Brulia asked:


I am in the process of looking for a private student loan to help cover the cost of living and being a student. I’m probably going to apply for an Astrive Student Loan. Are there any other good companies where you don’t need tons of credit? Or do you know anything about the Astrive loans? Thanks.

westofvideo asked:

Calculations show how a traditional private student loan works and payments calculated

There are a number of different types of student loans. They are all created to help students and parents discover the right choice for their respective situation. The overall cost of both private and public colleges are steadily increasing and students need to find the means for funding their education. Deciding which student loan, whether a private or federal student loan, is a very important decision. You will eventually be responsible for paying it back, so research all of your options. &nbsp

What is a Student Loan?

If you are a student who is preparing to borrow money as part of a student loan, prepare to learn all that you can about what a student loan is and why you need it. It is meant to help you as you pursue your collegiate education. Because the cost of education is continually rising, student loans give you more opportunity to go to the school of your choice. Be prepared to begin repaying of the loan a short time after you have finished your education. &nbsp

Types of Student Loans

There are three primary types of student loans available, a federal student loan, a private student loan or a parent loan. Two of the most common federal loans used by students are Stafford loans and Perkins loans. What is beneficial behind a federal student loan is that federal laws regulate the interest rates charged for these programs. A lender has to offer a federal loan at the specified interest rate, which is usually lower than the national interest rate. A federal student loan can also be consolidated after the student graduates, allowing the student loan repayment plan to fall under one large umbrella.

Private student loans are different from federal loans, and students applying for these don’t have to fill out federal forms. Private lenders offer these loans, making them cost more because there is no legal requirement to stay within a certain interest rate. Private loans also require a student to submit their credit history, and the interest and fees paid on the student loans are based upon the student’s credit score. Parents may be required to co-sign for a private student loan, making them responsible if the student has to defer payments at any time.

A parent loan, or the Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students (PLUS), is a type of student loan parents apply for to encompass any additional cost their child’s financial aid or student loans won’t cover. PLUS loans, like other federal loans, come with a fixed interest rate. These loans can also be consolidated, like the Stafford and Perkins loans, and parents are fully responsible for repaying PLUS loans to the lender after they are distributed.

Finding student loans that are right for you doesn’t have to be a difficult task. It just takes a little time and research before making a final decision. Talking with your college’s financial advisor can help you go down the right path when choosing a loan. It is important to go over all the student loan repayment options when choosing a loan program from a lender because you will be financially responsible after graduation. Deciding upon the right loan can help you achieve your dreams of higher education.



By: Samantha Ellis

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bbrrpf asked:


I have $100,000 in private student loans from two lenders. The interest rate is over 10%. Is there a way to get another loan to pay this off at a lower interest rate? What kind of debt consolidation program should I consult? Most student loan companies only deal with Federal loans it seems. I keep seeing ads for mortgage loans with low monthly payments– is there something similar I could get for a personal loan? THANKS!

Congress has recently decided to change rules for student loan consolidations.

One of the changes effects the payment of student loan consolidations, both for federal and for private student loans. The payments will now be based on the student’s income. If a student can show that he or she suffers from ‘partial financial hardships’ then the payments made monthly on a student loan consolidation will be limited at about 15 percent taken from a students current income, instead of a set price for every student. This is a part of their College Cost Reduction Act along with their Access Act. Those changes will take effect the year 2009 as of July first.

For those students that spend at least ten years in what the government considers to be a qualifying public service position, for example teaching or maybe charitable work, then the remaining amount of a students current loans can be forgiven. Unfortunately, it is only with the loans that are funded directly by the federal government. This option became available for students on October first of the year 2007.

As of July 1st 2008, those students who move FFELP or Federal Family Education Loan in a direct loan program by using a loan consolidation plan can also qualify for the above.

Just pain consolidating student loans is also an option. A lot of the time students will consolidate funds in order to extend the amount of time they have to pay, and lower the monthly payments that they make. When they go to consolidate their loans, students have many things to look for, and many benefits they can get from consolidating their loans.

One reason why students use student loan consolidation is the escape from changing interest rates that randomly go up. Some are just looking to make fewer payments a month and a lower payment at that.

When choosing to use student loan consolidation, timing is essential. Instead of just picking one at the spur of the moment, a student should wait until after the US Treasury Bond Auction. This generally occurs in the very last week of May, and takes effect on the first of July. This usually gives each of the loaners to take a month to decide if it would benefit them to do consolidations under their current rates, or if it would be better to wait until the new rates take effect in the beginning of July. And it will give a student a chance to look for lower fixed rates.

Since private loans are not the same as federal loans, therefore these new rules that apply to federal student loan consolidation do not apply to private student loan debt consolidation. For this reason federal loans can be used only to consolidate the loans that are backed federally and private loans must be consolidated using other private consolidation methods.

If you are, or know a student who is currently looking for student loans, it is always better to use federal student loans, and federal student loan consolidation options. If you go to consolidate all of your loans you need to be sure to have two groups, one federal student loan consolidation and one for private student loan consolidation.



By: Hassan-Ahmed

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Student loan consolidation is essentially considered as a tool to manage one or more debts. Such a loan also allows any student to combine his/her federal or private student loans into one single mortgage with extended loan terms, which subsequently minimize the monthly payment.

For US students, there are two types of student loan categories namely as mentioned below

1. Federal student loans

2. Private student loans.

Federal Student Loan Consolidation:

The Federal student loan consolidation allows a student to consolidate all his loans for one single loan at a lower interest rate. The student could also lengthen his term (tenor) of payment. Many financial institutions provide federal consolidation student loans. The students have a right to choose the most reasonable loan package that suits them.

