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I don't see much advice for us dirty Canadians with regards to student loans, can anyone point me in the right direction? I received a bursary and currently have my loan on a interest-rate freeze but I wondered if there was any way I could get the principal loan amount reduced? Or even wiped clean? That would rule.
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Apr 9, 2008 02:48
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I want to do something about my loan situation. I have roughly $30,000 in subsidized, pre-2006 Stafford loans and $30,000 in private loans through three different vendors. All together, I pay roughly $750/mo. on whatever standard plan they signed me up for. I can afford to pay this right now; in fact, I just had all my loans split into separate billing groups so I could pay over the amount due on select loans. Still, I'm not made of money, and it's a pain in the rear end to have to pay so much every month. What I've been planning to do is consolidate my federal loans in June when the interest rates reset. From what I've read, with all the Fed rate cuts, the loan rate should be about 3.5% And from what I can tell, my loans were issued before all this crazy fixed rate nonsense took over, so I should qualify for the actual low rate. Thus my plan is to consolidate my federal loans once the interest rates reset and choose the longest repayment period I can, since 3.5% is more-or-less the historic rate of inflation. Assuming there are no prepay penalties, I can still pay over as my finances permit, but the loan would be essentially interest free, and I'd much prefer a bit of liquidity right now. This sound like a decent plan? The question then becomes what to do about my private loans. I have four private rates, through two vendors, at 5.0%, 6.5%, 6.5%, and 7.0% respectively. I'm not really sure what to do with these. I'd like to reduce my monthly payments, but it isn't a necessity. I really want to determine my long term plan. Since I have the luxury of being able to afford my current payment schedule, how can I best use the looming rate cuts to my advantage? Is it worth the weighted average (or whatever) of my current rates to consolidate down to a single vendor? Are there other more intelligent options available to me?
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Apr 9, 2008 07:02
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Home sick from work, and y'all get to reap the benefits! Yarrbossa, Skycks is correct. You need to appeal to your financial aid office. If they will not adjust your EFC, you're stuck with additional PLUS/private loans. Tinyn, Aluminum Record and Realjones are correct. If your federal loans are currently defaulted to the point of having your wages garnished (which is even more defaulted than regular default), you cannot take out additional federal loans because no guarantor will guarantee the new loans. CrazyPanda, holy crap! I'll come back to your question  stewdiny, Realjones addressed your payment question just fine In terms of why splitting your payment in two saves: every time you make a payment, you are satisfying interest on your account and then principal balance. If you split the payment you will normally have approximately 14-15 days between each payment, which means you satisfy 14-15 days worth of interest and then the rest of your payment goes onto your principal. It doesn't sound like much, but consider that the number of days in each month change. If you are consistently making a payment every 14-15 days, you will consistently pay more onto your principal balance. I would love to give you exact figures, but alas, everything is at work and I can't get to SA from there. But when we last did calculations (on approximately a 17000.00 loan), they came out to show that over time this saves you approx. 1500.00 over the life of the loan. Because of these calculations I've taken to splitting my own payments on my personal loan, and I've paid it down considerably more in just a year than I would have making the payments once a month. Good times. scr0llwheel, yes, that is exactly correct. Your grace period will expire in 6 months, and once you are back in school at least half-time or more you will go back onto the In-School Deferment. Good luck with medical school!!! If I'm ever your patient, give me a discount dammit! Boondock Saint, you made the corrections so I wouldn't worry. However that's a hell of an income! Can I borrow some money? :P It is never ever a bad idea to contact your financial office and make drat sure they received the corrections and are processing your information based off of that. DholmbladRU, it is better to have a lower EFC as this makes you eligible for more aid because it shows your family cannot contribute much. However, the majority of grants and loans are based on academic achievement as well as the major you've chosen, so your EFC might not make a difference there. jet sanchEz, I have no clue when it comes to Canadian student loans. I know that the system is similar in some ways, but I have no idea of the details and would hate to steer you wrong. The only website I found that looks promising is this: http://www.canlearn.ca/eng/index.shtml