Repaying Your Student Loans - The Best Plan of Attack

Many of us are being crushed by student loan payments. The best way to repay your federal student loans depend on your situation. There are several programs available if you meet certain criteria. If you have a federal loan and are having trouble making your payments, you may be able to re-negotiate the terms of your loan, and you have a few repayment options. Contact your lender for more information about:

1. The standard plan. You are automatically enrolled in this option. You will be paying your loan off in 10 years, making equal payment each month.

2. Graduated plan. You start out making lower payments. Then as your income increases, so do your payments, over a ten year period.

3. Extended repayment. If you have more than $30,000 in debt, you can extend the repayment out over 25 years.

4. Income-based. If your loans are waaaay more than your income, you may be able to make reduced monthly payments. After 25 years, the balance is sometimes forgiven.

5. Income-contingent. This almost the same as income-based, but a little less forgiving.

6. Consolidation. This plan will allow you to combine all loans, and repay them over 30 years.

Did you know that you can reduce you interest rate on your student loan by.25% if you set up automatic payments on your federal student loans? You can access your loans by visiting myedaccount.com. Just login and choose KwikPay to set it up.

If none of these programs works for you, apply for deferment or forbearance. Deferment will allow you to stop making payments for a year. Interest still gets applied. Forbearance will allow you to stop making payment for up to 5 years. You may qualify for economic hardship, active military duty or being a part-time student. In any case, do not just stop making payments. You will be considered delinquent if your payment is 21-30 days late. After 60 days, you will be reported to the credit bureaus. If you default, the federal government can assign you to a collection agency, demand payment in full, or garnish your wages.

If you do not have any student loans, think hard before borrowing the money. Consider attending a community college, or state university. The cost of these schools is usually significantly lower than private universities. Unless you are considering an Ivy League school, the college that you attend will matter much less than your grades when it comes time to find a job.

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How To Get Student Loans When You Have Bad Credit

Making the decision to go to college is a big one whether or not you are a recent high school graduate, an adult that wants to obtain the degree that was put off long ago or someone that wants to make a career change. A college education means you will have the education to make more money, obtain a better career and have more opportunities in the future. Oftentimes, the deciding factor for those that want to go to college is money; college is not inexpensive and many people do not have the funds available to pay for classes and books.

Scholarships and grants are a great way to apply for financial aid for college; neither has to be paid back after graduation. However, these are not always enough to cover the cost of tuition and many people find they need more financial help. This is where student loans come in handy. Student loans are funds that are issued to students to help pay for college. While you are enrolled in college you are not required to pay back the loans; you will begin repaying them shortly after you graduate. For the most part, getting a student loan is easy. However, if you do not have good credit you will have a difficult time obtaining a loan.

Private loans issued by banks for students require an excellent credit score. Those with bad credit scores cannot apply for a private loan on their own. However, they can ask a trusted friend or relative with perfect credit to co-sign a student loan for them. As long as you have a friend or relative that trusts you to pay your loan on time each month after the repayment period begins, you should be fine. However, not everyone has a friend or relative that will do this for them, which means they will have an even more difficult time getting a student loan.

Fortunately, the federal government provides student loans that require no credit check; it doesn't matter if you have terrible credit or amazing credit. As long as you fill out the FAFSA at the beginning of each year, you will be eligible to receive a student loan called a Stafford Loan. This loan comes from the government and is issued to you through your college; your money will be given to the college, your tuition and fees removed from it and the excess will be given to you at the beginning of each semester to pay for your books and other supplies that are school related.

The requirement for obtaining a federal student loan is the FAFSA - the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. This must be filed, along with your income tax information and your parent's financial information if you are a dependent student. By filling out the FAFSA, you are filling out an application for a federal student loan, which you then have the ability to accept. You can accept the full amount offered or you can accept a portion of the loan that is offered to you depending on your tuition and fees needs. There is hope for those with bad credit; college is a possibility for those who don't think that it is.

Did you find this article helpful? If so, learn more about student loans without cosigner or about student loans for bad credit by checking out a great web resource over at http://studentloansolver.com/.

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How Would College Scholarships Make A Difference To You?

Getting an education is very important in today's economic environment. The unfortunate thing is, it can also be very expensive to get the education you need, and because of the cost, many potential students do not attend or finish college. But this is where college scholarships can make a huge difference to you. Make no mistake about it, they are available. The amount of money that is given out through those scholarships may vary from year to year and the money may not be available for all individuals. That is why it is important for you to make sure that you give yourself every advantage that is possible by following these tips.

One of the first tips that I can give to you is not to wait until the last minute to try to find college scholarships, or you will have a very difficult time doing so. It is important for you to not only find scholarships in advance but to apply for them as early as possible. You must make sure that you meet any deadlines and all of the information needs to be filled out accurately. Once a scholarship opportunity comes onto the radar, be sure that you are on it as quickly as possible to give yourself the best opportunity.

Many students do not apply for scholarships because they think that a person needs to be an athletic star or an academic superstar to be qualified, but that is no longer the case. Yes there are scholarships that focus on a particular curriculum or require a certain ethnic group but the vast majority only require you to apply for them, and a good number of these do not even require a minimum grade point average.

You should also broaden the range of where you are going to be searching for those college scholarships. Many people tend to focus on the federal scholarships, and there are some of those that are available. Don't overlook the possibility, however, of finding college money that is available in your local area. In many cases, you will have a much easier time applying for and receiving this money because of the lower amount of competition. Look for various clubs, grocery stores, banks and other businesses that may be actively giving money for a college education. You should also check on the state level, as there may be money that is allocated for college scholarships as well.

You should also be involved in finding college scholarships through national organizations that offer them, such as the Discover Card Scholarships where it is given to members who hold that particular credit card. There are also other credit cards and similar affinity cards that frequently offer scholarships for card holders and members.

Broaden your search. This not only includes asking in your local area or with various organizations that may actually offer the scholarship money, it may mean checking in with the college as well. In some cases, scholarship money is going to be offered through the University and it would be up to the financial department at the University to distribute those funds. Even if they don't have money directly, they may still be able to point you in the right direction to give you a better opportunity of getting the funding that you need. With one or more college scholarships in hand, then you can focus on graduating instead of worrying about how to pay back the cost of your student loans.

Does it sound good to you to have the potential to graduate from college without having federal student loans to start paying back? Of course it does and getting one or more scholarships can be the answer to that dream, but it will take effort on your part. Find out where those college scholarships are being offered, then fill out the application according to the precise instructions, and above all, make sure your application is received by the stated deadline. For more insights and additional information about where to find scholarships and college grants, please visit our web site at http://www.finding-college-scholarships.com/ today!

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