SALLIE MAE or ASTRIVE Student Loan ?

**NickiLaughs, ADN, BSN, RN** · Dec 18, 2007

I don't know anything about ASTRIVE, but I have taken out several sallie mae loans. The repayments were low and they have an ability to defer as long as you're in school. You don't have to repay them until 6 months after you finish school. They've worked well for me. I'm not sure what information you're looking for. Good luck.

PS most of us have to take out student loans, just part of the process.

pirap · Dec 18, 2007

SALLIE MAE. I don't borrow money but for school I had to A LITTLE. I would chose something federally backed than some private loan. There are federal guidelines that are enforced--such as not jacking up the interest rate on your loan. Private loans tack on so many FEES and the interest rate can go up yearly. For example my friend borrowed money through Wells Fargo Financial. Wells Fargo is pretty well known. Every 6 months her interest rate creeped up 0.5% and she really didn't notice because the payment was deducted automatically each month. Two years into the loan they did a credit check and found out although her payments were on time to them she was "slow" to several others and the raised her interest rate by 3% and classified her as a potential risk. This was all in the small print..nothing she could do. Go Sallie Mae and to protect your future please don't borrow more than you need.

HM2VikingRN, RN · Dec 18, 2007

Ok, I'm starting school and I will need MONEY for my Expenses and my Books since Financial Aid did'nt give me enough money to cover these things. They only gave me enough to cover my Tuition and Fees, so right now, I have no choice, but to apply for student loan because I will be a F/T student taking 16 credit hrs. Can somebody please tell me which two of these private student loan lenders should I go with, Or I will appreciate it If someone knows any other way I can get some more money for my expenses and books. Please I need to make the decision ASAP.
Thanks in Advance.

Check out MHESAC http://www.mhesac.org/jsps/index.jsp

Also if you need a private loan check out Loan to Learn....

IfGodSaysYes · Dec 19, 2007

Thank you so much guys!

rnmomtobe2010 · Dec 19, 2007

I will go for sallie mae and I have never heard of astrive. That is just my 2 cents.

bullcityrn · Dec 19, 2007

I have loans through both lenders, no problems with either company. I would say that the biggest difference was that Astrive had a lower origination fee. Sallie Mae has recently changed their loan procedure; they don't lend out as much money as they used to per semester (is now cost of attendance only based on tuition bill) due to the increasing pressures for regulation of the industry. That's not necessarily a bad thing! To my knowledge, Astrive has not changed their lending policy so you may get a little more through them. Also, Astrive is associated with TERI, which is a non-profit organization that is guarantor for many of the major student loan lenders such as BofA, Wachovia, National City, etcetera. Repayment terms are the same as Sallie Mae.

Hope this helps!

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Dec 19, 2007

I have not had any bad experiences with Sallie Mae. I was issued a private student loan by Sallie Mae in 2004, and have not looked back since.

RNDreamer · Dec 19, 2007

I use SM for this academic year. No problems or complaints so far, and I plan on using it for the next two years...However, at the end of the day, it's your choice, credit, etc.

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jerror · Jun 22, 2009

DON'T even consider going through astrive! :nono:

I did... and believe me it has been a very negative experience. Astive is just a company that originates loans and sell them to other companies, these other companies are the trash of the student loan company that are so bad at customer service i'm sure couldn't survive selling loans under their name.

My loan got sold to one company, and the another company, and for a while I was getting billed from two different companies for the same loan and both of them said I had to pay them! ORLY?!?! after I was like "you need to sort out who I should be paying" they both put me in collections and I was getting collections phone calls from two different collection agencies about the same loan! Eventually fearing irreparable damage to my credit report, I paid one, and the other mysteriously stopped calling? I still don't understand what the hell was going on....

Now I get late notices with two names on it "National Collegiate Trust" and "American Educational Services" which still baffles me, but whatever.

Notice I said late notices.... yeah I don't get regular bills from this/these companies I only get late notices usually with late fees attached.

When I called the company to ask what was going on with me not getting bills they told me that I was, and it must be my post office! I was like "ummm lets see.... I get the late payment bills but not the regular ones, logically it's not the post offices fault" he basically said "O-Well." With a busy life I try to pay my bills as I get them in the mail to stay ahead, and stay organized. Getting only late fee notices freaks me out! So I asked for a payment booklet.... the CSR said "We don't do payment booklets"

What a junk company. Stay away from ASTRIVE student loans you'll wind up with a gutter class company to service it.