Kobayashi, the interest rate on your loans is still annually variable and nobody in the biz knows what they will look like this year. We hope they're going down, but there's no way to tell. Take a gander at this chart: quote:Interest rates Confused yet? Yeah, so is the rest of the biz. This does not affect older loans or unsubsidized loans, nor does it apply to graduate students, only undergrads. Anything before July 1st 2006 still has a variable interest rate that will change annually; anything after that date is still stuck with 6.8% annually. For your private loans, that is really a choice that depends on your personal preference. Consolidation with private loans can be tricky; if you decide on that direction, make sure they fix your interest rate. However, if you can honestly afford to pay what you're paying now, I'd suggest maybe trying to put your federal loans on deferment/forbearance and slamming the hell out of your private loans to get them paid off faster. Take advantage of the lower interest rate by paying way way more on your principal balance. Back to CrazyPanda. To be honest, before this latest act there were only a few things I would've changed. Now the entire program is deliberately designed to encourage people to use Direct lending as their lender instead of one of the FFELP companies, and it sucks because incentives and benefits have been cut or completely eliminated across the board. I'm not sure why making people use Direct is more important than saving them money over the life of the loan, but what do I know? Just in general, there's two huge changes I would like to see that I think would kill a lot of the problems kids are having with private loans: 1. Make it possible for a student to waive their parent's information on the annual FAFSA. It is totally unfair to make you guys include this. Many parents have a very hands-off approach to student loans, so forcing kids to provide their parent's information is downright cruel. Why should you have an EFC if your F isn't contributing jack poo poo? 2. Institute an undergraduate federal loan such as the GradPLUS that now exists for graduate students. This would take a huge chunk of the need for private loans away; the credit check would be easier (like it is for PLUS and GradPLUS) and because it's a federal loan it would have all those nifty forbearances/deferments available to you. But then of course the private loan biz would suffer and we don't want that!!! I won't go into free vs. not-free education
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Apr 9, 2008 12:26
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Wiggy Marie posted:Kobayashi, the interest rate on your loans is still annually variable and nobody in the biz knows what they will look like this year. We hope they're going down, but there's no way to tell. Take a gander at this chart: I saw that chart earlier. Very confusing indeed! All of my loans are from before 2006, though, which means the old rules apply to me, right? Thus, if interest rates drop in June, and I choose to consolidate, that will allow me to lock in the prevailing rate. That's how I understand it anyway; is this not the case? I understand no one can predict the future, but assuming rates do drop a lot this year, it seems like it would be a good idea to act. Locking in a long-term, low rate loan for my federal loans would net that much more cash for me to throw at my private loans. Hope you feel better!
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Apr 9, 2008 16:39
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Kobayashi posted:Thus, if interest rates drop in June, and I choose to consolidate, that will allow me to lock in the prevailing rate. You are correct. quote:Since I have the luxury of being able to afford my current payment schedule, how can I best use the looming rate cuts to my advantage? Is it worth the weighted average (or whatever) of my current rates to consolidate down to a single vendor? Are there other more intelligent options available to me? When you consolidate your private loans, it doesn't matter what the current interest rate of them is, i.e. it is not a weighted average thing like federal loans. The interest rate you will get will be based on your credit and maybe your income. If you have good credit, you can get a variable interest rate as low as the prime rate (currently 5.25%). Won't do much for your 5% loan, but it will cut some interest off your other loans. Affordable fixed rate private consolidation doesn't exist; the lowest I've seen is Citibank and it's still 7.75% and not going any lower even if the prime rate does (I asked them). You also have to look at the "benefits" of the loan. For example, Sallie Mae offers no benefits at all, whereas Citibank and Wells Fargo both offer .25% for automatic debit and .50% after 4 years of payments. I think Wells Fargo and Citibank are the only companies worth considering for private consolidation; Sallie Mae loans have no benefits and all the other companies have really high interest rates (10+%) or origination fees! I just went through all this private consolidation stuff myself and knocked 1.25% off my interest rate (will be 2% after four years), which will save me thousands of dollars.
