Hi,
I am planing to go to school in the US this Fall for a full time MBA program. The total cost of the 2 year program would be $120-130K. After taking out my savings and other aid, I am planing on taking a student loan of $60-80K. I am an international student (not an american citizen or a green card holder) but have been working in the US for the past 3 years. I have a decent credit histroy with a score of 728 from TU.
As I am an international student, I am only eligible for private loans in the US for which I hope to get my uncle (who is an American citizen) to co-sign. I have started researching loan programs of some lenders and had a few questions. I would greatly aprreciate any inputs on these:
1) Which banks, in your opinion, have the best student loan programs for international students?
2) Are there any private banks that offer a fixed rate loan? All the banks seem to be offering only floating rates and I am not sure about things to look out for in this case (besides stuff like LIBOR or Prime which I think move in conjunction).
3) An aquaitance had recommended checking out Sallie Mae. While their interest rates look competitive, they don't seem to offer an option to make both principal and intereste payment in school. I am looking to use this option to minimize the amount of interest that I end up paying on my loan. Does something it make sense not to consider SM because of the absence of sucn an option?
4) Can different banks offer me different rates even though my credit score is the same? This will determine the number of banks that I will apply to. Right now I am primarily looking at the incentives (like .25% discount with auto-pay) that banks offer because I am going off the assumption that they will offer pretty similar rates (the interest margin looks pretty similar for most banks). Am I correct to think this way?
5) Anything else I should keep in mind?
I tried to look at other posts but didn't really find one that addressed these general questions. If there is one, please point me to it. Also, please feel free to share links or anything else that might help. I am happy to research, I just need some guidance to make sure I am on the right track.
At the end of the process I would be happy to write a long honking post (which as you can tell I don't mind doing! LOL) summing up everything for the communitie's benefit.
Thanks a bunch!
Shashank
