[TraumaNurse]

I agree with Roland. If you have a co-signer, your credit may not even be checked. Call a BankOne loan officer and speak to them about your situation. Since I had a co-signer (my wife) I did not have to provide any financial info about myself. Also, I think fed money is still available to those with bad credit too.
If these options are somehow not available, I agree that you may need to look into signing a contract with a group/hospital or go the military route.

[JSB]

Thanks, guys! I think you're all correct that even though one would not usually want to limit themselves by contracting with a group, it would be worth it in my case. Does anyone have experience in doing this? Where do I start?

Businessman, I cannot join the military, even though that would solve my financial problem. I have 3 little girls, and I cannot risk being deployed and not seeing them for a year or more (even though I will probably not get to spend much time with them after starting CRNA school, at least I'll get to see them).

Kstatekat also PM'ed me about looking into Signature loans, in case anyone else out there has a similar situation. It sounds like a good idea.

Thanks again for your help, everyone. You guys are great!

Jen

[Roland]

Also, one more consideration. Not that you are planning to default, but government backed student loans are almost NEVER subject to dismissal in a bankruptcy. The same is not the case with private student loans such as the Banc One loans. Thus, to the extent that their is value in having the "option to default" these loans should be considered cetaris paribus. Of course other factors such as rate, deferiability, and ease of acquisition may dictate the Stafford loan route.

[tennyson]

Stafford loans don't have anything to do with your credit, they are only based on being enrolled at least half time in a degree program, and not having defaulted on previous student loans, or having a drug felony conviction.

Signature loans, unfortunately, are based on credit, and I just got denied one because the past 6 months have been hard and I've missed 4 months of payments on one credit card and 3 months on another. Based on those two "delinquencies" I was denied the loan, even though I took out signature loans previously for two other school years. If I had a cosigner, I would get the loan. Since I don't, there goes my best laid plans.

Anyone have any idea what type of credit score or report is necessary to get the signature loan? I'm wondering if I clear up the delinquencies and reapply for the loan within the next 2 months if I'd have a chance at getting it. I asked Sallie Mae, but the representative just kept repeating "We can not disclose that type of information" Have any of you been denied a signature loan, then reapplied immediately after "fixing" the problem?

[WntrMute2]

Check into the Mayo program. When i researched schools 4 years or so ago, their tuition was just over 7,000 dollars total and they would pay 1,500 dollars per month for every month you worked their once you graduated.

[Roland]

Normally, you need a FICO, Experian, and or Beacon score in excess of 700 to qualify for most signature loans. In most cases they will pull two bureaus and take the lower of your two scores. Sometimes they will pull three, and take the middle score.

[TLC RN]

Originally Posted by Roland

Normally, you need a FICO, Experian, and or Beacon score in excess of 700 to qualify for most signature loans. In most cases they will pull two bureaus and take the lower of your two scores. Sometimes they will pull three, and take the middle score.

Roland-
If you have over a 700 and are going to go to school full time you can get a signature loan on your own?

[Roland]

No, I am not saying that. Income qualification is a seperate and distinct issue. I'm not sure how Bank One deals with income (and others who offer graduate education loans), but I believe they will require a co-signer if you're not going to be working during grad. school. However, your CO-SIGNER will have to have acceptable credit scores which will probably be in the 700 plus range. Now YOU MAY be able to get around this requirement by applying for other signature type loans before starting school if you do not bring up your "imminent eduation plans", but then these would just be regular signature (not higher education) loans.

For someone with good credit, but NO co-signer or other options (and in a position where Stafford Loans won't be enough) you COULD consider giving "yourself" a loan from credit cards. At one time I had about two hundred thousand in available credit, and there was nothing to "stop me" from cash advancing most of that money and using it for school. Of course this would probably mean trashing your credit while in CRNA school since you wouldn't be able to pay the minimums. However, when you graduated you would have at least three options:

a. Pay the credit cards with your now much higher income from being a CRNA. This is the most honest, but also the most financially distressing approach since you will be paying late fees in addition to high interest rates (and your credit will still be damaged, ironically perhaps more than from filing a BK since you will continue to show late, closed accounts until they are paid in full).

b. Use one of the many credit counseling programs modeled on Consumer Credit Counseling which freeze or vastly lower the interest on the credit cards and waive most of the late fees (these programs also hurt your credit, but probably no worse than it will already be by this time, and they will save you tens of thousands in interest and fees).

c. File a chapter Seven Bankruptcy. Providing that you have not already started a high paying job which might cause the court to throw out your case (thus you would want to file at the end of your last semester). In addition, it shouldn't appear to the court that this was your intention from the start since that would constitute grounds for dismissing your case (thus you should make the minimum payments for at least six months after getting the "loans"). This plan also suffers from the weakness that if Bankruptcy reform is passed while you are in CRNA school the loans might very well no longer be dis-chargable in Chapter Seven proceedings (you could use one of the above plans or file a chapter thirteen). Of course this course of action raises numerous moral and ethical considerations (of course that doesn't stop major corporations from employing similar strategies on a daily basis). However, it has the advantage of essentially giving you a "free" (at least in terms of money) CRNA education. Keep in mind that usually, unless you are permanently disabled government backed student loans CANNOT be discharged in a chapter Seven BK. As always consult your attorney for further details (one that also deals with the mob or major corporate interests would be especially useful).

[Brenna's Dad]

Trully no offense Roland, but that is one wacky scheme. Perhaps doable if no other options existed, but I can only imagine how many years it would take to regain your credit rating after finishing school.

Better to starve a wee bit than to wreck your credit in the manner you described.

One option for people with bad credit is to approach facilities for a stipend, especially after finishing your first year successfully.

Regarding the military, one of my classmates is in the reserves and assures me that CRNAs can only be deployed for three months at a time since it is such a financial hardship.

[Roland]

As I said it is a strategy best left as a last resort. One however, can imagine scenarios where it might be the only avenue for going to CRNA school. Consider, also that there have been many successful businesses started via "credit card" financing. I personally know someone who borrowed over fifty thousand in "cash advances" to start a carpet cleaning business which today earns them well over 100K per year! Also, is it really so "crazy" to consider essentially "unsecured" financing rather than the government subsidized financing (student loans) which amount to virtual indentured servitude should you NOT be able to pay them back. What happens for instance with student loans if you should flunk out of CRNA clinicals after accumulating an additional 50K or so in debt or maybe you graduate and your wife develops ALS, and you need to devote yourself to her care (and hence cannot work as a CRNA) Personally, I think these companies are absolute LOONS for giving "ordinary" people access to cumulative lines of credit that often exceed 100K with almost NO applications and absolutely NO security. However, any good business (and you are indeed a business with yourself or perhaps your wife as the CEO) considers all of their options in this struggle for survival that we call life.

As to credit I can respond to this one with a bit of perspective. I have seen thousands of credit files and have personally witnessed NUMEROUS instances where someone who had a Chapter SEVEN BK that was a couple of years old with a HIGHER credit score than someone who never had a collection or late payment in their life! It used to be that an actual person examined your credit and made a determination as to credit worthiness. However, we have gone to a computer generated, score based system that often gives outcomes that are inequitable (but which do predict default fairly well over a whole population and hence works for lenders if not always for consumers). You may wish to visit www.creditscoring.com and creditaccuracy.com for more information about this system which effects every one who read this.