So, you are going to college or another institute of higher learning? If you are smart, you have already done your FAFSA or Free Application for Federal Student Aid. There are some sources of aid, such as grants and scholarships, which are a limited resource and the early birds are going to have first bite at those particular worms. The FAFSA is the key to these and the loans which are available under the Federal Government’s programs.
Many of the Federal student loans from the FAFSA or are funded by private companies, such as Sallie Mae (not a government organization at all as many think), Wells Fargo, College Loan Corporation, etc. These are lenders under the FFEL or Federal Family Education Loan program.
Many of you will have no choice as to who your lender is. Your school may work with the Federal Government’s DIRECT program which means the loan is directly from the government. There is no confusion in that case, however you may miss out on some of the bonuses that the private companies working with the FFEL program offer, such as discounted interest rates.
Others will find that their school has a “preferred lender”, and you have no choice in who their student lender is. This may be for the school’s benefit, as their process is streamlined, or maybe there was an incentive from the lender for the school using only that company.
The rest of you are going to be bombarded with choices. In most cases you will end up phoning the numbers in the mailers and speaking to a student loan officer.
I used to work for one of the bigger student loan companies. When you try to get a FAFSA based loan for college and university, you will be pitched in a very particular way.
I am going to let you in on how they sell these loans to you.
The education loan consolidation and Plus / Stafford loan pitches that you will find at the consumer resource FAFSA Loan will let you be prepared to deal on equal terms with the education financial aid industry.
There is nothing underhanded, but you do want to be prepared so that you make the decision which is best for you, not for the student loan officer. These people are paid on a commission basis.
PLUS Loans and Stafford Loans
On the PLUS Loan and Stafford Loan Script page you will find an explanation of the pitch I used for Federal education loans for when the student was still at school. Two of the things that were drummed into us was to convey a sense of urgency, and also that this was a FEDERAL GOVERNMENT program. We weren’t told to make anyone think that we were the government, but if they did, it certainly couldn’t hurt.
Note that Stafford loans are sometimes referred to as an unsubsidized student loan or a subsidized student loan.
Consolidation Loans
Once you have finished school you may want to consolidate your student loans. At this point you may have the opportunity to contact the lending companies again. And don’t worry, they will be contacting you, too!
On the Consolidating FAFSA Loans page you will find the a summary of the script that a lender will use to convince you to consolidate. Again the modus operandi was to convey a sense of urgency, and also that this was a FEDERAL GOVERNMENT program.
Remember that there are deadlines for these loans but they are usually based on publicly known dates such as school dates and interest rate changes by the Federal Government. If a lender tries to tell you to get your application in within three weeks or “your file will be closed”, don’t worry. The “file” can be opened again real easy!
All the best in your education, and don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or comments.
Archive for the ‘ Education Loans ’ Category
Are you ready to graduate and you know that student loan repayment is right around the corner? Have you been properly informed as to what you are going to be dealing with and what exactly you are about to go through? There are many things you must know including education student loan consolidation and the process. Here are some of the things you should know.
First, when it comes to paying back your student loans you get 6 months from the end of school for you to find a job and start paying on them. This is a deferment or grace period that you are allowed to pay on them, but not required to. After 6 months you will be making regular monthly payments on all the loans you took out.
Second, you can use education student loan consolidation to combine all your loans into one. This will give you one monthly payment instead of multiple to manage. You will also get one low interest rate and only one loan provider to deal with. Using education student loan consolidation will make your loans much less of a headache and will allow you to make the payments with ease.
Last, you also have the deferment and forbearance options to use if you cannot pay on your loans for one reason or another. The deferment option is an option you can use for any reason at all for up to 2 years. Forbearance is for financial hardship and you can use if for 6 months at a time with no limit to how much you use it.
Prices of things go up every year. This is called inflation, we all know this. Most people think that things are getting more expensive, but the truth is that things are really the same price that they were a few years ago, it is just the value of our currency that is dropping. The other problem is that as the value of the currency drops, this do tend to go up in price, but we do not get raises on your salaries – which leads to the fact that there are many people trying to make end meet to no prevail, and there are many people looking for easy student loans.
As we all know, the price of education does not drop as the prices of everything else hikes. The price of education goes up just like everything else. This is the ways of the world. If you want to run a business, you may feel that you want to keep your prices the same for many years. Your clients will definitely love you, but you will not be able to make ends meet.
This is why you pick up the price as inflation goes up – it is something that your clients accept. This is why so many people cannot afford to get a good education out of their own pockets.
This means that most people these days need to turn to easy student loans to pay for their or their child’s education.
There is a trick to this whole debacle however. Most people do not think about getting a student loan when they are about to go to college, but in order for you to get a student loan you have to know that you need to have good grades.
This is one of the conditions that the banks of the world put forward. If you do not meet their guidelines you will not get a student loan.