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Apr 9, 2008 23:32
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jet sanchEz posted:I don't see much advice for us dirty Canadians with regards to student loans, can anyone point me in the right direction? I received a bursary and currently have my loan on a interest-rate freeze but I wondered if there was any way I could get the principal loan amount reduced? Or even wiped clean? That would rule. Good luck with that, it's HIGHLY unlikely. I too am Canadian and have a bitchin student loan from both Ontario and Alberta...I will be paying until my grave. As far as I know there is no way to reduce or delete your principal. Even if you claim bankruptcy, Canadian student loans are the only thing that stay on your file to be paid.
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Apr 10, 2008 03:02
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I'm trying to fill out forms to send to my University and I have a quick question: They're asking if I want to do a Stafford Loan (which I don't think I qualify for) and I have two options (1) No (2) Yes, and PICK A LENDER before you send this in. Should I just say no since I don't think I qualify? What's the best way to check and see if I don't qualify? (I've done the FASFA, so I might just be over looking the information there). I was just planning on getting a GradPlus loan, but this is throwing me for a bit of a loop.  (Oh, and how in the world do I go about applying for said GradPlus loans?) mmmjstone fucked around with this message at 15:43 on Apr 10, 2008 |
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Apr 10, 2008 15:14
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I tried to read the whole thread before asking questions, but it took forever to get through page seven, so I hope none of these questions were already posted: I have a lot of questions, mostly because my understanding of loans is minimal and I may be in a very different situation than most people. Basically, I'm being financially backed by my parents for fifty thousand per year in tuition. They are paying a portion, but someone is going to be getting loans for the other 25-40 thousand per year. I assume that the idea is that I will be taking out stafford loans and they will be taking out plus loans for the rest, but I don't understand the comparative benefits of them cosigning a loan I take out versus them taking out a Plus loan (both options are possible). I should mention that I was offered very little(two or three thousand) financial aid per year, but that I also have a scholarship from my school that includes "all financial aid loans fulfilled instead by grants". In summary, I'm a pretty normal candidate for student loans and I don't know what type or from whom to take them, given that I have parents willing to sign/cosign whatever they need to. What are "private","subsidized","alternate", or "federal" loans? If I take one of the cosigned loan options available through simpletuition.com, is that private? Also, my parents have excellent credit. Does that affect the interest on Plus loans or loans cosigned by them? Is there any loan option that would have a lower interest rate because of their good credit? Would their credit make alternative/private loans a better option? I see the 8 percent APR on Plus loans that you mentioned, but I don't know if that's good or bad and have no standard of comparison. On simpletuition.com there are offers of cosigned loans at 5 percent or lower, why would they have a lower interest rate? The loans offered there also mention "Fees" followed by a percentage. Is that something that one pays automatically or something that one pays only after delinquincy? Is it a percentage of teh capital or added interest? What is this "consolidation" that keeps being mentioned? What is the benefit? How and when does one do that? What is the difference between subsidized and unsubsidized stafford loans? I read your site, and the information there is very well formulated and clear. It answered a few questions I was going to post here.
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Apr 10, 2008 16:47
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Corona Vitae posted:What are "private","subsidized","alternate", or "federal" loans? If I take one of the cosigned loan options available through simpletuition.com, is that private? Private and alternative loans are the same. They are offered by banks, and are essentially the same thing as a car loan. A subsidized loan is one in which the government pays the interest for you while you are in school, meaning if you borrow 20k now, 6 months after you graduate your principal is 20k. On an unsubsidized loan, when you graduate your principal will be 20k plus all the interest that has accrued while you were in school. When I go to simpletuition.com, their little loan finder has an option for either federal stafford, or private, so it depends on what you select there.
