วันอาทิตย์ที่ 10 มิถุนายน พ.ศ. 2550

Student Debt



One of the biggest problems today is the accumulation of debt by students during their time spent in university or collage. Many students go to school, work part time and are considered eligible for a credit card. In fact many credit card companies offer incentives targeted to attract collage and university students and entice them into obtaining a credit card.

The difficulty with student debt is this. Most students going through university or collage take advantage of various student loan programs. These programs are offered by many institutions and are often backed in some fashion or another by various levels of government. The loans are usually given to the students to cover the costs associated with attending university including tuition, living expenses, books, and study materials. These loans are often granted on the condition that they become due and payable at a given period of time after the student has graduated. This means that by the end of a four year degree a student could accumulate $40,000 or more in outstanding loans.



On top of the above student loans we now compound the problem by giving the students credit cards. Using a credit card is a very convenient way of spending money. It is also a very easy way to accumulate debt. Unlike bank loans or other conventional borrowing methods, credit cards usually charge very high interest rates. They are designed for convenience not for economy. Students working on a part time basis earn a minimum amount of money and can ill afford large interest rates. The result is that they gradually over the course of their studies accumulate a running debt that by graduation has become a significant amount of money.

Upon graduation the college or university student is now faced with an extraordinary debt load. Usually within 3-6 months of graduation their government low interest rate loans become due and they need to start making payments as outlined in the loan contract. At the same time they have these huge accumulated debts on the credit cards that also need to be paid off. Unlike the government loans, these have a very high interest rate and are not easy to pay back. Now the question has to be asked, is the student that far ahead by attending school?

There should be no question that getting an education is a good idea. It should also be obvious that getting an education is like making an investment. You are spending money to better yourself in much the same way you might invest on renovating your home. It is a well known fact that university graduates over time earn far more money on average then do those with no formal education. The key is to ensure that students understand the dangers of improper credit card use so that they can avoid financial hardship after graduation.

วันพฤหัสบดีที่ 17 พฤษภาคม พ.ศ. 2550

Student loan consolidation is the key to a good education


Loan consolidation is one of the intelligent economic moves any person with multiple loans can do. Loan consolidation is very common amongst students, graduates and that's why student loan consolidation is such a popular subject nowadays.

What is loan consolidation? This basically means that a lot of loans are gathered up into one making paying of all the debts easier. Loan consolidation has a lot of advantages and virtually no disadvantages. First of all, the good thing is that you don't have to write an "insane" amount of checks every month for different creditors. Secondly, there is the advantage of the cumulated interest rate. It is usually lower that all the interest rates put together which means that you will save money.

Having explained the term "loan consolidation" another question remains unanswered: what is student loan consolidation? As you might know very few people afford to pay off their collage. The students go out and get a loan so they can stay in school. This is a special kind of loan because you don't start paying it right after you get it. The payment starts after the person that has made the loan finishes college. Usually getting through college is not very cheap so students make more than one loan. When they have to start paying several expenses, they look at a student loan consolidation program as their best option. A student loan consolidation program means that the student gets to pay off more loans with the help of only one loan. By the end, he will find himself with only one payment per month and with more money in his pockets. A student consolidation loan is a good idea because it's easier to handle less paper work and save some money from the lower interest at the same time.

Student loan consolidation is not always a good idea. There are a few arguments to sustain the fact that the student consolidation loan is a good idea. After graduation, a student has a six month period when he can get a student consolidation loan or he can get it after he has started paying off the loans he already has. So, there is a six-month period after finishing college when he can look for a job. He usually doesn't start paying for the loans he has made right away. The best time to start a student loan consolidation program is the fifth month of that six-month period (just before the time runs out). This is a very good move because the necessary paper work takes around a month to be ready. By the end of that period you will have only one payment to worry about. The worst time to get a student consolidation loan is after you've already started paying back the loans and you're almost done. This isn't a bright move because the student consolidation loan or the student loan consolidation program will spread over a long period of time. So there's no point in getting a five-year loan when you have only one more year to finish paying all the other debts you have.

Another type of loan used for higher education is the PLUS loan. This kind of loans can be made by parents for their children. The Ministry of Education usually gives these loans, but banks can give them also. From a parent's point of view, only one PLUS loan could be insufficient depending on the college you plan to send your children to. So a parent can and should get more the one PLUS loan. Similar to the student loan consolidation case, there are a lot of PLUS loan consolidation programs. PLUS loan consolidation and student consolidation loans are almost the same: the benefits of a PLUS loan consolidation program are the same as the ones from a student loan consolidation program - only one creditor to pay off and low interest rates. If you are thinking of making a PLUS loan through a PLUS loan consolidation program and starting it with your life partner (so both of you can pay), it is not such a bright idea. In case the couple gets separated, there will be a lot of difficulties. It is better to have only one person involved in the PLUS loan consolidation. If both parents make a PLUS loan and one of them starts a PLUS loan consolidation program, he or she can include the loan made by the husband/spouse in his/her program.

