04/25/13

The Yellow Brick Road To Higher Ed May Gain More Potholes

It’s spring time, which brings with it warmer weather, spritely green leaves, April showers, beautiful flowers, and Congress’ new tradition of bantering back and forth about the interest rate for federally subsidized student loans. When this occurred in the spring of 2012, the 3.4% interest rate on these higher education loans was set to double to 6.8%, threatening to—in some cases—double monthly payments for graduates trying to repay their financial obligations. Luckily, Congress and President Obama reached a deal that solved the crisis in the short term, essentially staving-off the threat of the interest rate increase for a year.

And here we are in April of 2013, and the same financially crushing prospect looms over many who opted for those federally subsidized loans. The current interest rates are scheduled to double on July 1st of this year. Imagine currently having, for example, a $200 per month student loan payment (which is on the very low end of the payment spectrum—most student loan monthly payments are much more) and now it’s threatening to balloon to $400 per month. That’s a serious financial crisis for the average, middle class wage earner. (Assuming s/he was even able to get a decent wage job after college graduation…) And if that wage earner happens to have a family to support on that middle class income, this increase becomes a full-blown, four-alarm emergency of a financial situation.

President Obama, hoping to avert financial catastrophe, has made part of his yearly budget a proposal to deal with the interest rate on federally subsidized student loans on more of a long-term basis. The idea has some elements in common with Senate Republican’s plan for dealing with calculating student loan interest rates. In a nutshell, the proposal would tie student loan interest rates to the yield on 10-year Treasury bonds, plus a few percentage points. The exact amount of extra percentage points would directly depend on the type of loan. For example, for subsidized Stafford loans, the rate would be calculated by adding the 10-year Treasury bond yield to 0.93%; for unsubsidized Stafford loans, it would be the 10-year bond yield plus 2.93%; and for PLUS loans—which serve grad students and parents—the rate would be the 10-year bond yield plus 3.93%. This longer term approach would actually put the interest rate for many of these types of loans below the current interest rates, mainly because interest rates are at all-time lows right now—thanks to a lagging economy. However, once the economy truly begins to pick-up steam, those calculations would cause interest rates to eventually rise above what college graduates are currently paying in interest. So, taking the long view, the proposal is great for borrowers in the short term, but gets rather hairy down the road.

student loan interest rates

Student advocacy groups widely criticized the interest rate proposals amid concerns that there is no cap at which interest rates would top-out, meaning that the rates could conceivably reach never-before-seen heights under the long-term proposal. It’s interesting to note that the President’s interest rate plan also calls for an interest rate cap for low-income students, while the similar Republican plan—put forth by Senators Burr of North Carolina, Coburn of Oklahoma, and Alexander of Tennessee—would not make this distinction in interest rates between low-income and middle to higher income students.

The bottom line, if you’re shopping student loans, currently in college knowing you’ll soon being paying on those loans, or are currently paying on a student loan, is to pay very close attention to the terms to which you sign on. Shop around to look for the best rates (which, interestingly enough, are usually with the federally backed student loans). If you’re stuck in a loan with disadvantageous rates, look into refinancing through another lender. In the long run, facts like higher student loan interest rates could have a serious impact on higher education in the form of changing what many college students choose for their majors, perhaps dumping their more idealistic plans of becoming teachers, social workers, or other public servants for the reality that they need to choose career paths that will, in fact, yield a tangible job, as well as yield an income with which they can meet their student loan obligations. Goodbye, yellow brick road?

04/5/13

Student loan consolidation offers a relief from your multiple student loan debt woes

Just at a time when the entire nation has been worried about the soaring credit card debt level, there came rumors about the next big crisis, the student loan debt crisis. The rising educational and tuition costs among the US colleges is forcing the students and the parents to take out student loans with which they can complete their college education and grab their degree. Student loans are primarily of 2 kinds, private and federal. The private ones are those that are lent by the private student loan lenders and the federal are those that are lent by the US Department of Education. While it is difficult to consolidate the private student loans, it is pretty possible to combine your debts into a single monthly payment. Do you want to know how? Check out the multiple benefits of combining your federal student loan obligations through a direct debt consolidation loan.