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Apr 10, 2008 20:19
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Kobayashi, as Realjones said, you are correct about locking in the lower interest rate with a consolidation. The only bone I'd throw out for you to chew is that the rate *might* continue to go down the next few years, which means every subsequent year *might* offer you a lower rate to fix at. Gambling is fun, isn't it? Realjones, thank you SO much for your help. I fully admit that I am rather clueless when it comes to private loans. You may have mentioned before, but what company did you consolidate yours with? I don't mind other people recommending companies, I'm just trying to be non-partial myself Ophelia's Ashes, thank you for contributing!!! As a Canadian you would certainly know better than I! mmmjstone, is that your awards package? Do they have a total for the Stafford loan? If so, it sounds like they found you eligible for one. If they're asking you to pick a lender, it sounds like you're already in for a Stafford. Literally everyone can qualify for an unsubsidized Stafford at least, unless the EFC is through the roof or grants/scholarships take care of everything. GradPLUS loans are offered by several companies, and you would need to contact the lender of your choice to do the pre-approval. Normally this can be done online or over the phone. Do you happen to have a lender you would like me to check out for you? Corona Vitae, can I have your parents? Thank you for reading my site! It's been ages since I worked on it, poor thing. Feel free to use it, though. It's not abandoned, just put on the back-burner due to minimal finances. I'll go through your questions one by one: PLUS vs. Alternative Loans PLUS loans have a fixed interested rate and are based on a credit history check. It is possible for someone with not-so-stellar credit to get a PLUS. As federal loans they have deferments and forbearances available on them which are not available on private loans. They are only in the parent's name. Private/alternative loans have variable interest rates. They often have deferment/forbearance options, but nothing as common as federal loans have, and every private loan program is different. There is nothing that is true or guaranteed across the board. They are based on a "hard" credit check - that is, like someone else said, that they are like taking out a car loan or personal loan. quote:What are "private","subsidized","alternate", or "federal" loans? If I take one of the cosigned loan options available through simpletuition.com, is that private? Aluminum Record got this one quote:Also, my parents have excellent credit. Does that affect the interest on Plus loans or loans cosigned by them? Is there any loan option that would have a lower interest rate because of their good credit? Would their credit make alternative/private loans a better option? No, the PLUS loan interest rate is not affected at all by credit status. Also, a private loan will always end up with a higher interest rate than a federal loan, though it may start out with a lower rate. I'm seen most of them lately come out to approximately 10% or more. quote:I see the 8 percent APR on Plus loans that you mentioned, but I don't know if that's good or bad and have no standard of comparison. On simpletuition.com there are offers of cosigned loans at 5 percent or lower, why would they have a lower interest rate? Sidenote: the PLUS interest rate is currently 8.5%, starting. Private loans will generally start at Prime + whatever extra the loan program itself adds on. This will put you at around 9% or more, from every application I've seen coming through our systems. quote:The loans offered there also mention "Fees" followed by a percentage. Is that something that one pays automatically or something that one pays only after delinquincy? Is it a percentage of teh capital or added interest? The fees are removed from the amount you apply for before the loans are sent to the school. There are other fees which are paid if you default on your loans, but you'll never have to worry about those, right?! quote:What is this "consolidation" that keeps being mentioned? What is the benefit? How and when does one do that? Consolidation is a fancy word for "combining." You combine all of your loans into one loan with one overall payment. It fixes your interest rate (for federal loans) and extends your repayment schedule, which in turn lowers your monthly installment. If you only have one loan (such as a high PLUS loan) you can still consolidate it, and it is still called consolidation, though at that point it's really refinancing. quote:What is the difference between subsidized and unsubsidized stafford loans? Subsidized loans do not accrue interest during any deferment or your grace period. Unsubsidized loans always accrue interest, from the 1st day they’re disbursed to the day you pay them off. There are no exceptions here, this is a federal rule. I hope that helps!!!
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Apr 11, 2008 00:36
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Wiggy Marie posted:
But this is the preliminary stuff. They haven't even told me how much aid I qualify for, but they're making me pick a lender. I'm a little confused by that. It's this form: http://www7.acs.ncsu.edu/financial_aid/pdf/InstApp0809.pdf Edit: And what would "through the roof" be? My EFC is less than the Estimated Cost of Attendance And I don't know what lender to go with. Will they even accept me if I don't know how much I want?  Edit: I love you so much. 
mmmjstone fucked around with this message at 02:28 on Apr 11, 2008 |
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Apr 11, 2008 01:32
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You should be fine for EFC. Go ahead and select that you want Staffords. Otherwise it sounds like the form is asking if you want to waive them, which you don't want to do since they have the lower interest rates. Why would the school do this? Because it saves them the time of processing the app You'll be fine if you don't know how much you want. Go ahead and research the lenders they've listed, and also any others they haven't that you might be interested in. If you know any, that is! Simpletuition.com could probably help you with shopping around.