If however, you have good grades, you will be a foot in to get a loan. All you need now to get accepted to the college of your choice – now comes the other problem. You will find that when you apply for a place in the college they will ask you how you will pay, this is one of the things that they need to know, so what will you tell them? The easiest thing for you to do would be do speak to the bank and speak to the school.
Education has increased in value astronomically and students are forced to get loans to pay for their education. Students take federal and private loans to finance their education. The problem arises after they finish their course. They find it difficult to repay the loan. There may be many reasons why they are unable to pay the loan, like
- they may have taken various small loans to meet their varied expenses at the same time. Now, it may pose an imposing figure.
- Even after completing their course, they might not have found proper gainful employment. Thus, they might not have the capacity to repay the loan.
In such situations, the best way to avoid defaulting on your loan is to take a consolidation loan from any of those companies that offer such loans for former students.
Who are eligible for ACS consolidation?
Normally, ACS consolidation is offered only to those students who have a good reputation of making prompt payments on their loans. Sometimes, even those who are delinquent on their loans are able to avail ACS consolidation. Even if you are at a risk of defaulting on your loan, you can avail ACS consolidation.
What will happen if you default on the ACS Loan?
Defaulting on a loan is not the same as being delinquent on a loan. Defaulting means you have gone past the stage of delinquency. Now, you are completely unable to repay the loan or are unwilling to repay the loan. Some lenders offer the option of deferring your loan for sometime. If that is the case, then you can avail of this option to defer the loan and go past your tough period.
ACS consolidation also permits deferment because of reasons of financial troubles and for unexpected situations. The problem is even with consolidation loans, sometimes, the amount increases astronomically and you are completely unable to repay the loan amount. Also, the collection fees add to your burden. In such situations, you may face some hardship as the lender will try all ways possible to get his money back.
Additionally, you may also face the below mentioned difficulties when you default in an ACS consolidation or in any other type of loan:
- Your credit rating will drastically come down and you may not be considered reliable.
- You will be totally ineligible to gain any federal aid.
- You will face troubles and difficulties with lawsuits.
- The lender will no longer give you any deferment options, as he will not trust you any more.
- You may not be able to obtain certain licenses that you need, as your credibility is lost.
Whenever you go in for an education loan, have a proper plan. Decide on how and how much you can repay comfortably. Think of all the possible unexpected situations and financial troubles that may occur. Work out plans on how you will handle them. Don’t shrug off and take it easy. This money is a responsibility. Proper planning of the amount of loan, how you use it and how you will repay it is very essential. Since you have taken so much hardship on gaining a loan for your education, it is important to study well and complete your course with flying colors. This will ensure what you get a proper job after you finish your course. Then, you can easily and comfortably repay your loan.
Definitely, being a citizen of India we are used to slogans like ‘Education for all’, ‘Professional education at cheaper fees, ‘Free Elementary education’ etc. Arguably, these slogans are not worth it in India and mean money very often. Despite all these, many students in the country are unable to pursue their education because of the higher fees or costs associated with many of the courses. Literally, many of the professional courses that call for a huge sum of money should be confided to concerned students, who have the required aptitude. It is so because very often a large number of students in many of the courses are merely sheep herding. These days running a smooth life is very difficult with limited income and when it comes to education it becomes still harder.
At any cost no parents would like to keep their children devoid of good education that would help them lead a peaceful and prosperous life. Here, comes the importance of student education loans in India. These kind of personal loans are designed to help needy students meet their educational requirements. These days a wide variety of courses form the basis of our educational system. Students have the opportunity to explore various subjects under these courses and get the degrees from their preferred institutions with the help of such student educational loans. These loans cover the entire expenditure pertaining to a particular course like tuition fee, cost of study material, accommodation fee etc.
These personal loans have helped many needy students realise their dream. Such loans have helped them reach high positions in many reputed institutions and helped them earn a peaceful living. Therefore with the introduction of such personal loans pursuing higher education has become much easier today. Financial shortage is no longer an impediment on the way of the bright students these days to realise their dream of higher education.
These loans have become very popular among Indian students now-a-days. A recent study has shown that South Indian students outnumber the students of other parts of the country as regards the application for education loan is concerned. As this loan is meant for students, its repayment mode is easy and attractive. Moreover, its rate of interest is found to be comparatively more affordable than other personal loan interest rate. There fore, such finance is affordable for the mediocre income group parents of the needy students. Many of the loans belonging to this category allow the students to repay it only when they become successful as income earners. Often, this option is offered to students who seek professional courses with the educational loan. Normally, these loans come with the option of equal monthly installments. This means that the borrower has got to repay the loan procured on the basis of monthly installments.
Besides this education loan, there are also other personal loan interest rate which are at par with the Students educational loans interest rate. Such loans with flexible terms and conditions can also be availed by the parents of the respective students to help the students complete higher studies.