I was hoping I could get some guidance so I can finish off my education.

Before we get started, I would like to point out two things:

- Yes, I have very carefully considered the risks of a Private Loan, and wish to proceed anyway.
- Yes, I have exhausted other sources of aid, such as Federal Loans, FAFSA, Pell, Scholarships, and I still have a gap that needs to be covered.


Now, the specific issue I am having here is that I am not sure where to look for a loan. Considering I do not meet income requirements right now, most places I have looked indicate that I need a cosignor.

I have a relatively short credit history (4y, 11mo), but I have always paid on time. I have two credit cards that are always paid off in full, a car loan that was paid off early, and 11,800 worth of Federal Student loans right now.

All of this gives me a FICO of 728, at least according to myfico. Not bad... could be better but won't until I start paying off the student loans.

I do NOT have someone who can cosign with me. My mother's credit is probably terrible (USAA called me looking for her a few weeks ago...), my father isn't living... I don't have other relatives I'm close enough to for cosigning purposes.

This isn't meant to be a *sob* story. This is just giving enough backstory for my question:

Where can I find a student loan without an income requirement that won't make me have a cosignor?

I'm taking an accelerated program to finish up school this year, but it does not leave me time to work, so I can't meet income requirements for most loans.

Any advice?


Regards,
Teri

Maybe I gave too much useless information and it distracted from my question? Here's the core of it:

I need to find a Private SL lender for student loans who will go off of my GOOD credit history instead of my current lack of income. What lenders do not have an income requirement? Are there any at all who will work with me on this?

I am taking an accelerated program so I can finish school quickly, but it does not leave me time to work at all, so I do not meet the minimum income requirements for most private loans.

I'm in a very similar situation http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=342633
and I'm interested in others' answers to your questions.
You need to get a deferred loan, right?
The problem with peer-to-peer loans, as I understand them (am no expert), is that they have to be paid back in 3 years, starting right away.
Have you looked into MyRichUncle? They consider other criteria.
How much $ are you looking for? How much longer are you in school for?

By the way, what is the income requirement for most places that you looked into? 40k, 20k, 10k earned income/year?

Best of luck to you,

Rags

If it means anything, I have a 682 FICO on equifax (the last I checked in March...My other scores have gone up since then, but I haven't checked EQ but I'm sure it's higher now), and I only have about 21 months credit history, and only about 12,000/year income, and I was just approved for a Chase Private Student Loan. I just faxed in my school information, and I'll be calling them to get the APR tomorrow (If it's too high, I'm not taking it!)

But for what it's worth (and I'm not suggesting you do anything fraudulent here, I'm just saying this as a fact), they asked for nothing except my signed promissory note and proof of current enrollment. They asked for no other proof at all. I am more than ready and willing to give them paystubs and tax returns to prove my $12k/year income, but they haven't asked.

As to whether or not they're going to ask for something more later on in the process before they even think about mailing out a check to me, that remains to be seen. But so far, they haven't asked for much at all.

That is AWESOME to hear HPchica !!!
I have a lot of questions for you
Which report did Chase pull? TU? I heard Chase most often pulls TU (my best score and strongest report, so I'm looking for TU pullers).
You had no co-signer, right?
Did Chase mention any minimum income requirement?
What other private loan companies have you looked into?
Did those companies mention any minimum income requirement?
You're story gives me some hope.
I'm in a similar boat as you and teriwyn.
My situation:
789 TU score, but thin credit history (some strengths in it, though).
I need to correct a few inaccuracies and get a EQ and EX score active (they are not reporting due to lack of reported credit history).
No co-signer. In 30s. Want to return to school (full-time if I can swing the private loans).
Current income 40K.
But if I can get the private loans I can switch to part-time 9 months and work in the summer full-time and my income will drop to 10k-20k/year.
So, I was wondering what is possible and what is not possible in my situation in the private student loan world. I have to do some work on my credit reports before I apply this summer for the loans, but this uncertainty and not knowing what's possible is killing me.
Hopefully the three of us can be a help to each other out.
My story and thread is here: http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=342633
if you have the time to read it and any good wisdom to share.
Later ,

Rags

P.S. Congrats again on the Chase news! That IS awesome!
Was it for grad or undergrad? Did the school your at factor into it (good reputation school)?
Did they give you the amount you asked for or less? How much if you don't mind sharing?
Apply over the net, phone, or in person?

Teriwyn,
Just an idea...
Restaurant server (or other position) or banquet waiter are great jobs when in school. If you just give up one evening a week you could earn $100/night. $100/wk x 36 wks (9 month school year) = $3600/yr (and if you tell them you'll work full-time in the summer) + $10,000 = $13,600 projected income for the year.
That could clinch it, maybe.

