Student Loans For College

It seems as though it is easier to get a student loan for college these days. The hard part about how to get a college student loan is "getting a good interest rate." Some people spend years repaying their college student loans. I bet they never imagined how long it would take to to repay their student loans.

Applying for a Student Loan for college

It has become very convenient to apply for a student loan for college. You can be approved for a student loan quickly. Even if you have bad credit you can still get approved for a student loan.

More than likely you may have already received mail or email regarding your pre-approval for a student loan. The catch with these offers is the terms of the student loan. The main objective of the sender is to try and lock you into thinking you qualify for a student loan, without paying much attention to the terms of the loan. Then they hit you with high interest rates and high monthly payments once you graduate.

Repaying a College Student Loan

There is a high number of college students who graduate in debt. They took out a student loan for college and are becoming overwhelmed with monthly payments which results in Student Loan Debt. Fresh out of college a good job plus financial freedom. Exactly that makes it so easy to want to put your payments on student loans "off" so you can buy a car or rent an apartment. This is not good because to avoid student loan debt repaying your student loans has to be a priority once you graduate. Think logically or think "student loan debt."

Some students have graduated and have no clue about their student loan payment options. This happens all of the time because a lot of college graduates do not know where to find information regarding their student loan debt.

Student Loan Debt Relief

Is there a solution for student loan debt? If you need more financial freedom from your student loans your lender won't mind extending your student loan payment time. This is because they will still be paid, just over a longer period of time.
Usually this results in the student paying more money over time with these low monthly long term payments. Student debt relief? Absolutely 15 years later when you finally finishing paying off your loan.

College Student Loan Alternatives

A scholarship is the first thing that should come to mind when you think about college tuition. Contrary to this a student loan should be your absolute resort.

Before considering a student loan following these steps will help you make the best out of your college financial aid query:

1) Apply for Scholarships

2) Apply for Grants

3) Apply for student loans

4) Take advantage of Student Loan options

5) Don't fall victim to Student Loan Debt

The steps listed above start with free sources of financial aid for college. The last few steps of applying for student loans and making payments.

When you can't get any scholarships or grants and you need a student loan you should take the following steps:

Find a good Student Loan -Lender

Compare rates to accomplish step 1

Have someone who can be a co-signer of the student loan

Try to be in good credit standings

Get a few free credit reports to accomplish the previous step

When you find a good rate think about the long term

Don't get rates that you can't pay when you graduate college

Began making payments immediately upon graduation (with the exception of the grace period)
Student Loans for College Recap

When applying for a student loan for college, understand the terms clearly.

*When repaying a college student loan make it a priority and understand your grace period options.

Shop around for the best student loan interest rate and payment terms.

Remember it is a loan for college, don't let the payments linger for 30 years.
It is strongly advised that you consider all of your sources for free college financial aid before considering a student loan. Follow the appropriate steps listed in this article and you will find financial aid for college or have a better understanding of how to approach Student Loans for College.

Student Loan Debt ... 5 Strategies That Work

Graduating from college is the easy bit. It's "growing up" that's difficult, especially when a freshly-minted graduate realizes that she's taking her first step into full blown independent adulthood with on average $20,000 of student loan debt hanging off her neck.

Student Loan "Grace Period" 6 Months After Graduation. Cleaning up after graduation parties and removing end-of-senior-year mind cobwebs reveals that each new graduate has a Federally mandated 6 month grace period in order to pay down the total student loan obligation...or to refinance the debt via a 1-time student loan consolidation.

Consolidating Student Loans. Student loan consolidation involves some simple, but important rules. Only graduates can consolidate. Current students are barred from consolidating student loans.

* Student Loan Consolidation Rule #1. Identify 100% of your outstanding college student loans. Why 100%? The Government only permits a 1-time student loan consolidation. Forget to include a past borrowing and you get nailed. The National Student Loan Data System manages a database where your loan history should be recorded.

* Student Loan Consolidation Rule #2. Time matters. Consolidating student loans must result in your application being received on or before 30 June if you want to avoid potential interest rate increases.

* Student Loan Consolidation Rule #3. Freshly graduated students are provided a 6-month grace period following graduation. Identify, say, your total Stafford student loan portfolio and then consolidate student loans in one fell swoop...and you'll receive an instant 0.6% interest rate reduction on the balance. This discount could become serious money savings over time.

* Doing The Math. Student loan consolidation is based on math...taking weighted averages of all past borrowings, then rounding up 1/8th percent to result in your consolidated student loan interest rate. All of this consolidation occurs prior to 30 June in the year that you apply.

Where Are The Lowest Cost Student Loans? Thank you Big Government...the best student loans rates you'll get are Federally issued Stafford, Perkins or PLUS student loans. Government-backed, these Stafford and related student loan borrowing plans offer lower interest rates than private market lenders can offer, along with more flexible loan repayment terms. Why? Unlike a personal loan, the Federal student loan transfers a portion of the borrower's risk to the Government...resulting in lower-cost-of-funds.

Are Personal Background Credit Checks Always Required? No. Not every student, or her parents, necessarily has the cash or good credit history to satisfy student loan lenders. The good news is that "No child left behind" and the American commitment towards higher education...enters into a marriage of convenience with profit-seeking lenders...to create a secondary market in bad credit student loans. Risk adjusted, bad credit student loans carry marginally higher interest expenses, are generally more inflexible regarding payment lapses, yet offer longer repayment terms which lowers the monthly out-of-pocket expense. Meanwhile Federal Stafford or Perkins loans are 'credit neutral' and do not require a credit background check in order for a student and his family to qualify.