Education is very important if you want to succeed in life. Nowadays, without a proper education, it's very difficult to get a good job. One thing leads to another: no place to work means no money and no decent standard of life. Either you're a student or a parent you should realize these things and try to give yourself or your children the best chances of accomplishment. Everything evolves around money so, if you are a student and need money to go to a good college, you should make a loan to pay of the tuition taxes. After that, you can pay off all the loans you made through a student loan consolidation program.

If you are a parent and consider yourself wise, you should take care of your children's education. A PLUS loan or more of this kind should do the trick. You needn't worry about paying them off because through the PLUS loan consolidation programs everything is made as simple as possible. Even the child can get a student consolidation loan to pay off the PLUS loan made by the parents. Anyway, if you're looking for this type of loan you are probably aware of its benefits. Student consolidation loans will make your life easier and help you in getting exactly you want.

Resource box: If you are either a student interested in making your life easier or a parent trying to do the best for his child, student loan consolidation or plus loan consolidation are your best options.

College Debt Consolidation - Shed College Debts at Low Cost

Having a college education is expensive these days and students therefore incur debts as they have to borrow to meet various expenses. But there is a way out for students. They can get rid of debts through college debt consolidation.

College debt consolidation is useful for students either former or current students, in lessening debt burden. This they can do by taking a college debt consolidation loan from a new lender. The loan is used in immediate pay off of the debts. Since the borrowed amount from the new lender is at least equal to college debts of a student, the loan merges all debts in itself. Now instead of paying installments to number of lenders, the student pays installments to one lender. As college debt consolidation is done at lower interest rate, the student saves lot of money that was going waste in paying higher interest on debts.

College debt consolidation is done by taking a secured or unsecured loan. Secured collage debt consolidation loan is provided on condition of student offering collateral to the lender. The loan is offered at lower interest rate and for a larger repayment period and greater amount can be borrowed. On the other hand the unsecured loan requires no collateral and instead student's repayment capacity plays a crucial role. The unsecured loan comes at higher interest rate with smaller repayment duration and smaller amount.

There are two main sources that a student may have taken previous loans. These sources are federal government and private institutions. Interest rate charged by federal government is always lower than the one charged by private institutions. So if your loans were from federal government, there is no logic in consolidating them with loans to be taken from private institutions.

You may also be labeled as bad credit in the loan market. In such case you should search for lenders who specialize in giving loan for debt consolidation to bad credit students. They may relax terms-conditions.

Make an extensive search on internet for the suitable lender and as you find them in plenty you can compare their interest rate and conditions. For fast approval of the loan for the debt consolidation, prefer applying online to the lender. Online lenders take no fee on loan application processing or offering any information regarding the loan which reduces the loan availing cost.

College debt consolidation enables student in reducing debt burden. Take the loan for the debt consolidation only after taking its different aspects into consideration.

Education Loans - Meet Collage Expenses at Low Cost Finance


Higher education has become costlier for a student so much so that an education loan is now considered a necessity. As a consequence there are now more sources available to a student for taking education loans. Students are now in a better position of availing education loan as per their requirements.

There are two main sources of education loans. One source is the government funded loans and the other is private lenders. Usually students prefer taking education loans from government bodies as they can provide a subsidized loan. The advantage of subsidized education loans is that they are cheaper. The subsidy is provided by the Federal Government in USA and by the finance ministry in other countries. On the other hand, private lenders will charge an interest rate on education loans. There is a Federal family education loan program that is considered as most useful because it provides affordable and flexible options regarding educational loans. Under the program students are charged a very lower interest rate on education loans and students are given convenient and larger repayment duration.

Students do not have to face any problems in paying back education loans. All lenders either subsidized loan providers or private lenders, give students ample time for clearing the loan. Students are not working people and hence do not earn sufficiently for immediately starting paying back education loans. Students can start paying back federal educational loans six months after they have finished their collage education. Usually ten year repayment duration is offered for education loans. For greater educational loans the repayment duration may be larger.

Some requirements are to be followed for education loans. The student applying for education loans must have attained the age of eighteen years. If the student is applying for a private education loan then he or she is expected to bring a co-signer along with. Credit report of the student also may be required for the loan. Usually credit unions provide educational loans on taking a property of student like a vehicle as collateral.

