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Today, quality education is costly. So people, especially students are not able to afford higher education services due to high costs. The amount required for higher education exceeds the amount that people can earn. Some students even do not have any income. In that case, people prefer to take student loans. In this case, Studentloans.gov comes to help. Studentloans.gov is an official website of Federal Student Aid of the US Department of Education. Through this online portal, you can find any official information and instruction to deal with your student loans.
In the US, student loans have been designed as a very complicated system. That is why, before borrowing money through student loans, it is critical to understand how the student loans system works genuinely. In this post, we will guide you on everything in detail that you should know to make a wise decision about borrowing student credits.
Studentloans.gov provides comprehensive lists of help and support for anyone who would like to know about student loans. Through Studentloans.gov, you can find any information and realize some of the important operations related to student loans.
It is entirely reasonable that you think student loans are the key for prosperous and brighter future. However, student loan debt is something that has the power to ruin your life. That is why, before applying for the student loan through studentloans.gov, it would be better to look at the other personal choice. Thus, some tricks can help you to lower your educational costs.
Student loans are intended for helping people to cover their educational expenses. It works in an entirely different way than credit cards and other types of credits. What makes student loans different are:
Easy access – student loans are usually available for all students because they don’t have any job with a high salary or credit score. That is why most of the student loans do not require credit score for being qualify. On the other hand, this loan is mainly your first credit and has a considerable effect on your future credit score. So you have to pay close attention to make your payments on your student loans on time.
Structurally student loans are divided into two types: federal and private loans. You are free on making a choice of applying any kind, however, it is better to take federal student loans first. Especially, if you don’t have previous experience with student loans, then federal student loan may be more convenient. It is because of federal student loans have some benefits such as being more borrower-friendly on payments, easy to qualify and it is more affordable.
Your second alternative is private student loans which are mainly banks, credit unions and other types of lenders. After you have borrowed a federal student loan, and you think you still need more money for education, then you can turn to private loans. However, the requirements and conditions of private student loans are different than federal loans. So unlikely federal loans, private student loans require approval. It means that you are required to have credit score and income for payment. Even if you don’t have income, then your parent could borrow on behalf of you, but both of you will be responsible for repayment.
By the way, it worth to note that private student loans charge variable interest rates. It means that, your interest in getting increasing and one day you might be surprised by the sharply increased interest rate on your debts. To learn more about the private loan, take a look at the website.
To get a student loan, you are required to follow some steps. It would be better to start discussing with your school office about what kinds of aid is available. Just keep in mind to talk about grants and scholarships either.
Then, you need to complete and submit a FAFSA form on an online portal. This form of the application contains your personal information which the US Government evaluate them to determine your financial needs for loans. After submitting your application, all you are going to do is just waiting. If your application is approved, you will be contacted and informed about how your loans and your repayment plan will work.
For private student loans, the application process is more straightforward, all you need is find out the private lender and complete application with this lender.
Pay attention to the date when your payment starts. Maybe you are not required to make payments on student loans immediately, yet it is significant to know that when your payments are due.
There is a wide range of sources or lenders for both private and federal student loans. All of them has unique eligibility requirements and conditions. To make a wise choice for borrowing, you can utilize Studentloans.gov. You can find any information and specific guideline for tracking different student loan programs through Studentloans.gov. It is better to take a look at the official website to evaluate the various loan opportunities.
At the first step to log in to the portal, you are going to need FSA ID. If you don’t have an account, it will take a couple of minutes to create a new one. After that you should pursue the following steps;
One of the critical topic related to student loans is the consolidation process. Through the online portal, you can find all information and guideline instruction related to Loan Consolidation.
Before going to the detail, let us take a look at what is Federal Student Loan Consolidation, how it works, and what kind of benefits it can provide.
