A series of educational articles for college students and their parents, detailing information about private student loans and private student loan consolidation.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Private Loans - When you Borrow too many

When you Borrow too many private student loans
By Eric S. of PrivateStudentLoan.org

Students who take out numerous private education loans during college can often find themselves struggling to deal with payment amounts and due dates after graduation. Having more than a single payment due date can be complex and result in late or missed payments. Luckily, there is a way to better manage private education loans after college. Private loan consolidation programs allow borrowers to combine private education loans into a sole loan with a single interest rate and payment due date. The following is an overview of the benefits of consolidation private education loans.

One Monthly Payment and Interest Rate
By combining your education loans, you ease the need to make numerous monthly payments. Juggling various payments cannot only be hard, it can also hurt your personal credit if you miss a payment or are late. Additionally, if you have several loans, they probably each have difference interest rates. Through a consolidated plan, you can effectively lower the rates on certain loans. Additionally, if you make on time payments or allow your lender to electronically debit your bank account, you may be eligible for a lower interest rate.

A Smaller Payment
One of the beautiful things about consolidation is you will most likely end up with a smaller payment than if you were to continue to pay on your private education loans separately.

Don’t Worry
By consolidating all of your private education loans and setting up an electronic payment plan, you don’t have to fret about a bundle of student loan payments. This is one of the best reasons so consolidate all of you loans into a single package. More information on loan consolidation packages are available at http://www.privatestudentloan.org/consolidation/loan_consolidation.htm

Lastly, while loan consolidation sounds like a great plan, you should still take the time to shop around for a lender who meets your personal loan needs. Ideally, you can secure a loan that boasts a low interest rate and flexible repayment plans.

To learn more about private loans and consolidation visit www.privatestudentloan.org

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Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Private student loan: borrowing that makes sense

Private student loan: Borrowing that makes sense

No one likes the process of borrowing money, even if it's for a good reason such as funding for a college education. But if you are seeing a gap between government student loans and the price of your college education, the option of a private student loan makes a great deal of sense, financially. A private student loan means the money is available now to provide cash for college expenses. A private loan allows you to get money for college whether you are a graduate student or have undergraduate status. A private college loan makes available up to the lesser of full cost of college expenses minus other financial aid or $40,000.

A private student loan is available when the borrower needs it. No waiting for weeks or months or being required to meet deadlines that are well before you even know how much you will be needing. You can apply for a private student loan before the beginning of the school year to help pay for books and lab fees. You can apply for a private college loan in mid term when it's obvious the money will run out before the end of the term. Or you can wait to get your private student loan until the end of the term when you know your exact needs to finish the term in the black. You never need worry about application deadlines with a private student loan.

A private loan allows you to make your application online and you will have preliminary approval in just a few minutes.

A private student loan doesn't have to be repaid until after graduation or unless you are considered less than a half time student. Private student loan proceeds are sent directly to you--the borrower--rather than to the school so you can control the dispersal of the funds as they are needed. In many instances, you can qualify for a private student loan with no co-signer and there are no application fees associated with the private loan. In some circumstances, the interest on your private student loan can be tax deductible.

Rather than give up the dream of getting a college education for yourself or your child, why not look into the benefits of a private student loan? A private loan is easy to get with good credit or a qualified co-signer. Private student loans provide monies for room and board, tuition, books, incidental fees and school supplies.
Private loans can even be used to obtain a needed computer system for the student. With a private student loan, you won't have to sign over collateral in order to obtain the loan. You or a cosigner will need to qualify for the private student loan based on your credit history.

By obtaining private student loans and using them to fund your college education or graduate school expenses, you've significantly increased your lifetime earnings expectations.

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Sunday, January 13, 2008

Alternative to Private School Loans

Alternatives to Private School Loans
By Tom Whitman, PrivateStudentLoan.org

Private school loans can be a great way to get your college education funded, however for various reasons private school loans are not for everyone. There are good and bad options for going to college without resorting to private school loans, some attainable by anyone and some that are only available to the select few. Relying on winning the lottery or on your parents being rich are doable alternatives to private loans, but only if you have rich parents or win the lottery. If you are not so lucky, there are other alternatives to private school loans that you can at least look into.

Working as an alternative to private school loans is a good way to graduate college without debt. If you don’t want to pay for a private student loan, consider getting a job that will allow you to support yourself without private loans. Keep in mind that your job may need to be full time if you don’t want private school loans, and you may need to limit yourself to night or online classes.

Another alternative to private school loans is to use credit cards wherever possible to supplement your need for funds, but keep in mind that this is not a very good method of avoiding private school loans. You will still have a large amount of debt, even if it is not in the form of private school loans, and it can foul up your credit score worse than private loans would.

If you do not have much money or a source of income, you might consider government loans instead of private school loans. The difference is that unlike private school loans, government loans require that your income fall below certain levels, not that you have good credit. Private medical school loans rely on a credit check, which can be difficult for those with no credit history or those who made mistakes when they were young.

Government loans are often at a lower amount than you can get with private school loans as well, making private school loans the preferred choice. Lastly, there is the option of earning free money through academic achievement. Instead of private school loans, grants and scholarships can be a great source of income.

Avoiding private school loans is possible, however private loans do have their place, and should not be completely discounted if they are your best option. The interest rates are competitive as many lenders and banks are vying for your present and future banking business. If you do decide to apply for a private student loan, first compare and contrast the many banks and lenders' offers and read all the fine print. It's also a good idea for students to involve their parents throughout the process as if you need a cosigner - and many students do - parents are the ones usually cosigning for the private loan.

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Thursday, January 10, 2008

Consolidating your student loan debt

Consolidating your student loan debt
By: PrivateStudentLoan.org

Student loan debt consolidation is a very important matter to consider once you have completed school and graduated. Student loan consolidation should not be undertaken before graduation because it usually means that you will forgo your six-month grace period after graduation and have to begin paying off the debt immediately. However once you have graduated and secured a job student loan debt consolidation can be a great way to manage your money, lower your monthly costs, and maybe even save some cash.

Student consolidation requires that you take out yet another loan that you will then use to pay off all of your other student loans and thus be left with only one bill to pay every month. This raises an interesting point however, private student loan debt consolidation should only be attempted by people with average to good credit otherwise they will not be able to get the loan required to complete the private loan consolidation; or even worse the loan they get for their student loan consolidation will have a higher interest rate than the loans they already have and thus will end up paying more money.

Another important thing to consider when consolidating student loans is to fully understand all the terms of your new loan agreement. The new loan that you will get for your loan consolidation is usually less flexible than the loans you receive from the federal government and therefore you may not be able to renegotiate payment terms on your student loan debt consolidation loan if you fall on hard times and need to make smaller monthly payments. It is also important to note private student loan consolidation is not the same as consolidating direct Federal loans - as is the case when applying for a private loan, private loan consolidation is based on credit as well.

If you have not yet secured a good paying job after graduation student loan debt consolidation may be a risky move that requires far too much luck to be feasible. If however you have decent credit and a good paying job college loan consolidation is a great way to consolidate all of your monthly loan bills into one easy to manage bill that usually ends up being less than you’d pay otherwise. The convenience of student loans consolidation at a fixed rate really cannot be overstated especially if students are out on their own for the first time and have to deal with other bills such as utilities, house payments, car payments, and insurance. Student loan debt consolidation just takes a little bit of the financial hassle out of a graduated student’s life.

For more information on private student loans and private loan consolidation, visit www.privatestudentloan.org

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