Loans Debts And Students
Archive for August, 2008
10 Essential Tips For Student Borrowing
Aug 13th
If you are presently looking for student loans then here are 10 things which you should think about carefully before you commit yourself to a loan:
1. Start by looking carefully at the award letter that you been given for your course and determine just which need based loans you are qualified for and how much money these loans would provide.
2. Look at your total financial picture including things like your education costs, the availability of any scholarship or grant money and money which will be provided by your family and then calculate how much money you need to borrow.
3. Do Not borrow more than you need. Regardless of the amount of money that a lender offer you, never borrow more than you need for your short and medium term needs.
4. Consider working as a supplement or alternative to borrowing. You may think that working a job while attending college is something of an additional burden but it might be a lot better than being weighed down with high loan repayments once you have graduated.
5. Apply for any student loans as soon as you can. You need to ensure that you get the loans you need and that your money arrives before your bills start to appear, so do not delay once you know how much you need to borrow and get your application in without delay.
6. Make sure that you follow the instruction on any loan application as mistakes could well lead to your application being turned down or to a delay in the receipt of funds.
7. If you have applied for Stafford or Direct student loans then you should not be surprised if the amount that you receive is less than the amount you applied for because a fee of up to 4% will be deducted from your loan. This deduction will be made prior to the check being sent to your college.
8. As soon as you have your first student loan you need to keep a track of your borrowing to determine just what your monthly repayments are going to be at a later date. It is far too easy to get lulled into a false sense of security as long as you are attending college and not having to make repayments, but you might well be in surprised once you have left college when you see what your monthly repayments are. There are several student loan calculators available online which will look after the complicated repayment mathematics for you.
9. If you find, having taken on as much federal loan debt as you can, that you still need additional loans from a private lender then take professional advice before starting your search for additional funding.
10. If you decide to take on additional private loan funding then you will have to carefully rework your budget to account for the servicing of any additional loans while you are in college.
About the Author:
TheStudentLoansCenter.com provides detailed information on college financing and also tells you about private student loan options for bad or no credit
College Students: How to Protect Yourself from Identity Thieves
Aug 4th
Every fall, as millions of students get ready to head off to college identity thieves lie in wait for them. Already significant targets, college students comprised more than a third of all identity theft victims last year. Identity thieves frequently target college students because they seldom take protective steps, because of the large number of individuals with access to their personal information, and because an increasingly aggressive credit card industry bombards them with free offers and easy-to-obtain credit cards.
Here are some suggestions from LifeLock CEO Todd Davis on how college students can protect themselves against identity thieves.
1. Before going off to campus, students should purchase a shredder and use it to destroy anything they may throw away that contains personal information about tem; report cards, financial aid forms, housing information, class schedules, etc. A good rule for students: if you aren’t going to keep it in a secure file, shred it!
2. Residence hall rooms and student apartments often have lots of folks in them, including some relative strangers. That’s why it makes sense to password protect computer files and secure documents which include your personal information. Remember, it takes only one untrustworthy person to steal your identity and cause you years of trouble.
3. Parents…college students won’t order or check credit reports. So, do it for them. Before the first semester starts, parents should have their students order free credit reports to be sent to their homes. Parents can then check the reports for accuracy and identify any potential problems. Major credit bureaus are required by law to give consumers one free credit report a year. If you discover a problem on a credit report, investigate further. Be aware that checking your credit report won’t prevent thieves from opening new accounts in your name, but it is a good start.
4. In the most recent three years, more than two hundred universities, colleges, school districts and student lending organizations have lost personal information on nearly 9 million students, faculty, and staff. Despite increases in institutional security, social security numbers and other critical identifiers are lost or stolen at a steady pace. Thus, it makes sense to take steps to make sure you have protected your identity in the event your information becomes vulnerable to identity thieves.
5. Opt out of all junk mail, as soon as possible. Identity thieves can steal credit card offers from your mailbox or garbage (if you fail to shred), fill in the applications with your name and their address, and charge thousands of dollars of goods and services to you. It happens every day.
6. Have free fraud alerts placed on personal information. Fraud alerts, offered by the major credit bureaus at no cost, mean that credit agencies will contact you directly to get your approval whenever someone tries to open a new credit account in your name or change your address. Thus, even if a thief manages to obtain your information, you can potentially stop him or her from opening new a new account or making an address change on an existing one. You can request fraud alerts yourself, but you must renew them several times a year, and they can fail if the creditors don?t make the call (as they are supposed to). Paying a company a small monthly fee to take care of the fraud alerts for you may be a good option, especially if the company offers you an identity theft guarantee.
Identity thieves are frequently aggressive and clever, and they like to target college students for reasons we’ve already touched on. But, a few simple precautions and a little common sense can go a long way in protecting you from them.
About the Author:
Daniel Z. Kane is a university dean who advises students on online college degree programs and online degree programs.
Here’s How to Avoid Defaulting on Your Student Loan
Aug 4th
To avoid a poor credit rating which can last for some time, don’t default on your student loan. It is important that a student loan debt is taken very seriously; it can affect your wages and whether you are eligible for income tax refunds.
A few simple steps are all you need to avoid defaulting on your student loan. Staying in touch with the lender is the most important step to take as this can help to avoid having a defaulted student loan.
Admitting to your lending institution that you are facing financial difficulties usually stops the need to default. I too had financial problems keeping up with the payments on loans I had acquired whilst a student.
A few of my friends thought the situation was quite funny because they couldn’t see how the finance company could reclaim an education. However, it is often this type of attitude that gets ex-students into trouble when they default on their student loans.
I really didn’t want an adverse credit rating by defaulting so the first thing I did was to contact my lender before it was too late. In retrospect, telling the finance company and obtaining a deferment was the easiest part of it all. The Lending Company showed me the steps that would have to be taken in order to suspend payment until a time when I could start repaying them.
Everything was arranged within the week, payments were frozen and I could start living my life again. I knew that some of my other commitments would not be so easily rearranged and this deferment would help me get started again. I wish all my creditors had been as helpful as the student loan provider.
Although a deferment is a useful facility, interest is still being added on whilst the loan is suspended which means in the long term you will pay more. Keeping my financial record clean of a defaulted student was more important than the extra amount I would pay. Partial payments are sometimes possible.
Paying just the interest on your loan is an option that some banks will agree to. It is not uncommon for banks to allow you to make interest payments only if you have financial problems. So the amount you owe will remain the same during this ‘holiday’ period but you will avoid a defaulted student loan.
You have to remember that many students rely on loans like this to complete their education. New students may not be able to have a loan if the percentage of defaulters is too high. Your loan provider would prefer you communicate with them if the debt is becoming a problem.
Avoiding your defaulted student loan is easier if you make alternative payment arrangements with your finance provider. Finance for higher education may then still be available for students who require it.
About the Author:
Sandy Regal is a Finance Advisor: If you are having difficulty repaying your student loan, what you should not do is stop repaying that student loan. Visit Sandy’s site and learn tips , secrets on managing your loan payment. You can get a unique content version of this article from the Uber Article Directory.