  • Various flexible repayment plans: As the borrowers of the student loans are usually students who live on fixed income level, the US Department of Education offers different flexible repayment plans for them to repay the loan with ease and without defaulting on the other debt obligations. The most common debt repayment plans offered are Income Based Repayment Plan and Income Contingent Repayment Plan. The student borrowers are even given the option of changing from one plan to another according to their changing financial needs. This can be a huge relief to the students who are struggling with their student loans.
  • The interest rates will be lowered: When a student starts defaulting on the student loans, it is basically due to the interest rates. The rates remain high in accordance with the income that they make in a month in the form of allowances. This is the reason why a direct debt consolidation loan will benefit as this will drastically lower the interest rates on the student consolidation loan. Revised rates will also mean revised monthly payments and this will imply a considerable amount of savings every month.
  • Single outgoing monthly payment: When you took out multiple student loans, you had to remember the due dates of multiple lenders. But when you take out a direct debt consolidation loan from a single lender or the US Department of Education, you just have to make a single outgoing payment towards this institution. Therefore you can relieve yourself of the hassles of making multiple payments to multiple creditors.
  • Extended repayment term: The term of the direct debt consolidation loan will also be extended throughout a longer period of time to ensure lower monthly installments throughout the term of the loan. So, the borrower can even save money this way.

Therefore, if you don’t want to contribute to the rising student loan debt burden in the US, ensure getting them combined through the direct debt consolidation loan lent by the US Department of Education.

03/29/13

Efficient ways to make student loans repayments

Most of the recent graduates are struggling much to repay their student loans. In this hard economic times finding a job have become a daunting task and so student loan repayments too. This post will help the students to manage their student loan debt effectively with the most efficient ways.

paying back student loans

Know Your Loans

Most important thing you need to consider when it comes for student loan repayments is you need to know your loans. Try to list all the student loans you have federal and private student loans, calculate how much you have borrowed, how often you have to make payments etc. Upon getting the loan ask your lender whether you will be getting any special credits when you make the student loan repayments on time and whether they will offer you any relaxation in the interest rates. For instance many private student education loan lenders used to offer 0.5% of reduction from their interest rate when you allow them to get an automatic withdrawal from your bank account.

Stick to the Standard Payment Plan

Most of the private student education loans come along with an option for paying back student loans through various payment plans. Like deferment plan, graduated repayment plans and many.

In deferment plan will offer you a relaxation in paying your loan when you are unemployed or working in some nonprofit position.

Some lenders offer you student loan repayment program like graduated repayment plans if you have enrolled in yourself in such plans you will be required to make some larger payments when your income goes high.

If you prefer to choose the student loan repayment program like interest only payment you will be required to pay off only the interest rate at the specified time but after that you need to start pay off the interest plus principle amount.

So try to stick to the standard repayment plan for paying back student loans.

Make Payments on Time

For all young adults student loans serve as a very important line of credit which plays a very important role in your credit score. So you should pay enough attention on repaying your student loan payments on time. Even 1 or 2 days of late payments can hot your credit score really bad. So every month schedule your financial payments and provide first priority to your student loan. If you feel like you are unable to make the on time payment because of your financial difficulty, it’s better to call them before the due date and check out whether you can have any different payment plan to repay your student loan.

Pay as soon as possible

Since your student loan will continue to accrue the interest rate it is good to pay off your student loan amount as soon as possible else you will end up with mount of capitalized amount to pay off. Whenever you have some extra amount on your hand you can consider paying the student loan instead of buying some special things for yourself. It will help you in paying back student loans much sooner.

 

 

03/29/13

Why You Should Qualify For Subsidized Student Loans

Are you struggling to pay off your high educational costs? You can look for some federal government student aid program to help you in the place. These loans usually accrue the interest rates till you pay back the loan amount. 2 most common type of federal loans which assist the US students are Federal Stafford loan and Perkins loan. Out of these 2 Stafford loan is easier to obtain. These loans neither require you produce a co signer nor your credit history. All it considers to provide the loan is “your financial true need to obtain the loan”.  The loan amount you can be allocated depends on the factor whether you are dependent on your parent or independent one. If you are an independent one then you can make yourself avail for some larger amount. Government will pay of the interest rate as long as you are in school.

