Help with student loan

July 3, 2008 8:17 PM

I am looking for the best general student loan company. What are your experienes with specific student loan companies?

So I have managed to pay for the first 4 years of my 5 year program. But now I am completely broke so I need a student loan.

I have talked to a financial officer at my school who more or less said "most are good". What I would like from the hive are some of your experiences with specific loan providers.

Perhaps you may even know the "best of the best" loan providers if you have recently spent time researching this.

My permenent address is considered to be Maryland and my school is located in New Jersey.

I already recieve federal perkins and direct loans.


Misc. Information:
I NEED the loan to cover everything...i.e.: food, housing, books, tuition, etc

I just put myself into credit card debt by flying back to my school from Australia (study abroad). Can I increase my loan to pay off this debt and consolidate it under a better APR?

Am I allowed to increase my loan by a few grand, 3K - 4K, for my own personal use during my last year? Most will be spent on drinks, concerts and the occasional weekend trip - so not exactly a school expense, just a little NECESSARY relaxation.

posted by Black_Umbrella to Work & Money (3 answers total)

My experience with the Perkins loan is that you can reduce it--that is, accept less than the number they say you're eligible for--but you cannot get more. But the Perkins loan is all I have and need. It may be possible to get other loans that will give you more.

Other than that, my loans are through Citibank, which I haven't had any trouble with yet, but I'm still in school and haven't had to start paying it off or anything, so certainly I could run into problems in the future.

Don't have more than that, I'm afraid.
posted by Caduceus at 8:57 PM on July 3, 2008

go here.

http://www.finaid.org/loans/privatestudentloans.phtml
posted by yoyobates at 10:15 PM on July 3, 2008

As far as private student loan providers go, they are all about the same insofar as the rates they charge go. They will all charge a variable-rate, and most seem to base the rate on the LIBOR number. When we were shopping for our son's loan, it didn't appear that anyone was more than a single percentage-point off from anyone else. It's a well-organized racket. But it's our racket.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:58 AM on July 4, 2008