Where should I get a loan?

Started by keedz
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keedz

Senior Member
15+ Year Member
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I'm an international student that's been accepted to medical school (yay). I now face the issue of applying for a loan to cover the cost of tuition for all four years. I have a cosigner already too. I just want to know where I should start looking. There are sooo many banks in the US and I just want the name of maybe a few that do the type of loans that are required for medical school.
 
keedz said:
I'm an international student that's been accepted to medical school (yay). I now face the issue of applying for a loan to cover the cost of tuition for all four years. I have a cosigner already too. I just want to know where I should start looking. There are sooo many banks in the US and I just want the name of maybe a few that do the type of loans that are required for medical school.


Total Higher Education
 
T.H.E. definitely offers the best private loans, but for some reason they told me that I wouldn’t be able to apply with them (maybe they require the borrower to be a citizen, or something like that?) I found Bank one (which is now a part of Chase) and Citi to be the next better options.

Please, let me know if you are able to get a THE loan.

J.opt
 
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J.opt said:
T.H.E. definitely offers the best private loans, but for some reason they told me that I wouldn’t be able to apply with them (maybe they require the borrower to be a citizen, or something like that?) I found Bank one (which is now a part of Chase) and Citi to be the next better options.

Please, let me know if you are able to get a THE loan.

J.opt
Hey Thanks for the info. I would have never been able to find that without your help. I guess you're already in school. Can you tell me how hard the loan application process was and how long it took? And were you able to borrow all the money that you needed? I don't have any other means so I will be trying to get the maximum.
 
keedz said:
Hey Thanks for the info. I would have never been able to find that without your help. I guess you're already in school. Can you tell me how hard the loan application process was and how long it took? And were you able to borrow all the money that you needed? I don't have any other means so I will be trying to get the maximum.
Once I applied with the right cosigner the whole thing went smoothly. I borrowed almost 30K (you have to borrow on year-to-year basis) and if I remember correctly, it took less than 20 days to have everything approved.

I was in a hurry, so I called them a lot to check on the loan status, etc. Citi only sent me letters, so if I didn’t call them it would take 4-5 days for me to find out that I needed to send them something.
 
How does the THE loan program work? Am I able to use that on Stafford loans? How do I save money with it. Any information on the program would be helpful!
 
For U.S. citizens the process is the same for all student loans. It starts by completing the FAFSA. Your school will present it's financail aid package which is usually a mix of federal and private loans (and for many people just federal loans). For federal loans you complete a Master Promissory Note and choose a lender (and T.H.E. is one of many good ones...the key is to use a lender that does not charge origination or guarantee fees). If your school is a Direct Lending Institution, then you will not choose a lender. For private loans there will be another form to fill out.

How you save money with T.H.E. as compared with some other lenders is that they do not charge a guarantee or origination fee. These fees are a percentage of the total loan amount and paying them gives nothing in return. Other lenders that don't charge these fees include AccessGroup, MedCap, NowLoans, and there are others. Most are equivalent.

Lenders will often sell your loan to some other company but this has no bearing on your loan terms.
 
sparikh said:
How does the THE loan program work? Am I able to use that on Stafford loans? How do I save money with it. Any information on the program would be helpful!

Yes, you can use that on Stafford loans.
 
Hey everyone, thanks for the helpful info -
I'm also going to med school fall 06 and am going to end up taking out loans to cover my entire education...
Is it possible to borrow money from more than one lender? I see that some lenders have limits to how much you can take out per year - so if that is not enough, can you borrow simultaneously from other sources?
 
themach said:
Hey everyone, thanks for the helpful info -
I'm also going to med school fall 06 and am going to end up taking out loans to cover my entire education...
Is it possible to borrow money from more than one lender? I see that some lenders have limits to how much you can take out per year - so if that is not enough, can you borrow simultaneously from other sources?

Take it all out from T.H.E.

http://www.northstar.org