Credit/Loans?

You are correct. As long as you don't have any bankruptcies, foreclosures, or defaults on federal loans (including previous student loans you can have fairly lousy credit and still be eligible for federal student loans. Private loans are another matter and they will probably scrutinize your credit report a bit more than the federal loans.

 

I concur with mpp...just wanted to add that with private loans that frequently bridge the gap between your student budget and federal loans, lenders will charge higher origination fees for applicants with marginal credit ratings. With a co-signer, these fees can be reduced somewhat.

 

I used to work in the Financial Aid office at my school. Many of the graduate students had filed Bankruptcy before, so I can answer this question. You can get a federal stafford loan no matter how bad your credit is. You can have bankruptcy, forclosures, etc. The federal student loans programs don't care about credit rating. The purpose of federal student loans is to make education accessible.

The ONLY exception to this is if you have defaulted on prior student loans, then you cannot get anymore federal stafford loans. All those grad students who had filed Bankruptcy had not defaulted on their student loans. So, those were excluded from the Bankruptcy and hence, they can get federal stafford loans (sub and unsubsidized)

So, you can have a really bad credits history and get $38,500 per year in Sub + Unsub federal stafford loans as a med student.

However, if your cost of attendance is more than $38,500, then you will have a more difficult time getting a private loan to make up the difference if your credit is bad. Most private medical school have a Cost of attendance over $50,000 per year so lots of med students need to take out a private loan. Therefore, be careful with your credit as you may only be accepted to a private school and need to extra funds to cover your education costs. Good credit is indeed important.

 

Call and talk to the financial aid office and ask for the most recent student budget for your category (in-state/out-of-state, on or off campus, etc.). This is an important piece of information to evaluate the schools before you apply.

 

[I used to work in the Financial Aid office at my school. Many of the graduate students had filed Bankruptcy before, so I can answer this question. You can get a federal stafford loan no matter how bad your credit is. You can have bankruptcy, forclosures, etc. The federal student loans programs don't care about credit rating. The purpose of federal student loans is to make education accessible.]


Do the Federal Student Loan Program have their own credit check to monitor if someone has defaulted on a student loan, or do they run a normal experian check.
The reason I'm asking is because on my credit report a private consolidation company is claiming "Student Loans" as a way to collect even after I had filed for bankruptcy 3 years ago. This company at the time, consolidated visa payments and I think $3000 in student loans. Since the Federal Student Loan Program got their money, could they hold it against me, if this private company has this claim on my credit report?

This is actually scaring me, cause I am in the process of applying for student loans for Med School, i JUST GOT ACCEPTED and will start in the Fall. Any info would be much appreciated.
Thank you

 

I don't think they would run a normal credit check but rather just have their own records that know if you have defaulted on a federal student loan. However, some schools do run a credit check on you since they need this to qualify you for private loans to meet the entire school budget.