A Better Student Loan
May 29th 2007 14:28
I'm back. Hope you all had as good of a weekend as I did!
Now toward the realities of financing college: student loans and a big ol' pile of debt. I hope most of you are receiving scholarships and grants!
If you are a college student like me, chances are you have significant student loan debt, as well as a need to acquire more simply to finish off your career as a student. Some of you may just be starting off your college career, to you I say, I hope you’ve had a part-time job from which you have saved all your money since you were fourteen. In all seriousness though, I’ve been doing my homework on student loans recently, trying to find better rates for private loans than the ones I received from Sallie Mae. (Actually nelnet, a company of Sallie Mae, is where I got my first private loans from). I hope my research can help some of you.
Try www.teri.org. This is a non-profit organization that has private loans starting at LIBOR 1-2.75% while you are in school, and LIBOR 3-3.9% after you graduate. For those of you who don’t understand the LIBOR and Prime rate thing, don’t worry, I just figured it out after reading what was on the TERI website! At this time, LIBOR is 5.32%. Bank of America appears to have the best loan rates right now of all the banks listed on the TERI website. Go here to find out what these loans are about. Scroll down and you will find a downloadable brochure for their rates and an example of the three different types of repayment. One catch on these loans though: you have to attend one of the schools on their list (I believe it has 6,500 schools). The list of schools can be found on teri.org after you click on “start an application.” The first step is to see if your school is on the list.
If your school is not on that list, I would recommend looking at banks in your area to see what kind of education loans they might be able to provide. As I find more and better loan rates, I will be sure and update you with them!
* A side note on loans, for most you will need a co-signer unless you have a credit history 2 years or longer. Sallie Mae does not require a co-signer, which is what makes the rates higher. If you have a parent that is willing to co-sign to give you a loan, you should do it. If not, you may have to get a Sallie Mae loan until you establish a credit history.
check out "Establishing a Credit History" for more details.
Now toward the realities of financing college: student loans and a big ol' pile of debt. I hope most of you are receiving scholarships and grants!
If you are a college student like me, chances are you have significant student loan debt, as well as a need to acquire more simply to finish off your career as a student. Some of you may just be starting off your college career, to you I say, I hope you’ve had a part-time job from which you have saved all your money since you were fourteen. In all seriousness though, I’ve been doing my homework on student loans recently, trying to find better rates for private loans than the ones I received from Sallie Mae. (Actually nelnet, a company of Sallie Mae, is where I got my first private loans from). I hope my research can help some of you.
Try www.teri.org. This is a non-profit organization that has private loans starting at LIBOR 1-2.75% while you are in school, and LIBOR 3-3.9% after you graduate. For those of you who don’t understand the LIBOR and Prime rate thing, don’t worry, I just figured it out after reading what was on the TERI website! At this time, LIBOR is 5.32%. Bank of America appears to have the best loan rates right now of all the banks listed on the TERI website. Go here to find out what these loans are about. Scroll down and you will find a downloadable brochure for their rates and an example of the three different types of repayment. One catch on these loans though: you have to attend one of the schools on their list (I believe it has 6,500 schools). The list of schools can be found on teri.org after you click on “start an application.” The first step is to see if your school is on the list.
If your school is not on that list, I would recommend looking at banks in your area to see what kind of education loans they might be able to provide. As I find more and better loan rates, I will be sure and update you with them!
* A side note on loans, for most you will need a co-signer unless you have a credit history 2 years or longer. Sallie Mae does not require a co-signer, which is what makes the rates higher. If you have a parent that is willing to co-sign to give you a loan, you should do it. If not, you may have to get a Sallie Mae loan until you establish a credit history.
check out "Establishing a Credit History" for more details.
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