T.H.E (Total Higher Education)

[vesper9]

I am close to chosing T.H.E (Total Higher Education) as my Federal Stafford loan lender. I liked the flexibility of their Repayment Bonus, their non-profit status and the general feeling from calling them a few times.

Can anyone share their good or bad stories with this lender? What other lenders are you choosing and why (what makes their deal so good)?

Thanks

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[wook]

I am close to chosing T.H.E (Total Higher Education) as my Federal Stafford loan lender. I liked the flexibility of their Repayment Bonus, their non-profit status and the general feeling from calling them a few times.

Can anyone share their good or bad stories with this lender? What other lenders are you choosing and why (what makes their deal so good)?

Thanks

I like them. They have been very willing to answer the qeustions I have posed to them. When I first was looking at the different lenders, their package made the most financial sense (I have no idea what their package looks like now). Their non-profit status is beneficial, since the advice I have been given seems accurate and seems to benefit me.

Wook

 

[OSUdoc08]

I am close to chosing T.H.E (Total Higher Education) as my Federal Stafford loan lender. I liked the flexibility of their Repayment Bonus, their non-profit status and the general feeling from calling them a few times.

Can anyone share their good or bad stories with this lender? What other lenders are you choosing and why (what makes their deal so good)?

Thanks

They are the best loan program in my opinion, and most people at my school use them.

 

[Anath]

Most at my school use Sallie Mae or get it through their banks, however, I think a large part of that is because of name recognition. Everyone knows Sallie Mae from undergrad or the news.

BUT! When I came to med school, I spent long and sleepless hours over who lender to go with (I'm actually being serious, I took notes and made comparisons and mulled over it n everything) and I really liked the bonus and package that THE had. Plus, their residency relocation loan is awesome. From what my friends with other lenders have told me si that for the sake of residency funds (interviewing, relocation, etc), that they would take a small portion/percentage of your yearly loan. Then they give those combined monies from years 1-3, and the first semester of 4th year as your sort of residency/relocation loan. At least that was the way it was with my one friend. THE lets you take out up to 15,000 for residency/relocation expenses. And you get an automatic 42 month grace period during residency. Although they're not completely being generous in this in that they get handsomely paid back with teh acrruing interest.

Anyhoo -- I recently called them a TON of times these past couple of weeks in order to get my loan consolidation questions answered (I'm consolidating my undergradutate Sallie Mae loans in wiht my med school loans with THE). Plus they answered a few other questions regarding my overall loans and terms. They were completely nice. Had no trouble explaining things to me numerous times. I never had to wait more than a minute or two to talk to anyone (most of the time, I got directly in touch with someone).

And they try to simplify things for you so that you can make the most out of yoru loans, grace periods, and individual/personal situations.

I was so happy last week, I wanted to toot their horn. Glad you posted something about THE. In fact, I made the final decision to consolidate my Sallie Mae (undergrad) loans with them also because my experience with THE was so great (previously I had been hesitant to consolidate my undergrad because they were at a low 3.45%).

The only pitfall with THE (for me) is their webpage. The account page is rather sparce and bland vs. Sallie Mae which spends a lot more money on a prettier webpage and more advertising.

 

[OSUdoc08]

Most at my school use Sallie Mae or get it through their banks, however, I think a large part of that is because of name recognition. Everyone knows Sallie Mae from undergrad or the news.

BUT! When I came to med school, I spent long and sleepless hours over who lender to go with (I'm actually being serious, I took notes and made comparisons and mulled over it n everything) and I really liked the bonus and package that THE had. Plus, their residency relocation loan is awesome. From what my friends with other lenders have told me si that for the sake of residency funds (interviewing, relocation, etc), that they would take a small portion/percentage of your yearly loan. Then they give those combined monies from years 1-3, and the first semester of 4th year as your sort of residency/relocation loan. At least that was the way it was with my one friend. THE lets you take out up to 15,000 for residency/relocation expenses. And you get an automatic 42 month grace period during residency. Although they're not completely being generous in this in that they get handsomely paid back with teh acrruing interest.

Anyhoo -- I recently called them a TON of times these past couple of weeks in order to get my loan consolidation questions answered (I'm consolidating my undergradutate Sallie Mae loans in wiht my med school loans with THE). Plus they answered a few other questions regarding my overall loans and terms. They were completely nice. Had no trouble explaining things to me numerous times. I never had to wait more than a minute or two to talk to anyone (most of the time, I got directly in touch with someone).

