thank you to those who answered in my absence. I'm glad to see the thread is semi self-sustaining.
|
|
#
?
Feb 2, 2008 18:13
|
|
|
I also wanted to add that if anyone needs immediate help, I have my AOL account in my profile and I never mind being contacted with questions. I promise I don't bite, and that way you don't always have to wait 2-5 days for me to get on here and freakin' reply.
|
|
#
?
Feb 2, 2008 18:15
|
|
|
Wiggy Marie posted:Foucault's Dog, since your interest rate is based on the London index and not prime here in the States, I am going to assume that it would not be affected by what's going on. This is not my forte by any means so I may be wrong, but it seems logical to me that the LIBOR doesn't care what's happening Stateside. Prime-based private loans are being affected. The LIBOR rate actually follows the prime rate almost exactly. Check out: http://www.moneycafe.com/library/1mlibor.htm vs. http://www.moneycafe.com/library/prime.htm The graphs are almost totally the same.
|
|
#
?
Feb 3, 2008 04:50
|
|
|
quote:Realjones, I believe you are making the right decision. The only benefit consolidation has is extending repayment periods, when it comes to private loans. 99% of private loan consolidations do NOT have a fixed interest rate, so if you can afford the payments as they are I recommend you leave them separated. I'm actually considering consolidating if my credit is good enough to get the best interest rate, which at several places is equal to the prime rate. I could care less about the repayment being extended since I'm going to pay them off somewhat early anyway, but knocking my interest rate down 2-3% is certainly worth it. Obviously it would still be variable, but prime is better than prime + 2%.
|
|
#
?
Feb 3, 2008 04:57
|
|
|
Thank you! That is VERY good to know. I cannot stress this enough, guys: I am not in private loans. I don't deal with them in any capacity. I can't recommend any one company over another. I do not know what the rates are or could be and I don't know the programs in and out. If you ask me who I would recommend my answer will always amount to "shop around." Seriously! Realjones, if you can fix at a nice low rate, that is always worth it.
|
|
#
?
Feb 4, 2008 23:56
|
|
|
I signed up to that national database that shows all my loans and I noticed a Federal Perkins loan for 1,700$ that doesn't seem to be paid off (still has 1,700 outstanding principal). The thing is, I logged into my school's billing account and its paid off there since I remember my dad gave me some money for it since it was unsubsidized and I didn't know back then that I had to start paying it off then or interest would accrue. My question is, why is the loan on there, shouldn't I have paid it off? My bill for that summer was zero
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2008 00:33
|
|
|
cLin posted:I signed up to that national database that shows all my loans and I noticed a Federal Perkins loan for 1,700$ that doesn't seem to be paid off (still has 1,700 outstanding principal). The thing is, I logged into my school's billing account and its paid off there since I remember my dad gave me some money for it since it was unsubsidized and I didn't know back then that I had to start paying it off then or interest would accrue. Perkins is very subsidized man, it's pretty much the cadillac of subsidized loans. Maybe you didn't pay off what you think you paid off? NSLDS is usually the authority on this matter. You should contact your school's Perkins office. They should be able to let you know if you're square or not. Could be they never reported your debt as paid w/NSLDS
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2008 18:04
|
|
|
Thank you Raskol! What he said, with just a little sidenote to add: When did you pay off the Perkins? The NSLDS can take a while to update. But calling the office is the best thing to do, bar none.
|
|
#
?
Feb 6, 2008 00:29
|
|
|
Almost two years ago. I guess I should call them up. Is there anyway to login and check? It's not showing up on SallieMae but I figured it wouldn't since they aren't the same company?
|
|
#
?
Feb 6, 2008 06:26
|
|
|
That's correct. Unless you consolidated your Perkins loan with your Sallie loans, it would still be in the school's system, not anywhere else. Does the NSLDS show that it has defaulted? If not there's a chance it may have just never been updated properly...hopefully.
|
|
#
?
Feb 6, 2008 13:28
|
|
|
I'm curious to know if I should consider consolidating my loans. I have 6 Federal Stafford loans from Citibank/StudentLoan corporation. They total around $25,000 and most are 6.8% interest with one or two at 6.62%. I just finished my Master's in January. Since most of the loans are fairly small (less than $4,000) I'm wondering if it isn't just a better idea to pay them off on their own. I'm actually considering just paying the one I got earliest off since it's at $4,000 now and I have the money to do it. My income will soon be lessened a little because my parents are making me pay them $200 a month to cover some of the loans in their name that are starting to be due but I don't foresee myself having any real money problems. So bottom line, should I worry about consolidating or just pay off normally. And is there any reason I shouldn't pay off that first loan if I have the money?
|
|
#
?
