Before I begin....yes, I have exausted all federal aid and scholarships. Yes, I know the pros and cons of private student loans. I am aware that I will be paying them back in a few years when I am done, and I have researched all options for me and my situation. I am not going to borrow a ton of money (just to cover tuition, books, and transportation for the fall, winter, and summer semesters). And no, I do not have any available co-signer.

I want to apply for the Education Maximizer loan from Bank of America, or the Zero-fee Wachovia Education loan. I have done months of research on SLs, and have come to the conclusion that these are my preferred options.

My current FICO scores are: 706 EX (11 inqs), 691 TU (14 inqs), and 682 EQ (10 inqs). The FICO score estimator said that with 6 months more of on-time payments, my scores should go up about 20 points (if that really means anything, the score estimator has been way off for some people). When I apply, all of my inqs will be more than 7 months old. I will have 24 months good credit history, 5 years continuous employment history, and will have been at my current and most preceding addresses for over 1 year. As for the credit that I have right now, take a look at my signature, it's all listed there. I will be 20 years old when I apply.

Federal aid will give me $4500 this year and the "estimated cost of attendance" is $9250. I will be able to borrow up to the cost of attendance, which is a $4,750 gap, but I don't even want to borrow that much. I want to borrow $3,500 at best, but I'll probably end up giving a lot of that back when I do my student budget anyway.


I really don't want to go with Nelnet (which is who my school is pushing me toward...they won't talk to me about any other lender), and I don't want to get caught up with Sallie Mae or Astrive. But then again...I don't know if these banks are going to approve me. Any thoughts?

anyone?

nobody?

HPChica,
As someone that worked in the Credit Card business for 20 years and has amassed some of my own personal student loan debt, I highly recommend against ANY and ALL student loans. Have you heard about Prosper.com? It is a peer to peer lending business that will do loans up to $25k with 3 year loan terms. The rates vary but based on your credit you should be able to get a great rate (probably better than a private student loan rate, I would imagine). I am not affiliated with Prosper in anyway, just wanted to share this idea with you. You basically post your listing and people bid to fund your loan. Think of it like eBay for money. It is a great concept.

Good luck to you!

Thanks for responding, but I don't have the means to repay the loans while I'm in school, hence using Prosper isn't right for me. Working almost full time and going to school 15 credit hours (translate: 45 hours of school work per week based on the Carnegie rule) is hard enough and barely keeps my head above water...let alone trying to double up and repay loans, too. I have kind of special circumstances (in the kind of way that makes me wish I wasn't so special, really...).

Thanks for trying though.

bumping in hopes that someone might be able to tell me if I can qualify for a private loan...

With 700's I would assume you have quite a few options. I took out a personal loan with lower scores one semester to pay off overages that I couldn't put onto federal loans.

Have you done research into the various lending organizations? If so, find your favorite and apply.