And they try to simplify things for you so that you can make the most out of yoru loans, grace periods, and individual/personal situations.

I was so happy last week, I wanted to toot their horn. Glad you posted something about THE. In fact, I made the final decision to consolidate my Sallie Mae (undergrad) loans with them also because my experience with THE was so great (previously I had been hesitant to consolidate my undergrad because they were at a low 3.45%).

The only pitfall with THE (for me) is their webpage. The account page is rather sparce and bland vs. Sallie Mae which spends a lot more money on a prettier webpage and more advertising.

You've gotta be a girl.

 

[vesper9]

Thanks so much for everyone's feedback!

I was really won over by T.H.E. and I'm glad to hear more positive things. I totally crossed one lender off my list when the guy I spoke to had no idea how their benefits worked and when he called me back I'm positive he gave me wrong info (b/c he still didn't really know)...that's a deal breaker

Total Higher Education Loans

 

[Anath]

You've gotta be a girl.

Hold on, lemme check ....

 

[box29]

Hold on, lemme check ....

 

[DrKeys]

T.H.E is really good for Federal Stafford Loan (both subsidized and unsub), however, when it comes to private loan, T.H.E is not the best because it is off the 3-month LIBOR average which tends to be at least 0.5% higher than 91 day U.S. Treasury Bill, if you defer for 8 years (4+4) for 80k total. You can see the interest accrued from T.H.E is pretty high.

 

[hermione]

I love THE. I have undergrad loans through another company, and they ship out their call center to another country. The language barrier is more than frustrating when I call, and they also gave me wrong information regarding my ability to qualify for economic hardship deferment during residency. T.H.E set me straight in about 30 seconds, spoke English like it was... well, their first language, and truly KNOW about the financial situation of medical students/residents. As a matter of fact, med students get their own phone number to call for help. There is never a wait. The other company had an 8 minute wait time. I can't recommend T.H.E. enough, if for no other reason than the service. I have come to truly appreciate quick and accurate service, and to me, it is maybe even worth paying a point higher in interest to not wait on the phone then argue with some poorly trained foreigner who knows less about my student loans than I do.
BTW...had I listened to the "other" company, I would be paying back my loans starting next month, and living in a van...down by the RIVER...stupid company....

 

[Anath]

T.H.E is really good for Federal Stafford Loan (both subsidized and unsub), however, when it comes to private loan, T.H.E is not the best because it is off the 3-month LIBOR average which tends to be at least 0.5% higher than 91 day U.S. Treasury Bill, if you defer for 8 years (4+4) for 80k total. You can see the interest accrued from T.H.E is pretty high.

Is that right? I didn't know that.
However, at the same time, THE gives you that repayment bonus which averages out to lowering your percentage 0.75% so doesn't it sorta just even out?

 

[heech]

Is that right? I didn't know that.
However, at the same time, THE gives you that repayment bonus which averages out to lowering your percentage 0.75% so doesn't it sorta just even out?

The best rate available, as far as I know, is still the AAMC Medlines Alternative. This comes in at prime, which at the present is 7.75%. T.H.E. Private is currently at 7.9%.

The repayment bonus from T.H.E. (1% currently) is definitely significant, but note that it doesn't kick in until you're actually in repayment. For the 4+ years before this happens, you'll be paying a slight premium.

I'm not aware of any private loans that calculates rates based on the 91-day treasury; if you have a reference to that, I'd love to add it to the list here:

http://drs2be.blogspot.com/2006/05/current-loan-rates.html

 

[phenylalanine]

so...... is T.H.E. so much better than MedLoans? T.H.E has a guarantee
fee of 1%, while MedLoans doesn't... granted I don't really understand guarantee fee, but "fee" can't be good, can it?

 

[UserNameNeeded]

so...... is T.H.E. so much better than MedLoans? T.H.E has a guarantee
fee of 1%, while MedLoans doesn't... granted I don't really understand guarantee fee, but "fee" can't be good, can it?