Federal Student Loans Versus Private Loan Sources - Pros & Cons. Historically, Federal PLUS, Perkins or Stafford student loans offered the most flexibility and, due to government backing, the lowest interest and repayment rates. Until 2006 Federal loans could be "variable"... where the next year's interest rate is based on the Treasury market in a 90 plus trading period ending 1 June. The new "variable rate" becomes effective 1 July each year for all past variable rate loans. For example, 2006 Federal student loan rates for variable carried a 6.54% interest cost.

* Congress Passes New "Fixed" Rate Student Loan. Because of new legislation passed by Congress, all "new" Federal Stafford loans from 1 July, 2006 onwards are now "fixed" at 6.8%.

Fine Print - What's The True Discount Student Loan? College student loan "deals" require a mix of focus and document review in order to decipher the true nature of "discounts". As Albert Einstein opined "God dwells amongst the details" and so it applies to student loan documents.

* Practical Example. For example, "discounts for on-time payments" may look attractive...but what if the interest rate deduction "reward" only occurs retroactively after 4 to 5 years? One missed payment anywhere in the time-stream and presto...the discount vanishes. Or, certain discounts only apply to portions of the loan term...in other words, you'll pay "full rate" for substantially all of the loan life, and the discount only applies to a portion of the loan life. Result? An advertised 1.25% "discount" may actually be worth only .25% when you move through the discount analysis. A useful site for families interested in the "fine print" cost of student loans is www.finaid.org.

Student Loan Consolidation - How To Get The Best Rates And Plans?

Student loan consolidation can have many benefits for the career minded student. With the prices of things going through the roof, going to college can be very costly. Many students don't have thousands of dollars to pay their way through college.

This is why many college students use student loans to get themselves through college. When it comes time to pay back their student loans, it can be a real burden and a distraction from their career.

Before you sign up on the dotted line, you should know how to get the best student loan consolidation rate and plan for your financial needs. If you are tired of too many bills and monthly due dates, it just might be time to find the best student loan consolidation rate and plan that you can qualify for.

What Is The Idea Behind Student Loan Consolidation?

When a student first applied for several student loans from several different agencies and student loan providers, they each gave a different interest rate and term for paying back the loans. The idea of student loan consolidation, is to take all the different student loans and put them into one easy convenient loan. You then only have to make one monthly loan payment every month, instead of several loan payments every month over time. This saves the student both time and money. Having a lower interest rate and less checks to write every month are a couple of advantages of doing a student loan consolidation.

Credit Check Before You Get Student Loan Consolidation Rates And Payment Plans

The most obvious way to get the best student loan consolidation rates and payments, is by having great credit. It's easy to get great student loan consolidation plans with a credit score, also known as FICO, over 660. But, there are several ways to get the best student loan consolidation rates and payment plans.

You can do a simple online search on FICO and credit scores to find the information you need to check out your credit score. Knowing your credit information should be your first step to getting the best student loan consolidation rates. With knowledge, you will get the best student loan consolidation rates for your financial and credit situation.

Student loan consolidation rates and plans can vary from person to person. The loan rates offered will be based on your financial situation and credit. With a FICO credit score under 600, it can be a challenge to get a good student loan consolidation rate and plan in most cases.

7 Aspects To Consider With Student Loan Consolidation Plans

1. Lower Monthly Payments. Depending on your student loan situation and the type of lender you choose, you may be able to lower your monthly payments by up to 50%

2. Having Simple Loan Payments. By consolidating your student loans, you only have one loan payment per month and one check to write. This is very beneficial if you are writing several checks every month to multiple lenders.

3. Having Fixed Interest Rates. With some federal consolidation loans you can have a fixed rate for the life of your student loan. It's best to do research to see what the best interest rates and term you are eligible for. You can check online to calculate the interest rate on a new student consolidation loan based on the rates of your current student loans. You can then round up to the nearest 1/8th of a percent of the weighted average of the interest rates on your eligible student loans.

4. Extending Your Payment Period. You may have a lot of student loan debt. With federal consolidation loans you may be able to extend the payment term up to 30 years. It's a good idea to realize you will end up paying more interest over the life of your student loan consolidation. The idea is to get some leverage until your career takes off. You can focus on making money instead of several monthly loan payments.

5. In School Consolidation Programs. While still in school, eligible students can lock in a low rate. This would put you into repayment status, but since you are still in school, you are automatically put into deferment. The drawback of consolidating your loans while in school, is that you lose your 6 month grace period. The solution to this would be to request forbearance for up to 1 year on your student loan consolidation. Here again you can do some research and get more information online.

6. Lower Interest Rate. Student loan consolidation can save you thousands of dollars. You may be using credit cards with 10% to 28% interest trying to keep up with your bills. This can cost you thousands of dollars when you pay the minimum monthly payments on high interest credit card debt. Having a student loan consolidation may be your best option if you can get lower interest rates when consolidating your student loans.

7. New Interest Rates. With a new student loan consolidation, you may be able to get a much better interest rate. Interest rates are now at an all time low. You may have been paying on debt you built up from several years ago, at high interest rates. Things change over time in the financial industry.

Resources Online For Student Loan Consolidation Rates And Payment Plans

With today's Internet resources, you have an advantage when looking for the best student loan consolidation rates and plans online. If you take some time to do research on the process of getting the best student loan consolidation rates and plans, you may be able to save yourself the high costs on student loan consolidation.

Online website services can make it easy to see if you qualify. There are many tools and ideas online to help you get the best rates and plans available for your student loan consolidation needs.