Question about Private Student Loans.

[Normercy]

Hi all,

Im asking this here because Im sure some of you have had similar situations.

My wife makes good money, she is already a nurse.. 12 years. I however have been downsized from the automotive industry. so i make nothing haha (I know..not funny). I DID make very good money.. WITHOUT a degree.. those days are over.. so in seeing the joy my wife has from her job and being inspired by her, I have decided Id like to go into nursing now that the "opportunity" has been given to me.

My question is.. we have just bought a new home in the last couple years.. which really cleaned out our saving, so we are thinking of going down the private student loan route. I was wondering.. CAN a private student loan (ala Sallie Mae) be used for general bills and whatnot to cover what I wont be bringing into the family finances? Id like to goto school full time and maybe work a part time job.. prob needing @ 8k (on top of tuition and books) a year to supplement her income along with the part time job to keep everything paid and save our credit.

Any info from your personal experiences would be great.. thanks all

[juicyjake]

Do whatever you can to avoid private student loans. The above posters are right re. interest rates. Max out all your Federal Stafford options before you look at 11-14% private student loans. I realize sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do but two things most people don't realize:

1) Most private loans have no maximum rate they CAN charge--unlike federalized loans. What is 9% now may be 15% in your near future. Take a look at ARM mortgages and what's happening to some of those people now,

2) If, heaven forbid, you ever had to declare bancruptcy, student loans--whether federal or private--can NEVER be discharged. Can you imagine? You're already in a bad situation and then you declare BK and you STILL have an 800 dollar a month student loan payment. Huh uh...

Anyway, lots of options out there. Good luck.

Wow...That is new information to me...

That's terrible...

People get in over their heads with stupid loans for corvettes, sports cars, excessively large homes, and they are "forgiven". But the student who was most likely misled into a career that isn't paying what was promised gets screwed by high interest and it's pegged to him/her forever?!

Ugh....I just don't get it sometimes..:angryfire

[lullaby]

I am starting nursing school full time this summer. I already have a BA degree so i do not qualify for any Federal student loans so I have to take out all Private loans.

I am really worried because I do not have good credit, but my parents have excellent credit and they said that they would cosign with me.

My question is do you think I will be able to take out private loans even if i have bad credit but my parental cosigners have very good credit? My biggest fear is that somehow my bad credit will interfere with taking out private loans even though i have good cosigners?!

anyone else go through a similar private loan situation?

i'm very nervous!

[RNDreamer]

You won't know until you try...

My question is do you think I will be able to take out private loans even if i have bad credit but my parental cosigners have very good credit? My biggest fear is that somehow my bad credit will interfere with taking out private loans even though i have good cosigners?!

anyone else go through a similar private loan situation?

i'm very nervous!

[5860TomCat]

Depending on the lender you use, you shold have no problem as long as your co-signers credit is good. My brother took out a private loan with Sallie mai (Tution anwser) his credit is bad, but my grama who has great credit co-signed... He did not have any problems. The question is calculating out how much you really need, plus safety net. Remeber private student loans run from 6% to 15% and higher.... so make sure you know your interest rate. I the company only offers you 15% or some other similar higher interest rate, you might want to see if you can get a line of credit through your bank or another resource. Good Luck. I did 40,000$ in private loans at a rate of 8.5%.