Private loans for poor credit

idkmybffjill · Dec 29, 2017

Have you already hit your federal loan limit? Because while you won't be eligible for grants, you can be eligible for no/low interest loans through the government if you are under a certain income level. I also have a previous bachelor's degree and was offered federal loans through FAFSA if I wanted them.

bitter_betsy, BSN · Dec 29, 2017

I know I will be screwed. But, now is when I have opportunity to get back to school since I am 47 years old. I definitely need a private student loan.

You are possibly not screwed....

I am 45 and a single mom (except my kid is in college too - lets talk fun!!). You are correct in that you do not quality for Pell Grants - however - you can still get Federal Loans. There is a limit you can take. It is either $52,500 or $57,500 (this is your current outstanding student loan amounts - not what you have paid back - but what you currently have unpaid). So mine is sitting around $40,000 - that means I have about $15,000 that I can put on student loans. Anything over that I have to get private loans for. Does that make sense? Now if you have completely tapped out that $50some thousand or are in default - then we need to reassess.

But in addition to Federal Loans, there are also school loans (mine are called Perkins Loans). This is a loan from the school. Smaller community colleges probably won't have these, but my fancy dance private school gave me some of those.... that doesn't count towards my loan limit either.

Now for your credit. Three years ago my credit score was around 500 and I was going through a terrible divorce with nothing in my name. Now my credit score is about 730-750. I paid crap off, got a credit card, paid off more crap, bought a house, bought a truck, put a lien on my car and bought a boat motor. I worked 3 jobs for 2 years in order to do that. I don't remember sleeping much. In 2 short weeks I'll be taking the last few courses I need to apply to nursing school.

You can totally do this - its possible. Keep in mind I didn't say for you to wait 2 years to go to nursing school. For you - go to school now - get through it and get your steady job. Then make all this other stuff happen - but you CAN make it happen. You aren't doomed to a bad credit score or forever paying back student loans. It just takes time - and you can start fixing your credit now by keeping an eye on it. Credit Karma really is good for that.

Good Luck!!

brandy1017, ASN, RN · Dec 29, 2017

Hi,
My only suggestion would be getting a co-signer with good credit. Perhaps you have a parent or sibling who would do that for you, otherwise you may have to try and pay as you go.
Annie

I disagree, please don't put your loved one in that position. It is unfair to them if you are not able to repay they will have to and they could be garnished or even a lien placed on their home in some states to repay the loan. Usually private loans won't be cancelled if you die or become disabled so you would need to take out a life insurance policy with your co-signer as a beneficiary to ensure the loan would be repaid.

You are so close to retirement if you are adament about going back to school find the cheapest program out there ie a local community tech school, not a high priced private program. Otherwise you will end up no better off as you will have such high student loan payments that will interfere with your need to save for retirement and just cost of living needs.

Also, it is imperative that you learn about personal finance so you don't waste a penny of your hard-earned paycheck as you have a shorter time period to prepare for retirement. I have a friend that became a nurse in her early 40's and with her lack of money savvy, she wasted so much money on vacations and jewelry, not to mention late fees, high-interest credit, and a predatory subprime mortgage that she will still be paying on it till she is 75! Making things worse she didn't save a dime for retirement and now is dependent on her social security and a "church" pension that could vanish if the hospital went bankrupt as church pensions don't pay into the govt insurance pension plan. She made good money, worked lots of overtime and could have had her house paid off with a substantial 403B. Instead, she wasted thousands in taxes because she didn't use a 403B or IRA to lower her tax rate. Worst of all she is stuck living up north in a dilapidated house that needs a lot of repairs to even be able to sell it and move down south where she really wants to live. Plus she needs to pay someone to cut her grass and shovel her snow because she is physically unable, partly from back problems caused in a large part by being injured from working as a floor nurse. So basically she has enough money to meet her needs just barely, but can't really enjoy her retirement because of all her aches and pains, has limited mobility and is mostly homebound.

EvelynStevens70 · Dec 30, 2017

Thank you!

EvelynStevens70 · Dec 30, 2017

Thank you so much for inspiring me!

Lisacar130 · Dec 30, 2017

I don't know if things have changed in the past 12 years, but nursing was my second bachelors degree as well. I was able to get a federal loan, but because I already had a bachelors degree in another field, it almost disqualified me. I had to write an appeal explaining my case and why I needed to get a second degree, but it was successful and I did get it.

EvelynStevens70 · Dec 30, 2017

Lol! Damn you!!! Thank you for your comment. Just FYI...I'll be more careful. But, English is my second language. I will be a Bilingual nurse. ;-)

ThatBigGuy · Dec 30, 2017

Food for thought: The average student loan takes 20 years to pay off. Statistically, you'll be 70 years old when you pay off your loans.

I would highly recommend that you put program cost at the top of your list, save as much as you can before starting, and work while you are in school to defray costs as much as possible.

There's a likely scenario that you will be gathering social security AND paying on your student loans at the same time.

Jedrnurse, BSN, RN · Dec 30, 2017

A private loan is to bad credit as gasoline is to a California wildfire...

Jamiehope23 · Dec 30, 2017

Hi! I also have not so awesome credit from a few things in the past, totally feel for you!! I am working on my first degree so I'm not sure if this will help, but if you fill out the FAFSA, your school can offer you a loan, I think its called the direct Stafford loan and they don't do a credit check (to my understanding). I'm not sure if having a previous degree will affect your eligibility like it does for the pell grant. Good luck and congrats on getting into nursing school! You're going to do amazing and your littles will love and admire you! You got this mom!!!

Alex_RN, BSN · Dec 30, 2017

Is this a private, for-profit nursing school? I went to a private/for-profit and it was very expensive. I was excited and agreed to anything to get started. I am now a working RN but my loans are huge. There are more ways to become an RN now than there were 6 years ago when I started.

At my school, students would be on the hook for the big tuition and pay a lot for basic general education stuff, like English and basic Math that you need to get completed towards your Bachelor's. The classes were pretty weak, but once you got to actual nursing core classes, suddenly the academic standards would be rigorous and a lot of people would flunk out--still owing huge student loans while the school pocketed their tuition money. That way, the percentage of students who actually graduated had a decent chance of passing the NCLEX. Tough luck for students who flunked out in the final semester. No bachelors or RN license for them, just big debt.

Alex_RN, BSN · Dec 30, 2017

Private loans are not eligible for loan forgiveness programs. These are those programs that forgive your loans after 10 years if you work in not-for-profit hospitals or underserved areas. The pushed that a lot at my school even though our private Sallie-Mae loans do not qualify.