Perkins loan amounts are allocated to the schools and universities. So when you apply for the loan it is your school or the university which determines your eligibility for the loan program. It will infer the data you have entered in your FAFSA application form. You should prove your financial need against of all other students to obtain this loan. Perkin loans are offered with low interest rates.

When you apply for the loan you may or may not get qualify for the subsidized student loans. Perkin loans and subsidized Stafford loans are beneficial. Interest rate will be added up to your principle amount but the federal government will take care of this interest when you are in school. But in the UN subsidized loans students need to make their monthly repayment or they can let the interest rate to be added with their principle amount and can pay off later.

Both Stafford and Perkins loans can be subsidized but you need to demonstrate your financial need against of all students who have applied for the same loan. When you get qualify you will not accrue any interest rate with your loan until your graduation.

When you apply for subsidized student loans it is given with the faith of you will find a job when you come out of your school. Through this job you can make a loan repayment. Grace period ( the period that exists between when you come out of school and before start of repayment term) for Stafford loan is 6 months and the grace period of the Perkins loan is 8 month. When you do not find a job in this period you need to utilize the time to apply for the deferral.

Student loan deferment

To get approval for the Deferrals you need to prove that you cannot find a job after finishing your graduation but you also need to demonstrate that you are trying though. If you have started to repay then you lose the job accidentally still you need to demonstrate this economic hardship. Student loan deferment period is 3 years. If your loan is subsidized one then you don’t need to pay off the interest in this period else interest rate will accrue but you can again pay off the interest alone in this period or you can let that to be capitalized.

Forbearance

Suppose your application for the deferment get fails to qualify you can apply for the forbearance.  In this either you can just stop paying back the student loans or you cut down on your interest rate and lower the repayments. However regardless of your loan is subsidized student loan or non subsidized student loan you need to pay the interest rate.

03/29/13

How To Consolidate private student loans

Education has become an expensive endeavor nowadays. Most of the students manage to get their educational fee through government educational aid programs. Although portion of students are receiving their scholarship to pay off their educational fee, rest of the students who can’t qualify for the federal loan program need to apply for private education loans. These private education loans impose high interest rates on the students who get qualify for their loans. When the student passed from the college this amount comes as a big burden. Especially when the student is unable to find a full time employment which provides sufficient income to pay off their loan repayment the situation get worsen. In these cases consolidating private loans can help the students in their monthly repayment.

When the student Consolidate private student loans they will get the reduced monthly payments with the low interest rate.

Given below are some of the seven steps which help in Consolidating private student loans.

List out all your outstanding private student loans

Before starting with the Consolidation student loans you need to be clear with the total loan amount you owe, loan interest rate of each one and their monthly repayment amount. Sort these loans based on the interest rates from the larger pone to the smaller one. It will help you in determining the priority. When you can’t consolidate private student loans try to pay off the student loans first that needs more interest rate. This can save you significant dollars in the long run.

Review the terms

Few private loans have the terms like when you repay the loan quite earlier than the agreed term you need to pay certain amount as penalty. So check out your every private student loan and review the penalty fee if any. Notre down the penalty fee of each private loan separately.

Review your credit report

When you apply for the Consolidation student loans your 3 digit magical credit score will play an important role in determining your interest rate. So make sure your credit report is up to date. Before applying for loan consolidation get the credit report from all 3 credit agencies and review it carefully. Note down the errors and fix all the discrepancies. If you have already pay off any debt but it dint get reflected in your credit report you need to contact the respective credit agency to clean up your errors. Removing this incorrect item can help improve your credit score up to 30 points. So make sure your report is error free and it indicates your true credit status.

Find out your objectives for consolidating private student loans

Try to figure out what is your main objective of the student loan consolidation.

If your objective is to reduce and to lock your interest rate in some low level and you have a home under your name or your parent’s name you can consider the home equity loan.

If your objective is to reduce the monthly payment as an affordable one then you can find a loan program which offer long loan repayment with the low interest rate. But when you take longer to repay the loan your repayment total interest will get increased.

Decide on the suitable consolidation loan lender

Once you get clear with the consolidation objective shop around and various compare lenders from the aspect of loan interest rates, term of cost and all other possible benefits.

