Student Loans

[CJ08]

I was wondering which private loan company would be the best for getting a student loan. I need around 10k for housing and tuition to get me through this next year. My plan is to take the max 4500 I am allowed from a stafford loan and the rest through a private firm. Does anyone have any companies they prefer over others? I see sallie mae come up a lot but I've also seen horrible reviews for them.
Thanks

[Melena]

I haven't had any issues with Sallie Mae. Just make sure you consolidate your loans with them to keep the interest locked low. I had another company, can't remember the name of them but every 3 months they raised the fucking interest rate. I wound up moving them to my credit card when they hit 12%.

[izembo]

avoid sallie mae, most financial advisors will tell you the same

[richardd]

im kind of new to this whole student loan thing, but do you have to have decent credit to qualify for those sallie mae loans? i have a few grants up my sleeve, thank goodness. but the transition of moving from one state to another will leave me little money at my disposal and i wouldnt mind playing it safe.

edit: or is credit important for any other loans at that matter? i googled it, but there are way too many variables lol. im just looking for a generalization

[zoobernut]

avoid sallie mae, most financial advisors will tell you the same

Why?

[Meresgi]

Why?

They are pretty notorious to dicking you around. They refuse to consolidate one of my friends loans, though that's his version of the story. But i've always heard bad things about them from faculty at college. Though this may be due to the fact that private loan places gave colleges kickbacks for sending students their way and I think Sallie Mae is more of a federal loan company.

[zoobernut]

They are pretty notorious to dicking you around. They refuse to consolidate one of my friends loans, though that's his version of the story. But i've always heard bad things about them from faculty at college. Though this may be due to the fact that private loan places gave colleges kickbacks for sending students their way and I think Sallie Mae is more of a federal loan company.

Hmm I have never had any issues with them, they consolidated my loans just fine and they haven't raised my interest rate. They are even nice if you don't have cash to pay.

Overall I have had the exact opposite personal experience with them but with any large company mileage may vary.

[BerenTebogo]

I haven't had any problems with Sallie Mae but my wife has had some serious issues with them. Not gonna get into the specifics but it seems to be either hit or miss.

Make sure you do a thorough look into scholarship programs and non-federal grant programs. Never know what you may qualify for if you're a good student. I got an extra $500 grant that I didn't even apply for towards this coming school year through the school automatically. Made me take a closer look at what else I may have been missing.

[Vuitton]

Sallie-Mae is a mixed bag. I think Sallie-Mae starts dicking you around once you start giving them attitude or something. I haven't had any issues with them yet, but of course I haven't started paying them either. But, again the only people having issue with Sallie-Mae are the people having issues making payments.

I have all my loans through them (both federal subsidized and unsubsidized). I am waiting to consolidate until my final loans disburse in spring 2011, then I'll request to consolidate all 6 loans (3 years, so 3 unsubsidized and 3 subsidized).

Federal subsidized student loans are on a fixed interest rate that cannot increase. The interest rate you get when you're given the loan is the rate it stays at. I think the only thing that can change it is when you consolidate which could take the interest rate down as far as 2%. I am not positive about federal unsubsidized loans, but I believe they're also subject to federal regulations on their interest rates.

http://www.direct.ed.gov/calc.html

[takethistoyourgrave]

Took a $5500 loan through Sallie Mae in 2007. Started repayment in late 09. No issues whatsoever, interest rate is fixed. I have no problems making my payments, though, and have no need to consolidate the loan, so that might be where others problems come in.

[Vuitton]

This is a good article to read:

http://www.csmonitor.com/Money/new-e...interest-rates

If college graduates' consolidate their [federal] student loans with the government, they can apply for a repayment program that caps their monthly payments at less than 15 percent of their income.

[Jeveh 2.0]

Sallie Mae is OK as of now, for private loans. I think they have gotten worse over the past few years (gee I wonder why). My loans when I first started college were low interest and every semester the newer the loan the higher the interest rate was with them. My last semester I even ended up paying on the final private loan I took out, while in school.