As far as paying interest rate is concerned, a student has the option of paying or not paying during the collage education term. However if some amount is paid towards interest then it becomes a lot easier for the student to pay off the remaining amount after he has completed collage education.

Before applying to a particular lender, compare terms-conditions and interest rates of different lenders. These lenders can be approached on their web sites. Surely education loans are of a great help to student who are going for a collage education.

Direct Student Loans - Low Cost Funding Of Collage Education


Collage education is costlier and if the funds are not available easily, it may be a huge impediment in the way of seeking education further. Direct student loans come to the rescue of the needy students who have finished school and entering collage education which demands host of expenditures.

Direct student loans are low interest rate loans that are provided to the students. Direct student loans are offered by the US Department of Education. The biggest attraction of direct student loan is that it does not involve a private lender like a bank and the student is directly borrowing from the federal government.

For covering all types of students, direct student loans are available in subsidized and unsubsidized options. The federal government subsidizes the interest rate and students are not charged the rate of interest as long as they are taking collage education. On the other hand a subsidized direct student loan is offered to the students on the basis that the interest rate will be charged from the time of the loan approved till it is paid back completely. The loan amount for subsidized direct student loans ranges from £2625 to £8500 and increases each year. On unsubsidized direct student loans the loan amount ranges from £4000 to £10000 and increases each year.

As far as repayment plan of direct student loans is concerned, the students are given sufficient duration. Direct student loans can be return back in 10 to 25 years. If the student is unable to pay off the loan amount in time and wants to defer the payment, then there are number of provision under direct student loans for doing so. On some condition he can surely extend the repayment duration as suits him or her. However the student may have to pay some penalties for not paying the loan back in time.

You are automatically a direct student loan candidate as you fill a free form for Federal Student Aid. All a student has to do then is give his acceptance for taking the loan and t he loan amount is deposited in the account of the student.

Poor Credit Student Loans for low cost collage education


A student who is aspiring for college studies has enough loan opportunities even if he has been labeled as poor credit borrower. Poor credit student loans are now easily available to poor credit students as there are various options open to them in taking a loan. This simply means that you can attend college despite poor credit. For poor credit students there are number of government loans which are approved without looking into your bad or good credit.

For instance a poor credit student can opt for Federal Stafford Loans which come in subsidized or unsubsidized options. With this loan credit does not matters at all to the lender as this is a governmental loan. The subsidized loan is approved on the basis of the economic needs of the student. The interest is subsidized by the federal government and so the loan is cheaper for a student. The government pays the accruing interest on the loan. On the other hands the unsubsidized loans are provided irrespective of the economic condition of the student. But the student shall have to pay interest. The interest will start accruing from the day the student is paid out the loan.

As far as the loan amount is concerned it increases for each academic year that the student passes. The repayment of Federal Stafford Loans is kept flexible. Usually the student is allowed to repay the loan in 10 years. The student can also avail an extended repayment duration. The loan amount is disbursed by the college or university you are attending. So Federal Stafford loans are best suited for poor credit student loans as these loans are approved despite poor credit. The loan application for these loans can be had from anywhere including college, university or you can go directly to the Federal Government's website for the application. Also there are many student loan websites who offer tips in sourcing the student loans. Explore them for detailed information about many features of the loan.

Cheap Student Loans - make collage studies less burdensome


Collage studies are always very costly as lots of expenses are involved. The student has to pay for costly books, hostel accommodation, tuition fee and host of other expenses. So a loan becomes inevitable for most of the students. The loan should also come at cheaper rate so that the student feels no burden while concentrating on studies. cheap student loan therefore attain importance for a student.

When we speak of cheap student loan, clearly we mean that the loan should be of lower interest rate. There are many ways available to a student that he takes a loan at cheap rate. The best considered way is to look for student loans that are sponsored by the state governments who provide subsidy on the loan and so the student pays less interest on them. Such cheap student loans come at relaxed repayment duration and options as well.

In case you are taking a student loan from private lender, then the rate of interest gets cheaper if you are willing to provide some security to the lender. Of course a student usually does not own a property, and so his parents can take the loan for the student on offering the security. On securing the loan amount the lender will surely offer student loan at cheaper rate of interest.

If a student has bad credit due to late payments or payment defaults on previous loans, the best way to take student loans at cheap rate is to have a co-signer. Your parents or any person who has a good credit can co-sign for a student loan. Excellent or good credit of the co-signer gives more assurance of the safe return of the loan amount and lender therefore is willing to reduce the rate of interest. Make sure to compare lenders who claim of providing cheaper rate on student loans for a suitable deal.