Once you all the lenders to consolidate private student loans pick out few of them based on the analysis and try to contact each of them. Based on the initial sessions you had and the terms sign up with the lender for private student loan consolidation.

 

03/29/13

Possible ways to get Student loan relief

As the years passed on your college life have come to an end. Now it’s time to repay your loan.  If you face a hard ship in repaying your student loan below ideas can help you to bare the minimum.

Even though the monthly payment is very high than you afford as a student you must repay your student loan according to your promises. So try to plan everything before your first repayment due comes and stand in a row.

You should find out a legitimate way to repay the loan. Defaulting on the student loan is not a very good route you can take up. If you can find some other way to repay your loan go for it. If you default in your loan definitely it will greatly affect your credit history. It will result in many financial troubles in future. Most of the students prefer to file for the bankruptcy to get rid of from the student loans repayment. Remember only in rare circumstances it will help you in the reduction of your student loan. It will not give you a student loan relief.

student loans repayment

Consider student loan consolidation

One of the proven and most effective ways to pay off the student loan is approaching the student loan consolidation companies to consolidate your loan. They will help you to consolidate all if your student loans into one manageable debt with the affordable monthly interest payment.  When you obtain a single student loan it will still help you by reducing your monthly payments. But the term will be extended. You can extend the student loan even up to 30 years. But if you calculate the consolidated loans you can find it increases your overall student loan amount. This is far better than defaulting your student loan.

Student loan deferment or forbearance

One other choice which is available for student loans repayment is applying for the Student loan deferment or forbearance. It will help you to postpone your student loan repayment to some future dates.

Student Loan Deferment

Applying for the Student Loan Deferment will help you to postpone the student loan interest and principle to the later date. You can make it happen in certain circumstances. This includes enrolling yourself in part time colleges, active military duty or facing the hard tome in finding any full time employment.

Student Loan Forbearance

When you have not succeeded with your Student Loan Deferment application you might become an eligible student for receiving the forbearance. As per law, when the student is under his forbearance he don’t need to meet any of his financial obligations. But keep in mind your interest rate on the loan is keep on compiling with your principle amount. It is definitely an added burden when you need to repay the loan. So find some ways to pay off your loan as quickly as possible. Else you will be multiplying your mount of debt and it will get even worse in your future.

private student loan forgiveness

If you get fail in all your attempts to get student loan relief final way you can try put is applying for the private student loan forgiveness. To get this you should have made nearly 120 student loans repayment in the consecutive months on time. However this opportunity is not made available for the new student loans. Doors may be opened in future. To get qualify for this forgiveness you should have a full time employment in some nonprofit position.

 

03/29/13

Secure The Best Private education loans today

Financing a school or college education is a very tough task unless otherwise your educational institution does not require you to pay some high fee amount. There are two types of loans we can consider to obtain student education loans. Federal government loans and private education loans. Federal government provides several types of student loans but not all the student can get qualify for these federal student loan programs. For most of the students private education loans are the only way to get financing for their school and college education.

Taking up the private education loans are not a bad idea though. In order to get an approval for these loans you need to meet certain criteria just as in some other types of loans.

When it comes for private education loans financial institutions requires a sufficient income flow for the students or their parents. Possibilities for a student getting an employment while he undergo his studies is not a possible one even if they employed most of them cannot provide the sufficient and stable income flow. So there is no way to secure these loans? There are actually some other Best private student loans made available from various financial institutions.  Even though you can’t enjoy the benefits as the federal loans you can compromise yourself at least for securing the needed funds.

Find a Cosigner

One of the biggest concerns of the lender providing the student loan is whether they can make the monthly repayments in a prompt way. When you add a co signer who have a good credit score and have very good income you are adding an extra guarantee to your loan application. This co signer will act like a guarantor; they need to take the responsibility of the private student loan when the student is unable to pay off.

Co signer can be your parent, other family members or your friends. In most cases, parent of the student acts as a guarantor. Anyhow in order to get a loan approval make sure your guarantor secures a good credit score with the very good credit history. Ideally credit score of 700 or more along with the large enough income to pay off the loan can increase the possibility of the private student loans approval.

When a suitable co signer is found with the student loan application financial obligations will rests on the shoulders of co signer when the student is defaults on his loan. So make sure your co signer is quite convenient with the term.