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Apr 11, 2008 02:23
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Realjones posted:You are correct. Wiggy Marie posted:Kobayashi, as Realjones said, you are correct about locking in the lower interest rate with a consolidation. The only bone I'd throw out for you to chew is that the rate *might* continue to go down the next few years, which means every subsequent year *might* offer you a lower rate to fix at. Thanks for the clarifications. I'll keep an eye on the interest rates. If they drop, that'll be good enough for me. Now I just have to find an acceptable private consolidation loan!
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Apr 11, 2008 02:30
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Wiggy Marie posted:
Thank YOU for starting such an awesome and helpful thread. Although a lot of this stuff doesn't apply to me (because of the different country), I know as a previous student how incredibly annoying and incredibly frusterating the whole process can be. I wish there was a thread like this when I started getting student loans. Know that a lot of people are thankful for this thread!
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Apr 11, 2008 03:33
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Wiggy Marie posted:Realjones, thank you SO much for your help. I fully admit that I am rather clueless when it comes to private loans. You may have mentioned before, but what company did you consolidate yours with? I don't mind other people recommending companies, I'm just trying to be non-partial myself The only two companies that I think are even worth applying for a private consolidation loan with are Citibank and Wells Fargo. Sallie Mae also offers it, but the loans have no interest rate deduction benefits like the other two. I went with Wells Fargo because they gave me the lowest interest rate (prime ~5.25%) and NO origination fee. Citibank was a slightly higher interest rate (LIBOR + 3.5% or something = 6.1%) and wanted a 1% origination fee. No thanks. It is possible to get a loan with Citibank with a near prime interest rate and no fees, I just guess Wells Fargo thought that I had better credit for some reason. You can also use a co-signer to get a lower interest rate, and I believe Citibank will release them from the loan after 36 payments, not sure on Wells Fargo.
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Apr 12, 2008 17:49
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Wiggy Marie posted:
Well, I just received my awards letter and it is as follows: Federal PLUS: $14,864 Unsubsidized Stafford: $4,500 My tuition should run me about $8-9k per year, so I hope to god they change my EFC, otherwise I'm pretty well boned. Neither my family nor I can even begin to afford the payments on a loan that size. Thanks for the advice. Since i like to prepare for the worst, what are my options if I can't get the financial aid office to change the EFC? We could shoot for the PLUS, but like I said my parents nor I combined could afford the payments on them(assuming they are more than $100/month...yes, we really are just that poor :\ ) and the last thing I want to do is get a loan that I have to start repaying knowing full well that I can't right now. Defaulting on a loan is not a good thing to do, or so I read Do private lenders put off payments until graduation, or are they in the same boat as PLUS loans(requiring payments ASAP)?
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Apr 14, 2008 02:57
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Alright, so I went through Wachovia for my student loan. I am now about to start another semester, and I am wondering, when I apply for a new loan through them, do I have to fill out all the same information, or can I just add onto my current loan? There website only gives me the option to get a new loan... I am not sure if that makes sense so lets try and rephrase it. I took a loan from Wachovia for the 07-08 school year. I am about to start the 08-09 school year. I need to get more loan money for this year, so how do I go about getting it?
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Apr 14, 2008 06:58
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How on earth do people get away with such minute loans? Just for tuition, I'm expecting a total of over $30k. =\ How does a deferred private loan typically work if one goes to graduate school?
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Apr 14, 2008 13:27
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quote:How does a deferred private loan typically work if one goes to graduate school? You (or the school) sends the loan company a letter to prove that you are still in school. You shouldn't have to make payments on private loans until you are no longer in school and your grace period is over.
