Picking The Right Student Loans Company
By
The Student Loan Staff
If you’re going to college for the first time, or even going back to college but facing paying for college for the first time, you probably know that at some point you’ll need a student loan. Ask almost anyone that’s been to college and they can quote you a dollar amount that they borrowed in student loans. It’s an expense most everyone has. And while there are many companies that would love to give you money to pay for college and your living expenses, it’s finding the company that you can live with for several years that’s the big issue. Taking out a student loan is equivalent to starting a long term relationship, longer than a lot of marriages! Many are not repaid in full for ten years or more. That’s a long time to live with a company you don’t like! Interest Rates Are Key Obviously when shopping for a company, as with shopping for any loan, you want to get the best interest rate possible. If it’s a private loan, good credit helps, but shop and find out what the best interest rates are. Federal Stafford Loans always have low interest rates and they refinance at a lower rate too so that’s a good place to start. Also, they don’t do a credit check, it’s based on your income, so you might be able to get a lot of help from the government for school with out having to pick a private company. Terms Of Payback Next find out what the terms of payback are. Will you be able to wait until you get out of school

to pay back the loan, or will you have to pay part of it back, such as interest, right now? Some companies let you defer your payments for a time after you graduate or leave college so you can find work and get settled before you have that added expense. Find out how long you have to pay back the loan in full as well. Five years to pay back $50, 000 can be an expense that’s unlivable. Plan Now For Your Future It may seem like a lot of work and research to do but you’ll thank yourself in a few years when you have to start paying back what you borrowed. No one knows what the economy will be like when they leave college, so counting on refinancing and going with the first offer you see is not necessarily a wise choice. Talk to your financial advisor at the college and ask them if they have any companies that they would recommend. Talk to other students too and see what’s worked for them. You’ll be glad you did the extra legwork, if not now, then in the future!