Are you concerned that bad credit will prevent you from going to
college? While it is true that finding student loans with
excellent interest rates is easier if you have a sterling
credit rating, bad credit student loan aid is possible.
For example, the most popular US Department of Education loan,
the Stafford loan, assumes that most applicants will be going
to college straight from high school, and will not have a
credit rating yet. Therefore, Stafford loans do not even
consider the credit rating a factor when it comes to
qualifications. The same holds true for Perkins loans, which
are federal loans designated for the neediest students.The
only reason bad credit would interfere with these kinds of
student loans are if you have defaulted on a federally granted
student loan in the past.
Bad credit student loans are also possible if your parents have
better credit than you do. In this case, a PLUS loan, which is
granted to parents and not to the student, might be the way to
go. US Department of Education student loans (like Stafford
and Perkins loans) assume that the parents will pay for a
certain amount of their childrens schooling; PLUS loans are
intended to cover the amount that the parent is obligated to
contribute toward college costs.
Federal funding is a good choice for a bad credit student loan
because they are specifically designed to help make college more
accessible; therefore, their requirements are much looser than
those of most banks and other lending companies. However, if
you are unable to secure a US Department of Education student
loan, you may need to turn to private loans. If you are planning
to graduate in a field with a high earnings potential, like law
or medicine, you might have a better chance of receiving a bad
credit student loan from private lenders.
None of these choices are either/or possibilities, by the way.
You may be able to put together enough money to finance college
through a combination of any or all of the above types of loans.
Moreover, even if your bad credit student loan is at a very high
interest rate, all is not lost. Many student loans defer payment
until you have finished college, giving you time to improve your
credit rating. At that point, you might want to look into ways
to consolidate your student loan at a better rate, lowering your
payments to a more affordable level.
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