Would collections prevent me from getting federal financial aid or an apartment for med school?

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barbieandbrainsmd

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I am about to fill out FAFSA for financial aid, but I realized something that is now haunting me: I have a couple thousand in collections (personal loan taken out in my name that I didn’t know about to pay for school, then went unpaid :/) and am slowly paying it off. Will this play a role in or even prevent me from receiving federal financial aid? Also, will this prevent me from leasing an apartment for med school? I plan to get roommates, hopefully

I will be quite close if not done paying off the collections by the time I start med school, and I have been told it’ll be removed from collections when I do. However I obviously will be receiving financial aid and choosing an apartment a bit before then, so just want to plan accordingly.
 
Existing loan balances will be taken into consideration for your federal loan application, but if you are making payments on the loan that is a good factor for you.
Did your parents take the loans out "in your name" without telling you?
 
The collections will be noted on your credit report, for up to 7 years. Future landlords will be able to find this information out. But it looks better since you're paying them off.
 
You may have trouble at apartment complexes that are managed by a company. Would be good to get the free credit report that you are entitled to at the large credit bureaus.
 
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