Feb 7, 2008 23:22
|
|
|
I have always wanted to know, when applying for a loan and it says "mortgage/rent", if you were gonna use the loan money to pay your housing in full, would you put 0$ here? It is my understanding that they are measuring how much money you bring in per month versus how many bills you have? So if you are putting food/housing/transportation into the budget for school, technically you have no bills during the year. I get a 212$ check from my fathers social security every month, and have for years, so for my Teri loan I used this as my proof of income and I got approved. Now that I need more money I am looking into private loans and I want to make sure that I have "sufficient" income and a positive income to debt ratio. Do they consider student loans in the income to debt ratio? Wouldn't that be a little counterproductive? Obviously if I am applying for a loan I do not make enough money to put myself through school. What exactly are they looking for here? If I have 0 debt besides student loans, Even though I am only bringing in confirmed income of 212$ a month, wouldnt my income to debt ratio be positive?
|
|
#
?
Feb 10, 2008 20:54
|
|
|
I make about 32,000 dollars a years. I dont have much to pay off in terms of bills, just a few things every couple of months (car insurance, cell phone, and student loans). I owe about 17,000 dollars in student loans at a 4.25% interest rate. My question is this, Should I pay double the payments or pay a big fat lump some towards my student loans (I have about 15k in the bank). Or should I just keep paying the minimum 75 Every month? Im thinking about putting my cash into an HSBC online account, simply because of the 5% interest. Should I just pay the debt off slowly every month or should I try to knock it out ASAP? I hate having 17k in Cash that I owe. Im also thinking of going back to get my masters, Which will cost me about a total of 8k. How available are student loans for 24 year old grad students?
|
|
#
?
Feb 10, 2008 21:20
|
|
|
Cael, in a situation like yours, if you can afford the payments as they are, I would not recommend consolidation. The only benefit it really would have for you is to lower monthly installments (your interest rate would actually fix at a little above 6.8%). The 6.8% is already fixed, so that's no incentive to consolidate. I say unless you need those lower payments, leave them alone. Also no, no reason you shouldn't knock that loan out. The more you can pay now the less you'll pay over the life of your loans! murderknobs, it actually depends on the private loan program. Some are extremely strict about debt-to-income and some really just don't care. Just keep doing it the way you have been. There's really not much internal policing of such matters - from what I can see PhillyLucky, that is a purely financial decision on your end. The benefit to paying a chunk on your loans is that you will have a chunk paid off. The benefit to paying the minimum is that you will have annual interest to claim, tax-wise, and you will also steadily build more credit. In your position, if I could afford it, I'd pay double-triple payments each month, just so that I paid less over the life of the loan, BUT so that I could also take advantage of the tax write-off for interest and build my personal credit.
|
|
#
?
Feb 12, 2008 00:41
|
|
|
i'm having issues completing my fafsa because my mother does not want to fill it out with me and/or give me her 1040 so i can do it.... do i have any options to take to finally get this in?
rainz0r fucked around with this message at 03:14 on Feb 13, 2008 |
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2008 03:10
|
|
|
If for some reason you can't find work by the end of your grace period can you extend it for Stafford loans? What about private loans attained through Sallie Mae? For both of the above mentioned loans used for law school, can you adjust the repayment period(generally 10 years I believe) to something longer in the case where you want to take a lower-paying job such like a public defender or working for a legal-aid organization?
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2008 05:59
|
|
|
rainz0r posted:i'm having issues completing my fafsa because my mother does not want to fill it out with me and/or give me her 1040 so i can do it.... do i have any options to take to finally get this in?
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2008 16:21
|
|
|
rainz0r, really my only suggestions would be to 1. explain to your mother that it is a federal requirement to include her information, not you being nosy, and 2. call up FAFSA directly to see what they say. wolffenstein, thank you for helping! That's option 3: explain with begging. Jive One, you can use one of 3-4 deferment/forbearance options available to you. The two most commonly used are the Economic Hardship Deferment and the Temporary Hardship forbearance. There is also an Economic Hardship forb. and an Unemployment deferment available to you. Try to use anything but your THF time first; THF time is free time you can use whenever, so you want to conserve it if possible. Plus if you have subsidized loans your interest is paid for while you're on the deferments! In terms of repayment schedules, there is often either the Income Sensitive/Contingent or an extended repayment plan available, and you can always consolidate for a longer repayment schedule. There's never a penalty for early payoff so you can extend your repayment plan and then pay it off as early as you like.
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2008 23:27
|
|
|
Why do we have a horrifically cruel system that penalizes you for consolidating your Staffords by never letting you consolidate them again? Back in the late 90s early 00s, I consolidated about $75k worth of federal loans, because the interest rate would be locked at 6%, and that was so shockingly, incredibly, historically low that oh my god it would never happen again and you have to consolidate now. So my buddies who graduated a few years later apparently have loans with locked in rates like 1.85%. Can I get those rates? Apparently not, because I was actually on top of my finances and consolidated them earlier, unlike most people who do not look into their options in the first place. The one time consolidation only rule just seems like some weird punishment for misguessing the market. It honestly seems very out of place for a government program. Is there some way around it that I am missing?