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Apr 15, 2008 03:10
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Realjones posted:You (or the school) sends the loan company a letter to prove that you are still in school. You shouldn't have to make payments on private loans until you are no longer in school and your grace period is over. Buuut private loans accrue interest all the while, which sucks.
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Apr 15, 2008 05:34
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I've got kind of an interesting situation going on. I was originally going to a private school at a time when I didn't know much about the whole "money" thing beyond making and spending it. So, my father, who has an MBA in finance, got me a private loan through Wells Fargo for $25,000 at somewhere between 8-10%. I trusted him and figured that it was probably standard. The next year, I decided to do my own loan-getting and found that I could get two $12k loans at 2.5%. This was back between '04 and '06. Now, I ended up transferring to a state school where I no longer need to take out loans for tuition, but these previous loans are still around, and the rates have risen significantly(10% is now 15% and 2.5% is now 8%) and my father has skipped out on the bill, so to speak(He had told me not to worry about the high rate, as he'd pay for the bulk of the loan.). I'm still in school, so I don't have to start paying yet, but that day is fast approaching and I want to prepare as much as possible. I know I can tackle the two lower interest loans, but the first one is turning into one hell of a beast. I'd very much like to just default on it and make the collectors look for my dad, who cosigned with me, but I don't want to screw over my mom, as well, who also cosigned on the loan. Do I have any options in this situation, or am I pretty much screwed?
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Apr 15, 2008 08:22
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sallie-mae is no longer offering Student-Loan Consolidation. The link below will explain, http://www.smartmoney.com/consumer/index.cfm?story=20080414-sallie-mae&nav=RSS20&content=0 - I have 13,000 with nelnet at a locked in 3.75 interest rate and they no longer offer Student-Loan Consolidation. - I also have 20,000 with sallie-mae at a locked in 6.8 interest rate and now they no longer offerer Student-Loan Consolidation. I'm graduating this May and was getting ready to Consolidate all my loans into one and now I have no clue what to do.
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Apr 16, 2008 14:21
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SpaceWorm posted:Do I have any options in this situation, or am I pretty much screwed? If they are private loans and you have good credit you can consolidate them down to a lower rate. Defaulting on them to "get back" at your Dad is a incredibly dumb idea. quote:I'm graduating this May and was getting ready to Consolidate all my loans into one and now I have no clue what to do. You can still consolidate those loans (I'm assuming they are federal loans?) with the Federal government, Citibank, Wells Fargo, etc. You can consolidate your loans with ANY company that offers consolidation, doesn't matter who your loans are currently with. If the interest rate is locked you don't have much to gain anyway unless you need the longer payoff period.
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Apr 17, 2008 01:03
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Realjones, I want you to know that you're my hero for your help Yarrbossa , your options beyond additional Stafford funding are the PLUS loan and private loans. You are of course free to apply for any scholarships or grants you think you might be able to qualify for. It can’t hurt!!! Many companies will actually defer payments on PLUS loans while the student is in school, and this is actually being discussed as an automatic deferment to be granted by the Dept. of Ed. Your best bet is to ask the company specifically if they offer a forbearance while you the student are in classes, and for how long. Private loans vary program to program, though the majority of them offer deferments of one kind or another. Many of them do principal-only deferments, which means you would have an interest-only payment due each month/quarter. Watch out for this. peniscurve , if you’re taking out new Stafford loans you have to file the FAFSA once again. If you’re taking out new private loans you need to apply once again. It’s as though you’re applying for the first time; each loan is its own separate loan with a separate application and likely interest rate. SpaceWorm , is your name on that loan? I’m not sure how you can have three people on a private educational loan, unless this is a personal loan, in which case I have NO idea what the circumstances would be. If you let that loan default, you will regret it. Trust me. Is it not possible for you to find your father and tell him that the situation needs taking care of? Is this not gonna happen no matter what? If the loan goes delinquent, they will be calling everyone attached to that loan, but it will also affect your credit if your name is attached. If your name is NOT attached, your credit will not be affected at all regardless of what happens to the loan. You can also try to contact the private loan company and ask them if there are any deferment/forbearance options available to you, so that you could pause those payments for a bit. It’s not a guarantee but it couldn’t hurt to check.
