Banking – Where It’s At
I’ve got a considerable bit of student loan debt. In addition to the federal loans I took out, I also had to get a number of private student loans to pay for school. I never gave much thought to it, because it was generally just what I had to do. I simply wouldn’t have had enough money for school otherwise.
Now it’s come time to try consolidate, as seems to be the norm. You hear these things all the time about how you can save hundreds of dollars a month by consolidating. My experience so far is that it’s little more than a lie. Federal loans aren’t an issue, but even then I’m not saving hundreds–try tens.
As for private loans, that’s an entirely different story. So far, it seems like the best consolidation loan I would be able to get would give me a higher interest rate than any of my existing loans. How does that make sense? They tried to convince me it was based on credit, but that’s obviously a lie, because so were my initial loans. And in the case of two them, the interest rate they’re offering is actually 2.5% higher. Not only that, but it would be over the course of 5 more years than what I’d currently be paying.
In short, I should have started a fucking bank. Making an automatic 160% percent on every dollar I give out? That’s not a bad deal at all. Yeah, that’s right. I give you $10, you give me $26. Booyah.
Rob Warde said:
Nov 07, 07 at 8:41 amDidn’t someone say if it’s too good to be true then it isn’t. Consolidation loans are a load of cr*p. We have the same companies over here in the UK and they should be stopped. Anyway, I blame the US for the Credit Crunch..All that sub prime lending was bound to go wrong at some point. I mean, would a UK bank do the same thing
jared said:
Nov 07, 07 at 9:01 pmlike i said, it’s actually not a big deal to me, because I can cover my payments no problem as it is. my federal loan consolidation went smoothly, and i’ll be saving money there (though not in the long term, of course).
i think what upsets me most is the fact that i don’t feel i should be as much in debt as i am, anyway. it really makes a good education a privilege, and i personally feel it should be considered much more of a right. should i bet $50k+ in debt for 4 years of school, especially when i was a straight A student in high school and finished college with a great gpa? i don’t think so. now i get to have that hanging over my head for the next 20 years. hurray.