After I graduated this past December I went to consolidate my loans with Wells Fargo, because they gave me the best rate I could find. I know for a fact I have great credit, which I'm sure helped a lot. Just to give you an idea of another private company. Sallie Mae was AWESOME with my consolidation. They worked hand in hand with Wells Fargo, even going so far as to 3 way call to verify information and make sure payoff dates and amounts were correct. So in that aspect they are very much appreciated.

AES is terrible, and I'm not sure they offer private loans anymore. Their customer service people have absolutely no idea what they are doing. One person tells you one thing that someone else says is incorrect.

Chase
American Education Services
Wells Fargo
Sallie Mae
Citi
JP Morgan

All of these companies do private loans (or did). If i would choose any to stay away from, Chase comes to mind. I was going to choose them because they offered good interest while I was still enrolled, in the end it was all crap. They said I could have this rate, then when I got my loan agreement pdf it was 3% higher which over time is a lot of money.

Long story short, shop around for where YOU get the best interest rate with both private loans and when your done, consolidation. Also try to stay with that company. Ive never had this happen but I have heard it is hard for some companies to work together because of privacy policies etc or some BS.

[kuronosan]

Wondering if I should take out a private loan to go get an apartment for this year.

[Meresgi]

This is a good article to read:

http://www.csmonitor.com/Money/new-e...interest-rates

There's also something like after 10yrs? 15yrs? of repaying your federal loans while working they will be wiped. Maybe i'm mistaken on the actual requirements of that but i'm pretty sure something akin to that was passed through around March or April.

[Omnipotent]

Quick Q, should I say fuck it and not pay my student loans off until the end of my schooling, or should I start paying them off now?

Situation: Paying them off now would hinder my "entertainment" expenses i.e movies, going out drinking / casino.

[vrumpt]

so glad somebody made a topic on this, i'm going to need some money with a private loan as well and have no idea where is a good place to borrow from. My school is still processing stafford loans so i don't know how much i'll need to borrow but id like to know where to shop, and from the sounds of it sallie mae may not be my place.

thanks to those who gave information so far.

[richardd]

Quick Q, should I say fuck it and not pay my student loans off until the end of my schooling, or should I start paying them off now?

Situation: Paying them off now would hinder my "entertainment" expenses i.e movies, going out drinking / casino.

this is apart of growing up lol. this is decision you have to make yourself. there are way too many RL variables to consider. but you're good people's. i hope everything works out on your end.

im glad to see other loans covering things like shelter and whatnot. i think im going to apply for one as a worse case scenario and hold onto it for emergencies. im trying to set up some skype interviews so i can pay rent with THOSE jobs, but im at least glad to see that the job availability in other states are way better than S Florida

[Mojo]

Quick Q, should I say fuck it and not pay my student loans off until the end of my schooling, or should I start paying them off now?

Situation: Paying them off now would hinder my "entertainment" expenses i.e movies, going out drinking / casino.

I'd say it all depends. If you feel confident that you'll be able to get a good or at least decent job when you graduate, I'd say the now is more important than the then.

[kyod]

Beware, unless you have solid credit, you will NEED a cosigner for your private loan. Getting my first student loan in 2007 and taking my last one in 2009 were completely different experiences. Everyone wanted to loan my money in '07 but after the economy hit the shit, lending became incredibly tight (which boggles my mind, since student loan debt is the only debt you can't discharge via bankruptcy). When I took out my loans, I always took them out from places with the lowest interest rates.

If you can make your payments on time 6 months after graduation, Sallie Mae works. Having trouble finding a job or missing one? Good luck with them. Google and you'll read some horror stories.

I took out loans of varying amounts (most I took out from one was 10k) from Chase, Wells Fargo and Sun Trust. Haven't had any issues with them yet.

[Arrmani]

AES is terrible, and I'm not sure they offer private loans anymore. Their customer service people have absolutely no idea what they are doing. One person tells you one thing that someone else says is incorrect.

Ffffffffuuuu I got loans through AES. Since my parents didn't go to college, they weren't really helpful with this stuff so I just took what the school did for me. My first year was covered by grants somehow, but I've been getting loans since then. I'm worried about getting a job after I graduate to pay for them, but I don't think I'll have too much at the rate I'm going at least.

Whats consolidating your loans do anyway, just make it so instead of like 4 monthly payments on 4 loans, its just 1 payment or 1 big loan?