| Your education is the most important investment you | | | | loan is defaulting on a previous government-backed |
| can make in yourself, and getting funding for your | | | | student loan. |
| education is equally important. For many adults who've | | | | There is a second federal loan package, called the |
| made a few bad decisions financially, bad credit | | | | Perkins loan. Like the Stafford education loan, it's an |
| student loans don't enter the picture until they want to | | | | excellent bad credit student loan, because it assumes |
| return to college. Can bad credit rating impact whether | | | | that the recipient has no credit rating at all, coming out |
| or not they can get student loans? | | | | of high school. It is particularly well suited to adults |
| Education loans are traditionally one of the lowest | | | | returning to complete their education, because of its |
| interest rate financial services products out there, in | | | | higher limits. It does have a more volatile interest rate |
| part because of the Federal student loan programs | | | | than the Stafford program, and has just enough |
| and grants -- when Pell grants give money away for | | | | differences in the application process to be frustrating. |
| free to needy students, and getting scholarships can | | | | For students whose credit rating is better than theirs, |
| take the edge off, charging an outrageous interest rate | | | | who are worried about bad credit, the PLUS loan |
| for student loans doesn't make a lot of sense. | | | | program offers conventional business loans at |
| Likewise, from the perspective of a lender, people with | | | | competitive market driven rates to their parents. This |
| college degrees tend to double their lifetime income | | | | option is used a lot for students entering college after |
| potential compared to those with just a high school | | | | a stint in the military, particularly if their military stint |
| diploma, so lending money to college students is a | | | | caused a bad credit problem. |
| good risk to take. | | | | The last source of bad credit student loans are private |
| The premier student loan program is the Stafford loan. | | | | student loan vendors. These will make an unsecured |
| The Stafford loan program assumes that the typical | | | | educational loan at interest rates that are generally |
| college student is fresh out of high school, and thus | | | | higher than the three federal loan programs. Keep |
| doesn't have a credit rating yet. These loans don't | | | | these in reserve as an emergency loan to fill out a |
| even check the students credit rating, they look at | | | | semester's payments; they have a shorter application |
| financial need more than anything else. Stafford loans | | | | cycle than any of the federal loans. Or, better yet, |
| are capped in the total loan amount, because they | | | | work on getting some scholarship and grant support, |
| were intended to fill in the gaps for books and | | | | which is like a student loan that doesn't have to be |
| scholarships, not fund an education entirely. The only | | | | paid back if you meet certain academic requirements. |
| credit history that can disqualify you from a Stafford | | | | |