Rags

I was approved by Chase late last month and got my check last week. They did not ask for proof of income at any time during the process. Just the promissory note and proof of enrollment from the initial paperwork (I did have to submit a 2nd proof of enrollment though since they did not accept my admission letter for some reason). My schedule for next semester satisfied them though.

Interest rate was pretty good too (prime + .5)

Good luck!

Awesome! Congrats Layfield!
Did you have a co-signer? How was your credit rating and score?
How much was the loan for?

Rags

Let me give you guys a profile of what the whole picture looked like:

First of all, my credit history:

I am 19 years old. I will be 20 in about a month and a half.
I am a current Business Administration Student at a community college.
I have 21 months of credit history (1 year, 9 months).
I have a currently open auto loan with Chrysler Financial without a cosigner, the high balance was $4800, the current balance is $4,000.

8 accounts reporting: 3 open credit cards (Cap 1, Chase Freedom, Kay Jewelers), 2 closed (WFFNB, First Financial), 2 deferred Federal Student Loans, and the Auto Loan.

As for what is report specific:

Chase pulled EQUIFAX. What's odd is that they pulled TU for my credit cards, then pulled EX for a CLI request, and then EQ for my student loan. Odd.

My CURRENT EQ score is 715 AFTER the inq's were reported. I applied for CC's after I applied for my SL through Chase, so I have 3 new INQs on my EQ report. They say that there is a 3-5 point loss for each inq, so when I applied for my Chase SL, my score was anywhere from 724-730 (But I have no idea, like I said, the last time I checked my EQ score it was 682).

The CSR said that there was $13,000 available to me to take, but I only requested $4,000 (and that is for the summer, fall, and winter semesters...so it's not really a lot!).

They asked me about my enrollment status, where I was attending, where I worked, how much I made, the usual stuff. I was approved WITHOUT A COSIGNER, and I downloaded my paperwork, filled it out, and faxed it in.

They only asked for proof of enrollment and my signature on the promissory note. That's about it.

They have yet to tell me what my APR is. Though my credit score is pretty good, so i can imagine the APR will be decent. If it's not, I may contemplate not taking it at all (despite the inq and the work I put into doing it).

Anyway, anything else I forgot? I think that's about it.

does chase go thru TERI (not the OP lol) and also do they send the check directly to the student?

and for the OP you can get a temporary job or part time job and show it or just say you are self employed and do something for money.

As far as I know, Chase does not go through Teri (in neither their Select loans or their Private loans). The Select loans get sent directly to the school for disbursement to the student (has a lower interest rate), and the Private loan gets disbursed directly to the student (somewhat higher interest rate). The loan that I applied for was the Private loan, so it's going to be sent directly to me.

Oh, and you know what else is weird? They didn't ask me if I was taking any other financial aid. they just said, you have "$xx,xxx available to you, how much would you like to apply for?". I found it odd.

I was also told by Chase that they pull Equifax. I just recently opened a Chase Amazon Visa account, so I asked if they would need to pull another inquiry. They said yes because the credit card division is separate from the student loan services.

And FYI to anyone else interested in Chase, if you apply for a new loan each year, you basically have to put in a new app each time. The rep told me that approval depends on a "combination of factors," not just income level. So I would interpret that as your credit history, possibly the type of field you plan to go into, etc.

I also talked to Wachovia because they had competitive rates. But they require a minimum $1200/month income, which you can verify with a paystub or tax return. If you're just starting school this year, you can use your tax return from last year.

I think my biggest concern is whether I can get approved for a low APR loan next year when I won't qualify for any financial aid at all (too many attempted hours). I see my chances of approval decreasing each subsequent year as I accumulate more student loans.

Sorry for the late reply

It was for $11,000 and I did it without a cosigner. My scores are in the high 690-low 700 range

jUst got denied through Campus Door/Lehman Banks. My dad cosigned with me - together we have a combined 80.000 income. (his obviously much more than mine). I applied for $4000, got denied for a Bankruptcy on my CR (Filed in 9/01 so it's almost 7 years old) and claimed insufficiend credit history on my dad... He's 66 years old with excellent credit (except where I screwed up 4 years ago on my car payment that he cosigned with me on.

They pulled TU..which is split right now for me. I have my Bk off of EQ, so I may try Chase.

A lot of newbie qts here: You can use one single paystub during the year and tell them that is what you make every week or you need to show them the whole year's W-2 form?



What exactly does "too many attempted hours" mean? Once you take too many college courses federal aid shuts off?




