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 children's 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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