<p>While I was talking to the FA officer at one of the schools my DD was accepted to she told me not to apply for a Parent PLUS loan until July as they have already checked my credit and it would take until then to fall off. </p>
<p>I thought this was odd but then on the award letter for another school my DD was accepted to it said the same thing. Is this typical?</p>
<p>Is it possible that colleges are running credit checks on parents when determining the amount of institutional aid to give students? It seems to me this would only be valuable in that instance. Perhaps they are giving more institutional based grants to students whose parents would not be able to qualify for PLUS Loans? I am curious about this. Has anyone ever asked this question before? These two colleges are in different states, one public and one private so quite different FA scenarios yet both did the same thing.</p>
<p>*While I was talking to the FA officer at one of the schools my DD was accepted to she told me not to apply for a Parent PLUS loan until July as they have already checked my credit and it would take until then to fall off. *</p>
<p>Hmmm…odd. What did they mean by “it would take until then to ‘fall off’”? Are they talking about a report for a late payment?</p>
<p>I have never heard that schools just routinely run credit checks or that they would award more money to those with parents with bad credit. </p>
<p>Was this a private school that meets need or what?</p>
<p>Keep in mind that the overwhelming majority of schools no not meet 100% demonstrated need. They gap and usually they put in a PLUS loan as a way for you to fill that gap. </p>
<p>Some schools will also loan you their own institutional monies as a PLUS loan (at a lower rate) vs. you going to an outside bank. Perhaps this was the case with this particular loan- that they were willing to loan you the money to make this happen. Either way, it would still be up to you whether or not you would accept the package. </p>
<p>If you are not eligible for a PLUS loan, your child would be eligible for an additional 4k as an unsub loan and perhaps the school if it has the funds may loan her money through the school. </p>
<p>It could also help you if the school were clearly your daughter’s first choice and you state that it is not a financially feasible option because you are not in a position to borrow this money (now they also know this), perhaps they can toss a few extra $$ your way.</p>
<p>I don’t get this either. You have to give specific consent to have a credit check run. Call the school financial aid office and find out specifically what they mean and do share with us. Filling out FAFSA is not permitting a credit check.</p>
<p>I would like to know myself how they did this. FWIW, I ran a free credit report using Experian and did not see even a “soft” inquiry from either school (unless they are using another agency and that is something I need to find out as well).</p>
<p>mom2collegekids, the one that the FA officer told me directly was a very expensive private school out of state and the one that stated it on their form FA letter was a SUNY (we are in-state). Very odd. </p>
<p>When I get an answer I will let you all know.</p>
<p>I’m wondering if they mistook you for someone else? It doesn’t make sense that they would routinely run credit checks - and they can’t without permission. </p>
<p>Or maybe you misunderstood what she said???</p>
<p>I do not believe that the schools ran credit checks on you. Something was misunderstood. Perhaps the timing is not now for PLUS applications for the upcoming school year, but I don’t think the reason is what was given. (MY GUESS ONLY: perhaps if you apply right now for PLUS for the upcoming school year, it could be an issue timing wise and you would have to reapply closer to the date of upcoming fall semester again, and it would then amount to 2 credit checks for the same loan which could cause confusion in a system)</p>
<p>Fall off probably means that the item no longer appears on your credit report.</p>
<p>I don’t have PLUS loans but I have been told that credit checks are run and I know people who were turned down for the loans due to their credit rating.</p>
<p>My D is at a SUNY and we have been offered unsub loans which I’ve turned down. I have no indication that my credit was checked.</p>
<p>I have taken out PLUS and yes, your credit is checked but it is very clear that it is and you do give permission for it to be done. It is a very quick process; in my case a matter of seconds, not even minutes. But I specifically gave permission for the credit check. However, i think that if you are thinking of getting a PLUS right now and want to run a credit check to see if you are eligible, that there is a time limit as to how long that the approval might be good and it may not be long enough for when you get the funds for fall. It’s too early right now to apply for a PLUS to go towards next years school bills, I think. </p>
<p>The above is JMO. </p>
<p>The unsub loans that have been offered fory your DD, Joan, are likely the Staffords and no credit checks are done for those. Those are loans your student can take out in her own name without you being involved. But any parent loans and private loans will involve credit checks.</p>
<p>Fall off probably means that the item no longer appears on your credit report.</p>
<p>That’s what I thought. If the OP had such an issue, and the FA officer commented on it, why didn’t she ask why a credit check was done and who authorized it?</p>
<p>Momof3stars…did you indicate on any FA app a willingness to take out Plus loans to help with costs?</p>
<p>The FA office cannot check the parents’ credit without their specific approval. It simply would not be done. Period. You must have misunderstood.</p>
<p>Ok, I found the original email (it was in my work email and I did not get to the office until today) and I DID misunderstand! The FA officer’s wording was a little confusing because of a small typo and I probably read it too fast. I did re-ask the question about the credit check but in subsequent emails she did not address it (we had bigger things to discuss as you can imagine). This is what it said:</p>
<p>“I would recommend that you (the parent) apply for the direct parent plus loan. If you approved then you can choose if you want to accept it or not. If you get denied for the parent plus loan, XYZ is automatically eligible for an additional $4,000 in unsubsidized Stafford loan money. XYZ cannot be considered for any additional aid until the parent plus loan decision is received. You can complete a parent plus loan application at studentloans.gov. I would wait until July 1st to complete the application because a credit check was be done and it expires after 3 months.”</p>
<p>The way she wrote “a credit check was be done” appeared to me that she was saying a credit check was done but now looking at it I do think she meant will be done? As far as the SUNY letter, I tossed it I think and only skimmed that part assuming it said the same thing and since we would not have to take out a PLUS loan for a SUNY it was not of concern to me. Now I assume it was the same type of warning.</p>
<p>Yes. If you get approved for the PLUS, the credit check is no good when it comes time to releasing the funds which generally does not happen until August since 3 months will have gone by.</p>