PLUS Loans

Paying for College
1

<p>My parents are trying to take out a PLUS Loan to cover some expenses for my Freshman year… Their credit is OK, but certainly not ideal. They have quite a great number of loans, but they manage to pay them. I’m not sure they have much wiggle room to take on many more loans. Generally, are applications for PLUS loans accepted, or are they difficult loans to get? Should we be looking for private loans?</p>

2

<p>The program is explained very simpley and carefully in most lender’s website. In comparison to credit cards, mortgages, installment loan contracts, the PLUS loan contract is a explained in a straight forward manner. </p>

<p>As in any decision, money, dates, apples and oranges, careful considerations should be made towards an eye to value.</p>

3

<p>Your parents apply and are either accepted or rejected. If rejected, you automatically qualify for an additional unsubsidized Stafford Loan for $4,000. Consider a signature loan also, as payments can be deferred.</p>

4

<p>If your parents are concerned about their credit, they should apply for approval very early – I think this can be done via the College Board site. This does not obligate them to go with that particular lender, but it does provide any information early on about possible issues or problems with credit. I did this during the fall of my son’s senior year, before he applied to colleges – and there was information on a credit report that meant that I did not qualify. However, I disputed the info – it was because of a disputed debt amount – so I wrote to the credit reporting agency, following appropriate procedures. See <a href=“http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre21.shtm[/url]”>http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre21.shtm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>This resulted in the item being removed from my credit report … after my son was accepted to college in the spring, I chose to go with a different lender (on the college’s list of recommended lenders) --and of course at that point I qualified. It would probably have been too late at that point to go through the steps needed to clean up my credit – so I’m glad I was proactive and did it early on.</p>

5

<p>So my Financial Aid papers say I’ve accepted a PLUS loan for the year - it’s now my job to go apply for it online? I’m going to Cal and to be honest I’ve had trouble finding the proper info… it’s sort of a maze of info. I just need to check for approval at an online site that provides a list of lenders and sign up on my own (with my parents, that is)?</p>