Does this happen easily? It is easy to get your first student loan, but once you have taken $40K, say, in private student loans over the first few years it becomes very hard to take another loan for the final years to finish up school?

Update:

Just figured I'd let you guys know, I just called about the APR on my loan. it's 8.98%. Now, that may sound high to some people, but I'm only 19 years old, have less than 2 years credit history, already have an open installment loan, and that was with about a 720 score.

Chase is the way to go.

I can't find where I read/heard this--maybe not on the Wachovia site--but I think a pay stub dated within 30 days of your application or a copy of your most recent tax return will suffice.



The government does actually put a cap on how much aid you qualify for, and then on top of that, each school establishes their own guidelines. Every class you've ever taken/dropped/failed/repeated from every college you've ever attended will count in your attempted hours. At my school, it's something like 186 hours for your first undergraduate degree, or 240 hours if you're working on a second undergraduate degree. And then, you get to start over with a clean slate when you enter graduate school. You should check with your school's financial aid office for their rules of SAP (Satisfactory Academic Progress).



I think it's easier to get the first student loan because when you're just going back to school, you have proof of income, you've been working and hopefully have your finances in shape. So your credit history and score will be at its best. Then each year afterwards when you apply for additional loans, you facing a significant decrease in income as well as accumulation of student loan and probably credit card debt. Luckily, installment loans are not viewed as negatively as revolving debt (credit cards), but your creditworthiness will definitely take a hit when you have half a dozen student loans on your report. And since private loans are based entirely on creditworthiness, it would be harder to obtain good APRs or even get approved at all. I think most people count on being able to graduate within a few years so they don't have to take out as many loans. Plus, some lender require you to start repayment within so many months after disbursement with the expectation that you'll be finished with school by then. I would only recommend lenders that let you defer repayment until you're no longer enrolled in school.

I don't know how useful this post will be as I can't answer all of the questions but here goes. I just recently applied for two student loans both for $5000. One with Chase: Chase Select Student Loan (private) and the Citiassist undergraduate student loan. I'm only taking one (although I have a gap in my aid big enough to allow for both loans) but I applied for two because I wanted to have another option if I didn't like the interest rate offered or was denied.

My mother is my co-signer and has credit scores in the mid 700's but she has so much on her plate with her own debt that I didn't really want to burden her with being a co-signer if I didn't have too. So we tried to see if I would be approved without a co-signer and with no current income.

I have no idea what my credit scores are. My credit history was started in 2002 when my mother made me an authorized user on one of her credit cards. 2004 she added me onto another. 2005 I opened my own with chase. And in 2007 I opened two more with citi and bofa. They are all in good standing and my utilization rate is practically non-existent. I also have 4 govt loan accounts reporting also in good standing. I was a victim of ID theft and although it took a year and a half, my reports are clean of fraudulent accounts.

I know that Chase pulled Experian and that's all I know. I applied without a co-signer and was immediately conditionally approved. I'm currently waiting on the paperwork but I called and the interest rate they're giving me is 7.5 (prime + 1.5).

I was also approved by Citibank but I had to apply with a co-signer as I have no current income. So I applied with my mother and was approved with an interest rate of 5.5 (prime - .5).

I have to talk with my mother about the citi loan. I'd prefer to choose that one with the lower rate but again, she has enough to deal with. She doesn't need to worry about a co-signed loan although she knows I'm good for it.

Wish I could have been of more help with scores and all. I really should buy them but that costs money.

OP, you can definetely attempt with Chase private student loans. It sounds like you would have a good chance. There is no income requirement.

I am a supervisor on the chase select and DTC education loan programs. yes it is an equifax pull with no income requirements. Do NOT bother with posting your fico scores questions and asking 'will I qualify with xxx score?' If you want to see if you can get approved, just fill out an app. Don't bother asking the rep because we consider more than the credit score to get the app approved.

Rags847. It looks like you had a good experience with it.
Layfield: your letter of acceptance probably had a condition on it, like subject to graduating high school or giving an enrollment fee. That is most likely reason why it wasn't acceptable.

HPchica: The apr should have been on the conditional approval letter. If your app was funded already, it will be included in the Truth in lending statement. If you needed to know it, just call the CS line. (which you did.) In regards to your loan amount, we are trained to ask how much you wish to apply for, then attempt to upsell the loan amount. Rep was should not have said you have xx,xxx available to borrow.

shaw2k: Chase goes through chase. It's kept completely in the chase family of companies.

Assia: I am surprised it pulled through experian. It should have been equifax.

After checking later I noticed that Chase pulled experian and equifax. Citibank pulled transunion.