I need some Advice on graduate student loans with moderately bad credit
I graduated from my college (undergraduate) in 1993, and duly began
repaying my student loans (about $9200) 6 months later. I then went
through a few years of financial slowness, and had a couple of my
youthfully over-enthusiastic accounts (not my student loans,
specifically a tire store and a an american express card) revoke
status after some (admitedly very) late payments. I however paid
everything off and slowly settled all my debts. I never defaulted on
my student loans, though I was slow several times. All the other stuff
was resolved in about 1999, and I have been making on time payments to
the credit sources I still have, namely 2 credit cards, one which I
keep at a zero balance for emergencies, the other I use for
convenience and runs around $1-2K on average. In the meantime I have
bought and completely paid off several cars, and I don't run into too
many problems, except that I have been trying (unsucessfully) to get a
lower rate credit card. I have been turned down several times, but I
keep falling for a different campaign. I have unfortunately also had
my share of bounced checks and the occasional overdraft in my checking
account, but this too came to a stop 2+ years ago. Some learn slower
than others.. sigh.
Anyway, as of now I have 10,000 in savings, an 401K worth 10K, assets
worth perhaps 8,000 and liability to the tune of about 6K if you
include my car loan and credit cards.
I am leaving my job and entering graduate med school, and can support
myself for probably 6-12 months depending on the availablity of rice
and beans. I would however prefer to take out a loan (about $10K a
year), to keep me from losing my "nest egg" too fast, and provide a
bit of a safety blanket. I submitted the FSFA form to my schools back
in January, and I was just accepted to Grad school but have not heard
back from the Financial aide office. I have been making pretty decent
money (>80K for the last year, much less before that), so I am pretty
positive I am not eligible for grants or anything. But what are my
chances on getting a Loan of this type? Is there anyway I can improve
these chances? Is it at all advisable to just apply for these loans
from some of the bankers I see around, and risk getting turned down
and having that >added
if you are not in default on your student loans then you should
automatically be eligible for up to $18,500 in Stafford loans. If you are
eligible, up to $8,500 of it can be interest free - it depends on your
need as determined by the FAFSA. You should be hearing from the financial
aid office pretty soon. If that is not enough to cover the cost of
attendance, inquire of the aid office if there are other sources specific
to grad students that you can use.