Q's about Private loans.

[salaz012]

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This is my situation:
My school allows a max limit of 65,000 and that will yield a monthly allowance of 1,400 a month which I will not recieve until school starts. Monthly rent (750, almost impossible to find any cheaper having a dog), Car payment (250), phone and utilities (150), That leaves me with Which leaves me at 250 for food, gas, car insuarance and extra expenses such as bills (credit cards which I plan on consolidating). So Ive been browsing private Gradplus loans that my school wont mediate and include as part of the 65,000 max.
I was approved for one for 10,000 with a interest rate of 15% (way too high), but I will obtain it before school starts, allowing me to put down a deposit and first months rent.
Now my Q is, is that the average interest rate for loans exceeding your max??? How do people in this situation do it?
Note: This is a private deffereable loan, which is not regulated by my school as SallaeMae or citibank.

 

[I'mFillingFine]

This is my situation:
My school allows a max limit of 65,000 and that will yield a monthly allowance of 1,400 a month which I will not recieve until school starts. Monthly rent (750, almost impossible to find any cheaper having a dog), Car payment (250), phone and utilities (150), That leaves me with Which leaves me at 250 for food, gas, car insuarance and extra expenses such as bills (credit cards which I plan on consolidating). So Ive been browsing private Gradplus loans that my school wont mediate and include as part of the 65,000 max.
I was approved for one for 10,000 with a interest rate of 15% (way too high), but I will obtain it before school starts, allowing me to put down a deposit and first months rent.
Now my Q is, is that the average interest rate for loans exceeding your max??? How do people in this situation do it?
Note: This is a private deffereable loan, which is not regulated by my school as SallaeMae or citibank.

I assume you've borrowed the maximum amount of public loans first? That is either $38,500 or $40,000, depending on the amount of health professional loan you get, from what I understand. If you borrowed that much publically, it should only leave you with 25K to borrow from private lenders.

If your school has a suggested list of lenders, that usually means that those banks will "fill" the rest of the budget (i.e. lend you the remaining 25K), since they trust the school. I would first of all call your school's financial aid department and ask, 1. Are there recommended private lenders and 2. If you for some reason did NOT borrow the maximum amount of private loans, if there is a way they can assist you with that. Also, most schools will allow you to increase the budget if you bring in things like loan receipts, car repair payments, day care bills for kids, etc. However, I doubt you'd want to increase your budget any more than 65K since that's quite a bit in itself.

I only needed to borrow from private loans for the first year, and I got it all from one bank that the school recommended. My interest is around 12%...15 is pretty high, even for the privates. (It's lower if you go with the ones that your school recommends, I suppose.)

 

[endoking]

Try Chase Education One loan, my rate was about 10%

 

[Robert Paulsen]

Are you insane?

You've already got so much credit card debt that you have to consolidate and then you're going to take out a 15% loan? You are digging a hole for yourself with credit cards and high interest loans. Do you really want to be owned by credit card companies? If I were in the room with you I'd slap you and shake you until you wake up! The solution to your problems isn't borrowing more money at usurious interest rates. The solution is to face reality and start living in a manner more consistent with your means.

#1- cut up the damned credit cards. Keep one (obviously the lowest interest card, preferrably Amex) for emergency use only.

#2- Give up the damned dog! People who rent homes to other people don't like dogs because they destroy the property, especially dogs that are left alone most of the time as your's surely will be. There will be many more places available to you at much lower rent if you don't have a dog. You can get another dog when you finish school and can afford it. You won't have time to take proper care of a dog while you're in school.

#3- Loma Linda is in California. Do you need a car to protect you from the bad weather? Live within bicycle distance of school and get rid of the car, car insurance, repair bills, etc. Paying a little higher rent to live closer to school is definitely cheaper than paying for a car. Ride a beat-up bike with a basket to haul books and groceries and lock it every time you get off it. If you need the car to visit mom and dad on spring break, rent one. It is much cheaper to do so a couple times per year then to own one all year. When you want to go to the beach bum a ride with classmates who are in better financial shape than you.

#4- Use a prepaid cell phone and limit calls. Forget text messaging, video, etc. T-mobile prepaid will cost <$100 for the phone and then 10 cents per minute if you buy the time in 1000 minute chunks. 1000 minutes should last at least 6 months. If it doesn't you're spending too much time talking on the phone.

#5- Use the free internet connection at school for your web surfing (you can even use skype to make dirt cheap phone calls that way). It will cost you at least $50 per month to have an internet connection at home.

#6- Take advantage of every opportunity for free food. There are a lot of them on college campuses.

Try negotiating a deal with whoever you rent from to reduce your rent if you pay 6 months in advance (assuming you can scrape up 6 mo. rent without having to take out a loan at 15%). That should save you at least a few hundred dollars per year.

In short, start living like a student! It's only for a few years.

RP

 

[Sprgrover]

...Now my Q is, is that the average interest rate for loans exceeding your max???...

The loan amount that you borrow does not assume the future interest that will accrue over time. If you don't pay the interest as you go along, which is what many students do, then the interest is capitalized onto your original loan amount and the amount that you owe will be greater than the original loan amount. In other words, you can borrow your full $65,000 and interest is not calculated in that amount.

 

[salaz012]

Thnx for al the input guys.