 Search the Internet

Today the way of living has been changed with the advent of internet. There are so many comparison websites which made our life easy when it comes for securing the right financing. We can compare various lender loan rates in just a click away. Browse through eh internet and find out which lender offers convenient term along with low interest rates.

There are so many widely recognized online lenders who got popular for offering the bad credit loans. So as a student with no history or bad history you can approach them to secure best private student loans. Through comparison websites you can find lender who is offering very low interest rates along with the reasonable repayment schedules.

Even though you find low interest rates it is not wise to fall for the loan without reading the fine print. Check out is there any hidden charges. Check out the reputation of the lender through online user reviews and Better Business Bureau website.

03/29/13

Top 5 facts which improves your possibility of obtaining the Pension loans

If you are pensioner looking for loan you shouldn’t miss this post.

Being as a pensioner, obtaining the loan and any other kind of finances may seem as a problematic one.  You can’t appear for some of the best loan deals which are available in the market today just because you can’t generate any more income. But still to deal with the situation just ensure you are fulfilling all other aspects of getting loan are met before approaching any lender. If you do this you lender will not have any reason to reject you for the loan.

Continue to read the below 5 points to make up your situation and obtain a loan from any lender.

commercial real estate loan rates

Your age may make you a credit risk

Generally some of the important factors when reviewing the loan application are credit history, age and income. You may have a good credit history but since your income and age will not satisfy your lender they will consider lending you as a risky one. Because of this reason most of the lender used to reject the credit application. Have you experienced this? If so you are not the only one. Merely all senior citizens undergo the same sort of situation. In this case what you can do from your side is “you can make your lender prove that you can able to pay off your credit for the entire loan term and even if you can better to pay off the interest rates in the beginning itself. So that your lender may consider the potential to pay off the loan and consequently chances are there for you to get succeeded with your loan application.

Demonstrate your loan serviceability through credit application

Irrespective of your income flow and age as a pensioner you should demonstrate the ability that you can actually pay back the entire loan amount you are requiring now. If your statement satisfies your lender and he thinks like you can pay back the borrowed money in the loan term and you can stick with your repayment schedule then your chances of getting the loan will be improved greatly. Here mentioning the asset you own and any other possible income sources you have like rent it will make sense.

Being as a homeowner can help improve your situation

Although you have a very strong income as a pensioner some other factors like sickness and hospitalization have the potential to affect your pension income. In this case if you own a home as a home owner you can able access your funds as home equity. It can actually convince your lender that you can able to meet all the required repayments throughout the pension loans tenure.

Unavailability of Non-standard mortgage loans

Some kind of long term fixed rate mortgages, line of credit are all some of the innovations which have appeared in market in the recent years. But the sad truth is these options are not made available for the senior citizens.  Usually when you appear for the line of credit as a home owner you are allowed to take out the equity through the home they own. You can also extend the tenure of the loan if you wish. Because of these reasons mortgage lenders hesitate to offer these loans for pensioners. From their view extendibility of the loan may increase the risk of default the loan.

Loan insurance

Based on your present situation you may or may not obtain loan insurance. Premium amount may be quite high when you see from the state of pensioner. But to offer loans for pensioners mostly all lenders require applying for loan insurance before considering your pension loans. This actually reduces the risk to the lender.

 

 

03/29/13

How to get the best Commercial property loans?

Commercial property loans are come numerous numbers of variables, these are all known as loan’s terms. If the commercial loan is best one then it will get best in all the terms. To be frank it is merely impossible. For instance, low loan to value would receive a better interest rate.  So choosing the term based on which is flexible to you will matters a lot.

Loan Terms

Some of the variables which are related to the commercial property loans are maximum loan to value, interest value, DSCR (debt service coverage ratio), amortization and tenure of the loan. Most of the commercial loan requires the borrower to submit a personal guarantee while some loans will not require you to produce such things. When the borrower has a bad or poor credit score then the lender will require the co-signer with the good credit score in most cases. However we can declare the commercial property loans as a best one if it comes with the low minimum DSCR, low interest rate and maximum loan to value. This loan should leery a prepayment penalty on the borrower when he want to pay the loan before the fixed term. Amortization and best possible term is a kind of self-liquidating until you need it. This will get paid off once the property loans gets over. When your amortization and term are of equal length then this situation may arise.

property loans

Set the realistic expectations

Getting the best thing in everything is not at all possible especially when it comes for commercial property loans.  If you require only a small amount of money on your high value commercial property you don’t need to look for maximum high valued loan to value, you can relax this constraint. You can opt for low loan to value commercial property loans.