But ultimately, like several other loan options, the federal student loan consolidation also has its disadvantages. Though the students are offered a consolidated loan for less monthly installment, it unanimously increases the full total amount that has to be repaid.

Nevertheless, some of the beneficial features of Federal consolidation student loans are as follows:

* Interest Rate: Federal consolidation student loans have lower rate of interest than most of the private loan schemes.

* Monthly Payments: There is subsequent reduction in your monthly payments. As a student, this can take the load off from your monthly budget and you can also pay the installments easily.

* Single Loan: With loan consolidation, there is only one payment check to be paid each month. This is very convenient and uncomplicated form of payment scheme for any student.

Eligibility Factor for Consolidation Loans

A student is eligible for federal consolidation loans, when he/she is not enrolled in any school and has repaid the loans without any default. Even students who are in grace period after post graduation can apply for such loans. The minimum loan amount should be $10,000 or more.

Students having federal educational loans are also qualified to get a consolidation loan. Private education loans are not considered for student debt consolidation loans. Many institutions and companies provide federal student consolidation loans such as credit unions, banks and secondary markets.

Mixing up private loans and federal loans for student debt consolidation is not a good idea, as the federal loan interest amount is tax deductible. Some loan amounts are also forgiven depending on the nature of job or service. Private student loans are bereft of such benefits, as they are treated at par with normal loans. Combining private and federal loans for consolidation of debts makes you lose all the wonderful advantages of Federal consolidation loan student.

Student loan consolidation is specifically meant to minimize the monthly pay amount and for extending the repayable loan terms. It is very convenient for students struggling to pay their monthly installments scattered in several outstanding loan forms.



By: Daisy Wilson

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It’s crunch time for college students trying to secure the money they need for the fall semester. But with lenders continuing to suspend their student loan programs — the count now stands at 131 federal loan lenders and 30 private loan lenders — students may find themselves challenged to locate lenders that are still offering federal or private student loans.

 

 

 

In an attempt to help lenders be able to continue making new federal student loans, the government included a provision in the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act, signed into law in May, aimed at providing capital for cash-strapped lenders.

 

 

Under this legislation, the Department of Education can buy federal college loans from lenders, thereby providing these lenders with the liquidity they need to continue funding new parent and student loans. The law specifically targets lenders who, in the current credit crunch, are unable to find investors in the secondary market willing to purchase their student loan portfolios.

 

 

 

Even with this legislation in place, however, lenders continue to find themselves forced to suspend their student loan programs. As recently as July 28, the Brazos Higher Education Service Corp., the 26th-largest originator of federal student loans in 2007, and the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority, the largest student loan issuer to Massachusetts residents, both announced that they would no longer be able to provide either new or current borrowers with student loans.

 

 

 

As the suspensions of both federal and private student loan programs keep spreading through all types of lenders — large and small; for-profit and nonprofit; banks, non-banks, and credit unions; state loan agencies and schools-as-lenders — students and their families are finding themselves with fewer borrowing options to get the parent and student loans they need to pay the fall tuition bills that are coming due over these next few weeks.

 

 

 

Two Major Lenders the Latest Casualties of Student Loan Crisis

 

 

 

The Brazos Group, a primarily nonprofit group of higher education lending, servicing, and other financial aid companies, first announced that it would stop offering federal college loans back n March. In May, however, after the government passed the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act, Brazos once again began offering federal parent and student loans, saying that the government’s short-term liquidity plan had renewed the organization’s confidence in its ability to continue offering student loans.

 

 

 

But Brazos once again suspended its education lending program late last month, citing continued turmoil in the student loan industry.

 

 

 

Brazos Executive Vice President Ellis Tredway said his organization simply “ran out of time to get everything in place” to issue new student loans for the fall.

 

 

 

The Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority, which issued more than $500 million in college loans to 40,000 Massachusetts college students and their families last year, had already suspended its federal student loan program in April. Now, MEFA has also pulled the plug on its non-federal private loan program, which provided Massachusetts students with fixed-rate private student loans.

 

 

 

“While we continue to pursue every possible option, raising the necessary funds to offer fixed–interest rate private education loans is taking longer than originally projected and has become even more challenging,” said Tom Graf, MEFA’s executive director.

 

 

 

Students Face the Uncertainty of Switching Lenders

 

 

With over 8 million students and parents having turned to federal college loans in 2006–07, according to the College Board, the number or families that stand to be affected by the ongoing wave of lender departures this year is not unsubstantial.

 

 

Last week, financial aid officers at Texas A&M University — a school with over 54,000 students — heard from seven different lenders warning that they would no longer be able to offer federal student loans, a situation that has made more than a few borrowers uneasy.

 

 

 

Dyneche Duffield, an incoming college student headed to Houston Baptist University, is uncomfortable with the prospect of having to establish a relationship with a new lender other than her local bank, which used to offer student loans.

“I would have much rather taken out a loan there than somewhere where I didn’t know anyone,” Duffield said.

 

 

 

While students like Duffield may still be able to go directly to the Department of Education for their federal college loans or find those remaining lenders who are still offering private student loans (albeit with more stringent credit criteria that are making it harder for students to qualify), the magnitude of the problem within the student loan credit markets and how deeply it has permeated the college loan industry is alarming to many administrators and officials in higher education.

 

 

 

Kathryn Osmond, executive director of student financial services at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, finds the situation with MEFA to be particularly indicative of a long-lasting and serious problem.

 

 

“An economy that is in such a tailspin that it affects a critical agency like MEFA,” said Osmond, “is an economy that scares me.”

 

 



By: Jeff Mictabor

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