So let me get this straight....

I get a $10,000 private student loan in my second year of undergrad with defer principal and interest with an APR of 10%.

That means, I will be accumulating 10% each year for three years??

Meaning when I graduate in three years, I'll have an extra $3,000 of interest added to the $10,000?

wow, that sucks!

and another quick question...

how do private loans affect your FICO scores?

they don't count towards utilization do they?

thanks

I am also curious about this. I am sure that if you were late with a SL payment, it would hurt your score but what about just having them? How do they look at SL's?

And about the interest, ya. It stinks. You can make interest payments though. Even principal payments too. It's up to you. That would help when the three year mark comes around.

That is fairly close to being the right interest rate. I'd read the terms and conditions of your loan for capitalization information. B/C the company that I pitch private Ed loans for, they capitalize unpaid interest every quarter.

So even if your stated interest rate is 10%, b/c of interest capitalization, it could be closer to an 13% apr. read your contract, and check for origination fees, and what happens w/ unpaid interest. Also make your interest rate is variable or fixed. If it's variable, it might be worth having an really good credit person cosign for you to reduce the rate. The once you got your numbers straight, play around w/ the cost of interest calculator on finaid.org.

You have to remember your goal, and pay attention to the costs in reaching that goal.