Loan Consolidation allows you to combine several federal loans under a unit loan. This program provides a wide range of benefits especially for the borrower who have low income and find it difficult to make payments. The first notable feature of Federal Student Loan Consolidation is that the program allows you to make smaller monthly payments on combined several loans. You don’t waste your time struggling with different types of payment bill, various lender, etc. And the interest rate is calculated on the weight-average method, so your monthly payment is considerably decreased. You can take the benefit of loan consolidation in the following ways:
Through the studentloans.gov, you can easily manage the process of consolidation of your federal loan. All you are going to do is to pursue the following steps:
Another excellent support that studentloans.gov provide is a tool called Repayment Estimator. This online tool allows you to insert all of your different loans and automatically show how much monthly payment you are required to pay on average. In addition, you can make a choice for a different alternative repayment plan. The portal shows exact differences between them and points out which repayment plan may reflect your financial situation in the best way. If you would like to change your repayment plan, this portal is the first place you should take a look. Actually, studentloans.gov offers the following repayment plan options:
Pay As You Earn (PAYE) – it is intended for the borrowers who have a very high amount of debts in relative to their income. Based on PAYE, your payment will be 10% of your discretionary income and will last 20 years. After this period, any amount left will be forgiven. However, it worth to note that, due to lower monthly payments, the length of payment expands, and that is why for those on PAYE, overall interest increases. Thus, it costs to borrower more than who on Standard payment.
Income – Contingent Repayment (ICR) – It is another option for those who find it difficult to pay their Student Loan debts. Especially, it is very beneficial for borrowers who expect to get a higher income in the future. So, you have a choice to repay your loans in a way such as higher monthly rates (with 20% of your discretionary income) or fixed amount of monthly payments for 12 years period. IBR allows you to pay your loans as faster as your income increases. And after 25 years regular payments the left amount of your debts is forgiven.
Income-based Repayment (IBR) – if you want to reduce your monthly payments, another alternative plan is IBR. This program allows you to pay 10 or 15 % of your discretionary income. The repayment amount could change because each year your family size and income are considered. Due to it decreases your monthly payments; as a result, overall length period of loans is expanded which means you pay more interest on the whole amount of credits.
If you would like to change your repayment plan, there is one thing to keep in mind. Changing repayment plan could affect your income, so tax regulations may not be convenient for your situation. That is why, before any changing, it would be better to consult with any financial advisor or tax specialist. You can call Student Loans Resolved Helpline to get any information support.
One of the other excellent tools that studentloans.gov provide is unsubsidized and Unsubsidized Master Promissory Note (MPN). This is a legal document which states that you are responsible to make a regular payment on both principal part and interest of your student loan debt.
This type of loan offered by the Direct Loan Program allow you to borrow money and do not accrue interest during the time you have been enrolled in school. This loan deferred after you graduate. To be eligible for Direct Subsidized Loans, you are not required to have a credit score or any level of income. It is because the Federal Government determines the interest rates on Direct Subsidized Loans and these rates are fixed. On the other hand, you should keep in mind that the amount of credit you can take out is limited. All you are going to need is to complete the Free Application for Student Aid (FAFSA).
While you are enrolled in school, you are not required to pay interest on Direct loan, because the Government covers your interest. For example, if you borrow $1000 at the beginning of your education, at the end of your education period, you still owe $1000, because the Government pays your interest. Direct Subsidized Loan is intended for low-income undergraduate students, and only your school could determine what amount of credit you can be eligible.
When we come to Unsubsidized Direct Loans, things are different a little bit. The main difference between Direct Subsidized Loans is that Uncle Sam does not act so generously. So when you take the credit through the Unsubsidized Direct Loans, you are responsible for making repayment on interest from the date you borrowed. For example, let us say you borrowed $1000 for your education, after four years, at the end of your school you are responsible for $1300 thanks to the accrued interests. Direct Unsubsidized Loans are considered the general type of Federal Direct Loan, that is why the Government does not pay any interest on them. The borrower is entirely responsible for paying all amount of the debt including interests and principle.
Besides all of these, there is one more option that studentloans.gov offer which you can take a huge benefit. The portal allows you to apply for PLUS (Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students) loan online. After logging in the website and insert the required information, you can send your application form. Let us take a look at what is PLUS loan.
PLUS Loan – Another type of Federal Direct Loan is PLUS (Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students) loan. This loan program is intended for assisting undergraduate students and parents of dependent students in covering their educational expenses. PLUS loan works in a simple way so parents of dependent students could borrow money on behalf of the students. There are no strict requirements to be eligible for the PLUS loan program. Thus, all you are going to need is to be enrolled at least half-time, and your parent has to pass a regular credit check. If you have already graduated or you are a professional degree student who is enrolled at least half-time at available school, you can apply for PLUS loan in the purpose of your academic study.
Final note,
By taking all said into consideration, it is clear that studentloans.gov provides a range of practical tools and support services. If you know how effectively use these tools, they could gain so many benefits to you. If you think about making any change or movement related to a student loan, the first place that you have to look at is an online portal.
