WHos the best lender

[Chena83]

My financal aid office is not help. Who do you this us the best private loan bank. I am applying to the Occupatinal Therapy program Next month.

[Jazzzy]

Are you not able to go with federal loans?

[Chena83]

No I think I am maxed out there until I start my masters program 2015.

[Anonymous]

Chena, how long have you been in school? The reason I ask is that if you have maxed out already, and you don't have a bachelor's yet, you could be looking at some real problems financing the remainder of your schooling.

[SCF]

I have to say I agree with Invincible.  The cap on federal loans is quite high, and enough to get a 4 year degree even at some expensive schools.  How do you intend to pay these loans back?  Are you sure that your expected income with cover them?  This may not be the best time to continue your school, you may need to spend some time getting your financial house in order, and then find a lower cost way to achieve your goals.  It really does suck that you haven't been able to get your degree affordably, but making the situation worse won't help you going forward.  The Rebuilding Your Credit forum here is full of great advice about how to improve your score by managing your credit card balances and dealing with those collection accounts.

The cap on federal loans is there for a reason.  Take this as a warning that you need to think carefully about how much you're borrowing, why, and how you will repay it.

In my opinion, there are no "good" private student loans.  They have very limited borrower protections (unlike federal loans which come with extended and income-based repayment plans, deferrments, certain forgiveness programs, etc) and they basically cannot be discharged via bankruptcy, which means you're stuck with them until you get them paid.

Good luck to you with whatever you decide.

[Chena83]

I orginally went to school to be an RN. That lasted about a year. Then I we and received my Assoc in Interior Design. Now Im back to become an Occupational Therapist. I have 1 more year before I am maxed out and I will be a Junior then. I only need one year of private funding before I am elg for gov loans again.

[Anonymous]

So to combine the info in your other thread (because it's pretty relevant here):

You've been trying to get a private student loan, with no success as yet.
You are nearly maxed for federal loans.

I thought about you quite some time, actually. I worked for a few years at a community college where it wasn't unusual to run into situations like yours. Do you have a back-up plan if you aren't able to get these loans to go to school? Because (and I say this as gently as I can) it's entirely possible that you may not be able to get a loan. Which doesn't necessarily mean that you can't finish your degree, but it does mean you need to think about possible options if you can't borrow the money. Are you able to go part-time so that you can work and pay for school yourself? Do you have a Plan B?

Federal Grad Plus Loans require a credit application, and they are going to be looking pretty hard at your overall debt. You should be aware of that if you are counting on that money for grad school.