I'm sorry if I offended you....that was not my intent. I just had a question for you. Was the loan you got a federal loan or a loan from like Amex or Citibank where they check your credit? What is your interest rate? I'm entering grad school next month and I got $2500 (enough to cover tuition). That's fine but you know how they send the financial aid letter stating what the "budget" is. I wanted to get an additional loan from Amex (I have an unsubsidized federal loan from them now) and use the money to do what you are doing. So any information you can give would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
I'm not sure if your talking to me or not, but I got the 30K student loan. It is through educationone.com and YES they do check your credit, so, I had to get a co-signer. It is not a federal loan, it is private. But they have all the same options...deferment, etc...There current rate as of 7/1/01 is going to be 9.17%...But it was well worth it to consolidate my bills, hope this helps...
yes, I was speaking out to you. And thanks for the info...I appreciate it. How often are they going to adjust your interest? Quarterly? Or is it fixed?
from what I understand, its adjusted every July like the federal loans are. The payments never change though...It was 10.5% but with the new interest rate drop, it will be lowered to 9.17%. What I'm planning on doing is keeping this a couple months and establishing some better credit and then consolidating it under a new loan with CFS which only has a 7.5% interest. But, I have to get my FICO score up a bit before I can do that. BTW...its Ms. hehe....
I understand your logic behind taking out the 30K loan for consolidation of your bills, however, I fail to see the reasoning behind the higher interest rate. Especially since the Feds. are dropping the student loan rate to 6.??%. To me, it would make more sense to just get the government backed loan at the lower interest rate. I am not criticizing your decision and by far I have no idea of your current credit situation. I believe that 10% interest for a student loan is quit harsh. If you are in Grad. School, I am sure that you can apply for student loans totaling near the amount that you are seeking with this private loan. Sharing my Comments.
Ooops....MAJOR faux pax....please forgive me! With educationone.com, where they recommended by your school or did you search them out yourself?
Actually Reshod....no, she can't. To be able to get a government backed loan, you can either get subsidized (need based) or unsubsidized (non need based). And there are limits to how much she can get each year. If she's going to grad school, she'd almost never get 100% federal funding. They take into account how much you make and decide how much they think you can contribute based on that. My family contribution was $27k. One year of school was budgeted at $25k. I only got $2250 in unsubsidized loans each quarter for the next 2 years.
When I was in grad school, the max unsubsidized that I could get was 18,500 per year. I didn't have any problems getting the amounts needed. I did go to a state school, so I don't know if that impacts the amount of money available for grants.
I only got 9k for 2 years...but that might have to do with the fact that that's all I asked for. I already owe 16k from undergrad....geez, I don't want to be paying on student loans until my grandkids go to college. By the way, at $18,500/year, even still, jfpruitt would need a private loan to make up the difference between 30k and 18.5k. And again, she might not qualify for federal loans. Keltexx...did you ask for the full 18.5k?
The only time I did not get the full amount was summer semesters-out of a possible 4, I got 2.5. But I only asked for 2.5, since I took less classes during summer. And I worked full time as well. I did not apply for student loans my final summer session or fall. But from June 98 to May 2000, I always got the max amount.
Great points!!! Just wanted to spur some intellectual thinking. Different for me, since my EFCC is 0. Good Luck
Well, I put this suggestion on another credit message board and have been slammed saying I'm stupid and shouldnt consolidate. I'm hoping I'm making a good decision here
Just to jump in again....how much an individual gets in federal student loans depends not only ont he student but also on the school. Each school has a maximum amount of loans that they can dole out each year....so while some of us may have easily gotten all the unsubsidized loans we needed there are probably others out there who, because of what school they go to, could not.
Sort of off topic - one of the best things I like about this board is that people are not as self-righteous as they can be inother places. I also read other message boards about credit and consumer debt, and while some give great information, most of the posters have this self-righteous attitude against ANY consumer debt - and don't believe that ANYONE could ever be in a situation where bankruptcy is the right answer. They come across as the type of people who may make $60k a year, but still buy 2-ply toilet paper and separate the plys.... If it were me, I'd consider the points that everyone raises and then decide what's best.
Shantel, Cant she consolidate all that loans into 1 federally funded loan with a much lower interest rate? I just got notification from William D Ford that my interest rate is not 5.390% instead of 8.190%. I posted that info yesterday. Then someone replied back that if you consolidate the loans you will save 1.5 more percentage points.
well, I think I'm just taking responsibility here...I could easily file BK and be done with it but I'm trying to do this the right way now...I know I'm not the only one that has 30K in student debt am I??
No you are not. A friend of mine has about $60,000 in SL debt. As a side note, I don't know if this has been asked yet, but here goes: Do your personal loans state that they are for educational purpose? I remember you saying that you did not get a federal loan and had to get personal loans for school. I'm thinking that if they are classified for educational use, filing bankruptcy will do no good, since educational loans are exempt due to the Higher Education Act (I think that is where it is). BUT, if they are classified as personal loans, you are home free for BK. BUT I also have another thought...Have you called your loan comany and told them your situation? Maybe instead of filing BK, you can work out some kind of graduated repayment plan. Good Luck!
jfpruitt, I think I'm confused here. Are you trying to consolidate your student loans? If you're enrolled at least 1/2 time, you don't have to go into repayment. It's 6 mos after you leave school that you enter repayment, but if you leave & then come back it suspends again until you leave again. BTW, I'm not at 30,000, but I am at 22,000.
Yes, its my student loans, but its a private loans and not federal. well I was going to defer, but my payments would be much higher if I do that. From 287 a month to 415. So, I'm going to try and start paying now while I'm still in school and working FT.