Yes, it's not good. Those fees (origination, guarantee, etc.) really irk me because you never truly get that percentage of money you borrowed, but you have to not only pay that percentage back (plus the remaining portion of the loan portion that you personally received), but you also pay interest on that "phantom" percentage of loan that you never had the benefit of having/using in the first place!

I could really care less about how nice, friendly a company is-- it's the financial benefits that matter most. And having a "grace period" during residency is nothing special if the lender is calculating and capitalizing interest during the duration.

I took out my last undergrad loan with Wachovia, they had .25% auto debit interest rate deduction, 1% interest rate deduction at the beginning of repayment, a further 1% interest rate deduction after 12 on-time payments, another 1% interest rate for 36 on-time payments and they forgive the last several hundred dollars, in addition to cash-back incentives that you can choose to have help pay down the principle after certain intervals. Can THE beat that?

 

[pem8erly]

THE has no origination or guarantee fee. That is part of their appeal.

 

[FutureDocDO]

Hold on, lemme check ....

You need a second opinion .

 

[phenylalanine]

THE has no origination or guarantee fee. That is part of their appeal.

m..... take a look at this link

http://pritzker.bsd.uchicago.edu/admissions/financialaid/stafford.shtml

 

[MC Wiggles]

m..... take a look at this link

http://pritzker.bsd.uchicago.edu/admissions/financialaid/stafford.shtml

That website is wrong. Next time don't rely on second hand information.

 

[pem8erly]

m..... take a look at this link

http://pritzker.bsd.uchicago.edu/admissions/financialaid/stafford.shtml

My turn... try this one!

http://www.northstar.org/Med/default.aspx

 

[phenylalanine]

My turn... try this one!

http://www.northstar.org/Med/default.aspx

thanks

 

[Dionysus]

loan consolidation questions answered (I'm consolidating my undergradutate Sallie Mae loans in wiht my med school loans with THE)

So how did that work out for you. I am considering doing the same from Wells Fargo -> THE. I have not yet researched what this requires, what questions should I make sure to ask?

 

[Anath]

So how did that work out for you. I am considering doing the same from Wells Fargo -> THE. I have not yet researched what this requires, what questions should I make sure to ask?

It was quite simple actually! I filled out everything online. The thing I had the hardest trouble with was whether to have them honor my grace period on my med school loans (ie, to hold my application and not consolidate until it is near the end of my grace pd). I opted against this option because it would entail interest accruing at the post-July 1 rate for the duration of the grace period. If you have it such that you go into "immediate" repayment, then you completely lock in at the current rate.

The guy was great! He explained to me what most people do, and why many people chose that route. The pro's and cons of those routes. As far as questions I asked? It was simple -- I told him I was totally clueless and confused. I said "I'm not sure which to choose ... why would I want to enter immediate repayment?" and then he explained everything to my satisfaction.

I also asked them about what to do as far as my undergraduate loans until such time as everything is settled and finalized -- they told me it would be quite simple and all I would have to do is put the undergraduate SM loans into forebearance until everything is transferred. Otherwise, Northstar will be handling everything for the most part. I just need to turn in that forbearance request to SM! Ah -- good thing -- I had forgotten to do that until now. And no -- you prolly dont need to do all that. The only reason I was concerned with my SM loan was because it is actually a consolidated loan (I did it in the summer between undergrad and med school). That means that my SM loans enter into repayment with first payment due on June 7, which is not far from now.

Quite honestly, I made everythign much more painful for myself in the beginning when I refused to call them because I had expected to be given shadey answers and the run-around. If I had only called them from the beginning, I would have saved myself a ton of head-ache.

As far as how everything has "turned out" -- I cant answer that yet, exactly. I turned in my application, signed and faxed them my "early repayment" form, and also faxed them my deferrment form as they had told me to. Nothing will happen until May 20, when I graduate. So they are holding everything until that date.

 

[Dionysus]

Well I've learned a lot, thanks Anath.
As it turns out for me, since I have not yet taken out med school loans (class of 2010) I fall under the single lender rule, so I consolidated my undergrad loans with Wells Fargo to lock myself into the 4.75% rate.
From what I understand, I can now start taking loans froms THE for med school and when I'm done, I can consolidate once again both sets into one and start paying to only one group. Does that sound right, that I can consolidate again in 4 years so I only have to write one check a month?
It turned out easier than I was expecting, it just worried me that someone recommended I stick with my original lender for my new med school loans, but THE looks so much better with its zero fees so I guess I'll be going with them.
Thanks for the help here!

