Best Private Loans??

[catsmeow]

baff

[HippieLawChick]

i think the merit part of it is based on gpa in law school, because there was an option on the form for "im not enrolled yet and don't have a gpa"  though when i talked to them on the phone they asked if i wanted to include my undergrad gpa, which i did, so that might have helped.

I had read somewhere that their loans are fixed as a % of your income, so they have lower "rates" for successful people (future lawyers, MDs, etc) that they can then make up because they will be drawing on your salary.  This is just what I've heard, I haven't been able to confirm it anywhere...

Their website doesn't say anything like that. 

I did consider pimping myself out like that to pay for law school, but I decided that Citibank would be easier to deal with than my family.

[catalyst81]

I got a decent rate from Access Group.  Its the 3-month LIBOR + 2.55%.  That's with good credit though.  It comes to about 7.35% right now but will change with the index.

Preferred lenders are usually just provided to give students some lenders that have worked well with their students in the past.  The college I work for does not process paperwork quicker based on the lender a student chooses. I think legally they can't do this but I can't remember for sure.

[Mr. Burnz]

I applied to all 4 of GWU's preferred lenders for private loans--Citibank, Sallie Mae, Access Group, and THE.  I have pretty good credit considering I'm only 22 years old, and I think I got the "best" student loan rates they had to offer without a co-signer.

-Citibank and SallieMae gave me Prime + 0% (~8% as of today). 
-Access & THE gave me 3-month LIBOR + 1.7% (~5.4% + 1.7 = 7.1% as of today). 

After countless hours of research, I found THE to be the best lender for my needs.  They give you a 1.3% rate reduction as soon as you enter the repayment period whereas Citibank and SallieMae dont give you any rate reduction until you make 33 or 36 consecutive payments on time.  And even worse, if you miss 1 payment, you lose this reduction completely through CB and SM.  THE only discountinues the discount rate for 2 months and if you make those 2 payments on time you get the 1.3% discount back again.  I am planning on paying back my loans within the first 3 years of graduation, so this works out the best for me...

As for the talk about "preferred lenders", I talked to the GW financial aid office today.  I was told that its ok to go outside of their preferred, but a lot of them won't have the 0% origination fees.  And she said at ALL COSTS, avoid any loans from state governments if you plan on having your money disbursed the 1st month of school!  She mentioned they have more experience working with the preferred lenders so they are able to more quickly/efficiently take care of all the required paperwork.

[kiyakoiya]

tag

[Perversely]

anyone know anything about www.myrichuncle.com loans?  what's the deal with these?

poor advertising.

[whoisjohngalt]

i think the merit part of it is based on gpa in law school, because there was an option on the form for "im not enrolled yet and don't have a gpa"  though when i talked to them on the phone they asked if i wanted to include my undergrad gpa, which i did, so that might have helped.

I had read somewhere that their loans are fixed as a % of your income, so they have lower "rates" for successful people (future lawyers, MDs, etc) that they can then make up because they will be drawing on your salary.  This is just what I've heard, I haven't been able to confirm it anywhere...

Their website doesn't say anything like that. 

I did consider pimping myself out like that to pay for law school, but I decided that Citibank would be easier to deal with than my family.

Well it took me long enough, but I finally found it!  I knew I wasn't crazy.

http://www.popecenter.org/features/article.html?id=1440

They must have changed their strategy recently...