student loans question

Started by santender1
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santender1

New Member
10+ Year Member
hi everyone,

I am wondering if anyone has tried to get a private bank to lend them money to consolidate your student loans? Since the stafford rate is 6.8 and the grad plu is 8.5 however the fed funds is 0, I was wondering if anyone has success in getting a bank to loan them money at 3-4% to pay off the loans?

thanks
 
That's a great idea...if the bank will accept income-based repayment. Plus, will that greatly affect one's FICO score since it would be a private loan? I thought government loans did not count toward one's debt-to-income ratio, but private student loans do. I'm not certain by any means.
 
You may have trouble finding a loan unless you have good credit. The flip side of low rates is that it is tough to find money. This has loosened somewhat, but without much in the way of assets or income, it won't be so easy.
As mentioned, it would impact you credit rating, and you would lose access to IBR/PSLF. They would not be student loans anymore, so it would make it harder to get a mortgage etc in the future. They would also now be treated like a regular loan in regards to bankruptcy (hopefully would never been an issue..)
With our interest rates locked in as high as they are now, this may be worthwhile, but you would need to crunch the numbers.
 
santender1 said:
hi everyone,

I am wondering if anyone has tried to get a private bank to lend them money to consolidate your student loans? Since the stafford rate is 6.8 and the grad plu is 8.5 however the fed funds is 0, I was wondering if anyone has success in getting a bank to loan them money at 3-4% to pay off the loans?

thanks
Click to expand...

No chance...think this through, the reason they stick it to you with 6.8-8.5% interest is because you have no choice.

The only way would be if you had some collateral to put it up, and if you did have collateral like that then the smart financial decision would be to sell that asset to pay off the loan, not take out another loan.
 
Talk to the student loan department at the medical school you attended. Most have relationships with various lenders for medical student loan consolidation. Most folks in my class consolidated their loans at 3-4% .

You'll have much less luck talking to random private banks.
 
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