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Apr 17, 2008 02:00
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I don't want to default on the loan if I don't have to, and it's not me trying to get back at my dad. I just don't want to be paying interest for the rest of my life. That being said, I believe my name is on there, and I know my father cosigned it with me. This is my only private loan. The others are federal stafford or through sallie-mae. Also, I can reach my dad just fine. The problem is, he's become a complete space-case. I've told him about the situation several times, to which he's replied every time, "Don't worry about it. I'll work ten jobs to pay that off for you if I have to." Meanwhile, he's unemployed. I honestly had no idea how badly defaulting would impact my credit. I assumed I'd take a smack on the wrist or something for being a dumb college kid and my dad's credit would take the bigger hit, which I don't really give a poo poo about. However, if it'll be as bad as you say, I'd definitely like to find alternate methods to take care of this thing.
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Apr 17, 2008 05:44
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I have a question related to repayment. I defered my loan for 1yr after graduating; I had made maybe 3 payments & decided I needed to defer until I had a job (my fiance was lending me money to pay it, and we started struggling to pay other bills). It's about to come due for the first payment since deferrment, sometime in the next 30-60 days. I currently have a job where I'm getting paid under the table, and because of that, I can't file taxes. I'd have to file as independent contractor & even then I'd still have to have some sort of paperwork from my employer in order to do so; I have none of that, and if I did I'd have filed this year & claimed my work expenses. When I start paying on my student loan, is this going to get me in any trouble? Are they going to wonder where the money is coming from or are they not going to care?
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Apr 17, 2008 19:07
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IdeoPhanthus, how would they even know where the money was coming from? 
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Apr 18, 2008 00:58
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Wiggy Marie posted:IdeoPhanthus, how would they even know where the money was coming from? Obviously they wouldn't, but I figured maybe they (someone) would look into it when they see that the person who took out the loan is paying on it, so they must have a job, but yet they haven't been paying taxes. I just wanted to make sure it wasn't going to set off some kind of red flag. Though I suppose maybe it was a stupid question. We do have a car loan that we took out when I had an on-the-books job, and for the past ~3yrs of that loan we've been paying & I've been under the table, and that didn't seem to make anyone look into it. So I guess it was a stupid question, sorry about that.
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Apr 18, 2008 06:55
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It's ok, hun. Your loan company couldn't care less where your money is coming from. They're your lender, not the IRS
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Apr 18, 2008 11:30
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My COA is $65,400 and I was awarded $47k in Staffords. I can cover the 18.5k difference, and potentially more. Is there a way to accelerate payments on the unsubsidized portion of the loan, or, a better question, what is the best way to start paying down unsubsidized Staffords with spare cash? Sorry for the ignorance, this is my first year dealing with FAFSA and any school's FAO. P.S. Do you think there will be any interest rate decreases for grad-level Staffords this July?
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Apr 18, 2008 16:49
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You may start making payments to your loans at any time. If you want to hit the unsub loans specifically, you will need to contact your servicing agent and ask for the loan sequence numbers to write on your checks and have your payments applied correctly. Sometimes there's also a different address to use. Normally the lender's website will also allow you to pick and choose which loans to pay on, or alternately you could try making a phone payment WITH a representative (no automated for this, to be safe) and tell them where you want the money to go. That should pretty much take care of it for ya. There's talk of the rate dropping significantly this year, but it's totally up in the air until the rates are announced in June. Here's hoping they fall.
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Apr 19, 2008 07:33
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Thanks Marie, I hope they do lower the rates because my parents were talking about taking out a home equity loan at a fixed 6.7% and be the "lender" in effect rather than deal with all of these different loans with different rates and stipulations. I'm hoping with you that they cut rates in June.
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Apr 21, 2008 14:27
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We can light a candle together
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Apr 21, 2008 23:16
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I've been out of school for a little less than a year, I left because I lost a scholarship and I'd like to back now. In additions to loans, I owe the school about $4000 and it was turned over to a debt collection agency. It's hard for me to make payments because I have a poo poo job and rarely have any money left over after food and rent. Could I work with the loan company and get more funding to go back to school or am I hosed here.