If your high value property can generate enough income to pay off the loan then you don’t need to require low minimum DSCR.  In this case obtaining the high DSCR and low loan-to-value will be a best option for you. By using this you can actually get the best commercial real estate loan rates. For instance, when you sign up for the amortization or short term then it will also help you to get the best possible commercial real estate loan rates.

Self-Liquidating

If you obtain a Commercial property loan with the long term it is not generally self-liquidate one. As per the law the common amortization term is much longer generally it is anywhere between 20 t 30 years. But usually the commercial property loan lenders are not offering more than ten years. Anyhow the most common self-liquidating kind of commercial property loan comes with the 15 year amortization and 15 year term. At times some longer self-liquidating commercial loans can be obtained at best commercial real estate loan rates.

Different Strokes

As long as the commercial property loans are concerned it is not always very clear regarding which package offers the best deal. Some people want to obtain a short loan amortization so that they can pay off more quickly with the reduced in interest rates. But some other people always want to obtain a commercial property loan with long amortization to enjoy the affordable monthly payment. Remember if you choose interest only commercial loans these are not amortized. Even though it offers you a low monthly payment option it will not reduce even a single penny from your loan. When interest only period gets over you will find the loan amount remains untouched. If you want to play safe and get the best commercial property loan one suggestion is stay away from the commercial loans

03/29/13

Utilize the Business start up grants to Start Your Business

Business start up grants primarily offered to the businesses which are about to start or it have just started and been running successfully under 2 years. Start up business grants are usually awarded by the federal government state & local levels and by the private lenders. In order to get qualify for these grants your small business must fulfill certain requirements like the kind of product or services which are offered by your business.

Following are some of the institutions which offer the start up business grants and loans.

SBA

Generally the SBA will not offer any kind of start up business grants to the businesses. But it will help the businesses to locate the federal, local and state financial agencies which offer the business start up grants. Small business administration actually has a special access to the resources, listings and some other very useful research tools which are not made available online to the general public. Although SBA doesn’t provide you any grants or loans to the small business it will help the businesses to develop a perfect business plan which plays a vital role in obtaining any business start up grants.

Ownership based grants

Some types of grants are offered depends on seeing the ownership type of business. For example, small business which has been running by the women deserves to be awarded the small business grants for women while the same business cannot get qualify for the grant if it has been running by the men. If you are women who want to get start up business grants from Women’s Financial Fund then you can approach them and get the grants which range from $100 – $5,000. Women can utilize the grant for all type of businesses ranging from service oriented small businesses to multi level marketing businesses.

Misconceptions on Repayment

Most of the small business owners used to think that all the starts up grants provided comes under the non-repayment grants. Do not decide anything by yourself. Some types of business grants used require you to repay the grant. All other grants which do not require you to repay the loan may have some other stipulations like providing the donor the owner ship of the start up businesses.  So it is better to accept any small business grants after reading the fine print

Why Startup Grant Funds are necessary?

The main aims of providing any start up grants are assisting the start up small business entrepreneur to get his/ her small business stand in the ground. There are few start up grants which are provided for some large some amount while other grants are as small as $100. Business start up grants can also be obtained for the purpose of maintaining websites, business expansion, any other business promotional services and equipment upgrades. Larger grants offered for the small businesses will help the business in acquiring the office space or any new office equipments. Regardless of the size of grant which is being offered for the businesses it will certainly help the business to meet the expenses by saving the significant amount which then can be used for some other promotional purposes.

Warnings

HHS of United States offer many assistance programs for all small businesses who are interested in obtaining the start up loans. It also helps the small business owner to find out the discretionary start up business grants. Agencies who are offering these grants are very strict with the thing that the small business owner should not use these grants for their personal needs. Misuses of the grants will be regarded as a fraudulent activity and so these businesses can be penalized.