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Hi everyone,
I have a few questions for people who either have taken out relocation loans or know a good bit about them; I've done some reading online and while I think I understand the basics, most of what I've read on the web has been sort of vague. So recently I've come across the opportunity to do a good bit of traveling in Europe next spring after my last 4th year med school rotation is over and before graduation day. I've never been able to travel to Europe and several attendings I've talked to have encouraged me to take this time before residency to do something worthwhile (seeing as it might be my last chance for a good many years). I currently should have enough in my Stafford and GradPlus budget to get through residency interview and travel costs and for the most part am going to be staying local, so these costs should be reasonably manageable. The only way I'll be able to do this traveling in Europe, however, is to take out a private loan of some sort and the residency relocation loans seemed most appropriate. So my questions are: Can you take out a residency relocation loan at your own risk and use the money for leisure travel like this or does the school or lender demand that you show proof of residency-related expenses? Does anyone have experience with expected interest rates for some of these companies (my credit score is about 730 and have about 200K in outstanding loan debt)? Lastly, does the general idea of taking out 6-7K$ for leisure travel sound completely unreasonable? I understand that this idea makes no "sound financial sense", but I also feel like 6-7K$ now to pay for the opportunity of a lifetime is worth the eventual price of paying back even double the principal of the loan mostly after the completion of my training. Just as an aside, I am going into one of the better compensated fields of medicine (and am confidant that I'll match in that field); I wouldn't be considering adding to my debt so greatly if I was going into a field that was low on the compensation scale. Anyway, sorry for the long rambling post. Any thoughts?
Thanks!
I have a few questions for people who either have taken out relocation loans or know a good bit about them; I've done some reading online and while I think I understand the basics, most of what I've read on the web has been sort of vague. So recently I've come across the opportunity to do a good bit of traveling in Europe next spring after my last 4th year med school rotation is over and before graduation day. I've never been able to travel to Europe and several attendings I've talked to have encouraged me to take this time before residency to do something worthwhile (seeing as it might be my last chance for a good many years). I currently should have enough in my Stafford and GradPlus budget to get through residency interview and travel costs and for the most part am going to be staying local, so these costs should be reasonably manageable. The only way I'll be able to do this traveling in Europe, however, is to take out a private loan of some sort and the residency relocation loans seemed most appropriate. So my questions are: Can you take out a residency relocation loan at your own risk and use the money for leisure travel like this or does the school or lender demand that you show proof of residency-related expenses? Does anyone have experience with expected interest rates for some of these companies (my credit score is about 730 and have about 200K in outstanding loan debt)? Lastly, does the general idea of taking out 6-7K$ for leisure travel sound completely unreasonable? I understand that this idea makes no "sound financial sense", but I also feel like 6-7K$ now to pay for the opportunity of a lifetime is worth the eventual price of paying back even double the principal of the loan mostly after the completion of my training. Just as an aside, I am going into one of the better compensated fields of medicine (and am confidant that I'll match in that field); I wouldn't be considering adding to my debt so greatly if I was going into a field that was low on the compensation scale. Anyway, sorry for the long rambling post. Any thoughts?
Thanks!