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Apr 25, 2008 06:12
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If you are currently in default status on student loans, you can't take out any addition funds. If you owe the school money, likely you would need to pay the school what you owe before you could get anything else. But you would need to contact the school for verification of that/what your next action should be.
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Apr 26, 2008 00:38
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I've been accepted into college, and now I need some information on loan stuff. My university offered me a federal subsidized direct loan and a Perkins loan (in addition to other stuff, of course). What are the first steps I need to take in order to actually get the loan issued? As well, I'm going to have to take out some private loans to cover the shortfall between the aid package and tuition. I don't know anything about them, though, other than they can be somewhat dangerous to play with What do I need to know? How do I start the process of applying for one? Where should I go? I don't know anything about anything, so all the information you could give would be useful Thanks.
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Apr 26, 2008 02:42
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NRC posted:As well, I'm going to have to take out some private loans to cover the shortfall between the aid package and tuition. I don't know anything about them, though, other than they can be somewhat dangerous to play with I would like to add on to these questions a bit. I've looked through the thread to see if these were covered, so I apologize if I missed something that was already discussed I am transferring to a more expensive school starting in the fall and this is my first time applying for student loans; grants/scholarships covered almost everything up until now. I was recently notified that I can get the maximum amount of federal direct loans ($10,500). Since I will need to apply for a private loan to cover the remaining costs, I did some research on various companies but I have not seen any information on how early I can apply. I know loan companies need confirmation of my attendance, but according to the University's website, we do not get to confirm until mid-June. Will I have to wait until June to apply for private loans or can I apply before then and get some other type of documentation from the school to prove my attendance such as the classes I've already signed up for? I am also curious about how much I am allowed to borrow for private loans. Say the cost of attendance is 20,000 and I am able to borrow 10,000 in federal loans. Will private loan companies only allow me to borrow the 10,000 that is not already covered by federal loans, or will they not look at that and let me borrow the full 20,000? I know that borrowing more than I absolutely need might not be a good idea, but if I can borrow extra I would be able to pay off my credit cards and not have to work 55 hours a week while also attending classes 
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Apr 26, 2008 03:30
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To answer both of you: Private loans are tricky indeed, and the only thing I can recommend is to google some companies and shop around. There's also simpletuition.com for a one-stop shop, and the school itself may have some companies they recommend. These are both good places to start. You will want to look for a loan with a full principal and interest deferment available. If it says you can only get a principal deferment, you will be required to make interest payments while in school. NRC, the same "shop around" idea goes for federal loans. There aren't as many lenders as there were before but they are out there, so you will need to find whatever company can offer you the best deal. Benefits are very limited right now because of the recent act that cut pretty much everyone off at the knees, though, so don't get too discouraged if you shop and shop and everyone seems to have the same offer. For the Perkins, you will need to fill out the Master Promissory Note. This *might* be available online at signmyloan.com, but if not, contact the financial aid office or consult your awards package for the next step. Carlton Banks, education lenders do not require certification of your attendance before you take out the loan; they require certification from the school in order to actually send the money to the school. This means that you, the borrower, can go ahead and apply now, get all of your paperwork in, and you and the lender would then just be waiting on the school to do their part. As for how much you can take out...that fluctuates wildly. I would suggest applying for just above what you need - just remember that the school itself certifies how much you will actually get. So don't go for some wildly out there number, try to be safe and hope they will certify for what you're asking for.
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Apr 28, 2008 22:33
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Can I pay off a student loan with a credit card? This sounds kind of dumb, but I'm paying down my debt quickly right now by juggling 0% APR balance transfer offers, and I've got $9k in debt to Sallie Mae at 9% interest. Once I get my $10k in credit card debt paid off (which I should be able to do with no interest), I'd like to use the same tactic to go after the Sallie Mae debt.
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Apr 28, 2008 22:38
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Yes, depending on the company. If I'm not mistaken, Sallie Mae does take credit cards, but you'll need to call them to verify and make sure.
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Apr 29, 2008 00:57
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