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As I was pulling my credit reports this afternoon, I noticed that in honor of the pandemic, the three big reporting agencies are doing free reports once a week instead of once a year like they usually do. See Annual Credit Report.com - Home Page The agencies have lots of random gateways that may involve paying a fee or signing up for some non-free service, so double-check to make sure you're getting the free offer. You shouldn't need to put in credit card info to get your reports.
The most pressing reason to straighten out your credit before med school is so that you can qualify for a Grad Plus loan. This is the federal loan that has a credit check. Direct Loans, a.k.a. Stafford loans, do not, but they have a yearly and lifetime maximum that you can borrow. Here is the page that explains, in a strange, hard to read popup, exactly what "adverse credit history" means for a Grad Plus borrower. Control-F to search for "adverse" and actually click on the words. https://studentaid.gov/understand-aid/types/loans/plus If you have an adverse credit history, you will need a cosigner ("endorser"), so start thinking about this now.
To get started with your credit, check out the oldschool but highly informative forum Credit Boards. Literally start with the beginners' forum--there are some subtleties that are easy to miss that can affect exactly how your credit accounts are reported.
Once you're in med school and have a billion dollars in Federal loans, see this interesting article on the White Coat Investor that talks about how to start repayment 6 months early, with a $0 payment due, and thereby save many thousands of dollars. I followed his steps and it worked for me.
TISLA is an agency that provides free student loan advice for the asking. Its president, Betsy Mayotte, is active on reddit studentloans, if that's not damning with faint praise. Seriously, though, check them out.
The most pressing reason to straighten out your credit before med school is so that you can qualify for a Grad Plus loan. This is the federal loan that has a credit check. Direct Loans, a.k.a. Stafford loans, do not, but they have a yearly and lifetime maximum that you can borrow. Here is the page that explains, in a strange, hard to read popup, exactly what "adverse credit history" means for a Grad Plus borrower. Control-F to search for "adverse" and actually click on the words. https://studentaid.gov/understand-aid/types/loans/plus If you have an adverse credit history, you will need a cosigner ("endorser"), so start thinking about this now.
To get started with your credit, check out the oldschool but highly informative forum Credit Boards. Literally start with the beginners' forum--there are some subtleties that are easy to miss that can affect exactly how your credit accounts are reported.
Once you're in med school and have a billion dollars in Federal loans, see this interesting article on the White Coat Investor that talks about how to start repayment 6 months early, with a $0 payment due, and thereby save many thousands of dollars. I followed his steps and it worked for me.
TISLA is an agency that provides free student loan advice for the asking. Its president, Betsy Mayotte, is active on reddit studentloans, if that's not damning with faint praise. Seriously, though, check them out.
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