|
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2008 00:57
|
|
|
In terms of the fixed interest rate, consolidation is a gamble, plain and simple. That gamble is steadily lessening as the fixed interest takes hold of all newer loans, but the rates are still adjustable per the fed's plans. You can only re-consolidate if you have additional federal education loans to add to the previous debt, such as a newer Perkins or Stafford. As for why it's that way, you would need to ask the Department of Education, because sadly I couldn't tell you
|
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2008 23:09
|
|
|
A question about consolidation recently popped up in the bus/fin forum and it reminded me, you should probably alter your original post's info on consolidation, since NTHEA and educational loan company both dropped their good incentive plans. My consolidation is done so I'm no longer keeping up on whether or not anyone still offers anything. What is going to be the status of consolidation for people taking out new loans in the future? It seems like consolidation used to be something everyone did as you wanted to lock in rates and take advantage of incentives, but now the incentives are gone and the rates will go down permanently, will people just not bother with it, barring situations where their lender just really sucks and they want out? Kase Im Licht fucked around with this message at 02:33 on Feb 19, 2008 |
|
#
?
Feb 19, 2008 02:30
|
|
|
Changed the OP a bit. I had already taken out incentives before, so it was just a tad more editing. Huzzah! Likely people will not bother with consolidations much longer. The only true benefit to it now is extending your repayment plan if your balance isn't high enough for an extended plan without a consolidation. This is why a bunch of companies have killed their consolidation departments entirely, and all those little fringe companies that only did student loan consolidations are pretty much dead and gone.
|
|
#
?
Feb 19, 2008 03:11
|
|
|
Yeah, I'm still looking into consolidation but my options are pretty limited: at this point I'm basically looking at trying to consolidate with the bank I borrowed from in the first place, which scares me. My monthly payments are a bit higher than I can afford to make. I see options for one that's like 30 years: 1/3 interest payments, 2/3 actual amount payments, some that are the other way around, and one that's income based. I can afford to pay more than what an income-based would probably give me, so I might be paying more each month than they're asking but what would be the bigger cons of income-based payments if they are available? It also really sucks that so many people are getting out of the business. I was INCREDIBLY stupid- I waited to consolidate because I wanted to use my grace period and was afraid of making payments immediately. I have no idea why I didn't read up more and pay attention. Now my grace period is up and I'm majorly hosed.  It also sucks because I'd just about sealed the deal with one company before I got a form letter letting me know they're no longer consolidating, so I feel like I screwed up by not being even as much as a week faster. I'm so mad at myself. 
|
|
#
?
Feb 19, 2008 05:05
|
|
|
Don't be. This recent act pretty much came out of NOWHERE. No company had a chance to prepare and the scramble afterwards was a sight to behold. I know that a bunch of non-profit lenders are still offering comsolidations, but I'm not familiar with who they are outside of the ones my company does business with. NTHEA is still in business, so I'm sure a bunch of the federal non-profit lenders across the states are (places like ASLA, LELA, FAME, NTHEA, etc.). You might want to try shopping with one of them. Every state has an agency like those. If I'm not mistaken, servicing agencies like Nelnet and Sallie Mae are still offering it, too. There's still options, they're just harder to find now.
|
|
#
?
Feb 19, 2008 13:21
|
|
|
That makes me feel a little better. I've requested some paperwork from NTHEA so we'll see if we can get the ball rolling. I'd just like to get rid of some sleepless nights here. Thanks for your help.
|
|
#
?
Feb 19, 2008 21:02
|
|
|
so my laptop died and i need to take out a loan to buy a new one. any way i can do that through student loan sites? im thinking 3000 dollars max. im typing on my phone sorry -- i desperately need a new computer for school and dell has some good deals now. any ideas or other options? im desperate!
|
|
#
?
Feb 24, 2008 01:52
|
|
|
Potentially yes. There are private loans available to cover personal education-related costs. The question is whether the school will certify the amount you need. It would be best to contact your financial aid office if you can, explain the situation, and see what they recommend (especially ask if they would be willing to certify the loan at all, because if not, you'll need to try and get a personal loan through a bank). Dell has the option of financing your laptop, which isn't a bad idea at all. It's what I did and it worked like a charm. I believe most computer companies do that now.
|
|
#
?
Feb 24, 2008 17:17
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 11, 2024 12:10 |
|
|
I read some of this thread when I first started but haven't checked it in a while so I hope this hasn't been asked already. My wife and I both have small current student loans and we both have graduated. We only had to begin paying our loans 6 months after we had graduated (6 months after we were no longer at least half-time students). My wife wants to go get her Master's. The program she is going to participate in is one weekend (all day Fri., all day Sat., all day Sun.) a month, for 20 months, and costs about $12,000. She will be classified as a "part-time" student. Is there no way for us to get a loan where we only have to begin paying it off when she graduates (and can we even get a loan for a part-time student)? edit - I guess I misunderstood. I spoke with the loan company I use and they said "part-time" meant the same as "at least half-time" so everything should be fine. ScottK fucked around with this message at 17:54 on Feb 25, 2008 |
|
#
?
Feb 25, 2008 14:25
|
|