What lender are you using for Private Loans

[Shane41]

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Ive got OK credit and would rather not have parents help with co-signing. What are some good lenders out there to use for private loans that I can defer payments until Im out of school?

Any help would be great!
Thanks

Shane

 

[HOTTY]

sallie mae

 

[Superhuntress]

I used Chase Student Loan ( www.edmoneyfast.com ), which gives you up to r$30,000 a year if you are a dental student, under their professional student loan program. I got approved without a co-signer.

 

[dgaillard]

i'm in the midst of determining that and called my financial aid office for help deciding which lender to use for my grad plus loan.

me: i'm looking for help determining which lender to use for my grad plus loan.

her: you should just use whoever you use for your stafford or have used for other private loans in the past. that way you don't have to keep track of different companies.

me: ok, but don't some of them offer better deals than others? i want to consolidate these loans after i graduate, so i was looking for a lender that costs less money while i'm in school, as opposed to one that lowers interest rates during repayment.

finaid: it's a federal loan program, all the lenders go by the same rules.

me: your website lists different benefits for each of the 8-10 lenders listed. some offer a 3% principal credit to offset the origination fee, others do various interest rate reductions. i was just hoping for some help figuring out which package was best for my situation.

finaid: i don't really know anything about that.

nice. i suppose that's what i get for trying to avoid doing the math for myself.

sorry this wasn't helpful to your question, but i needed to vent. as to the lenders, i have used usbank and access in the past. wachovia's offer looked interesting though.

 

[Ebull]

I'm trying to decide which lender to use as well. When I called they gave me links to different lenders that are on their preferred list. Here are the links they gave me:

http://educationloans.wachovia.com/schools/templegplus/templegplus.htm?school=003371&campus=00

http://www.edamerica.net/

http://www.studentloanexpress.com/student-loan-products/federal-graduate-plus-loan.html

https://studentloan.citibank.com/s/slcsite/

http://www.citizensbank.com/pf/studentloans/default.aspx

http://www.eduloans.pncbank.com/index.htm

http://www.bankofamerica.com/studentbanking/

The top three seem to be the most competitive with the interest rates. I still haven't decided yet though, so if anyone else has any insight please chime in.

 

[rals]

I used THE which is I think Total Higher Education or something. They give you a certain % back with repayment...

 

[Shane41]

Hmm....my school doesnt allow the THE loan...bummer, good stuff though keep it coming!

 

[billermo]

I'm shopping for GradPlus loans. Wachovia seems to have a good deal. Apparently they credit your 3% origination toward your interest after 6 months and give you a .06% interest reduction after disbursement.

Thanks for the links. Looks like I need to do some more research.

 

[armorshell]

I went with graduate leverage for G+ and stafford loans. I got a 1% immediate rate reduction on the staffords and for the G+ loans I get a 3% rebate on the principal and an immediate 1.3% rate reduction.

 

[I'mFillingFine]

I have Access Group for the smallish private loan I had to get for this past first year of d-school since New York lets me become a resident after 12 months (so public ones will be sufficient after that.) I chose Access because it was one of the 5 my school recommended (your d-school may have a list of banks who will "trust" the school's budget and just fill the rest of it after the public loans max out.) Compared to the other 4, it was the only one that deferred starting payments through all the dental residencies and specialties. Careful; a lot of banks will defer for a MEDICAL residency, but no DENTAL ones.

Of course, I was an idiot and didn't think about the fact that I'd want to pay off the private loan as soon as possible anyway (hopefully before I graduate), so I should have chosen a lower rate. Access is sort of on the higher side, and I hopefully won't still have it when I'm in residency, so yeah.