 

[nkazak]

Actually, I am planning to take my med school staffords from Wells Fargo and they don't charge any origination fees as far as I know. So what does THE offer that WF does not?

Well I've learned a lot, thanks Anath.
As it turns out for me, since I have not yet taken out med school loans (class of 2010) I fall under the single lender rule, so I consolidated my undergrad loans with Wells Fargo to lock myself into the 4.75% rate.
From what I understand, I can now start taking loans froms THE for med school and when I'm done, I can consolidate once again both sets into one and start paying to only one group. Does that sound right, that I can consolidate again in 4 years so I only have to write one check a month?
It turned out easier than I was expecting, it just worried me that someone recommended I stick with my original lender for my new med school loans, but THE looks so much better with its zero fees so I guess I'll be going with them.
Thanks for the help here!

 

[Dionysus]

Actually, I am planning to take my med school staffords from Wells Fargo and they don't charge any origination fees as far as I know. So what does THE offer that WF does not?

WF doesn't have an origination fee but they do have...
A “guarantee fee” (up to 1%) to insure the repayment of your loan to your lender in the event of death, permanent and total disability, or default
https://www.wellsfargo.com/wf/student/loans/undergrad/stafford

This seems to be the only fee that WF charges that THE does not. Also, from the same page, WF doesn't start repayment benefits until after 36 monthly payments while THE is immediate. However the benefit WF offers is 2% while THE is less.

I'm ignorant about finances and things, but THE looks better to me so far. Would you agree?

 

[vesper9]

The biggest reason I ended up choosing T.H.E is because their repayment bonus isn't conditioned on XX number of months of on-time payments. As soon as you start repayment, they will give you back up to 1.3% per year, in monthly payments, as long as you're not more than 60 days late. If you do mess up (more than 60 days late) they will suspend the bonus until you are back in the clear and the re-start the bonus payments.

I know I'm not the most reliable bill payer and have run into hard times when I couldn't make payments on other stuff, which I'm sure will happen after grad school. Also, THE has this statistic on their website from a 2003 US News & World report that found only 7% of students manage two years of on-time payments! That sealed the deal for me.

 

[DownonthePharm]

WF doesn't have an origination fee but they do have...
A “guarantee fee” (up to 1%) to insure the repayment of your loan to your lender in the event of death, permanent and total disability, or default
https://www.wellsfargo.com/wf/student/loans/undergrad/stafford

This seems to be the only fee that WF charges that THE does not. Also, from the same page, WF doesn't start repayment benefits until after 36 monthly payments while THE is immediate. However the benefit WF offers is 2% while THE is less.

I'm ignorant about finances and things, but THE looks better to me so far. Would you agree?

If you do the math based on the 2% starting later the THE is a better deal over all even though the % is less.

 

[PurpleHaze]

Thanks to all the positive comments on this thread (and my own research of course), I've decided to go with T.H.E. as my lender as well. Thanks for the help everyone!

 

[red dot]

i'm going with this company too...
...after 2 days of furiously doing math on scratch paper, wearing out my calculator, and trying to figure out what i might be doing upon graduation

thanks for all the advice you guys!

 

[MikeyLu2010]

How long does it take to process the federal loan..Its already been over a week for me...still waitin =/..and yes..i chose T.H.E. as well

 

[gator1210]

Yes, it's not good. Those fees (origination, guarantee, etc.) really irk me because you never truly get that percentage of money you borrowed, but you have to not only pay that percentage back (plus the remaining portion of the loan portion that you personally received), but you also pay interest on that "phantom" percentage of loan that you never had the benefit of having/using in the first place!

I could really care less about how nice, friendly a company is-- it's the financial benefits that matter most. And having a "grace period" during residency is nothing special if the lender is calculating and capitalizing interest during the duration.

I took out my last undergrad loan with Wachovia, they had .25% auto debit interest rate deduction, 1% interest rate deduction at the beginning of repayment, a further 1% interest rate deduction after 12 on-time payments, another 1% interest rate for 36 on-time payments and they forgive the last several hundred dollars, in addition to cash-back incentives that you can choose to have help pay down the principle after certain intervals. Can THE beat that?

How did you get that? Is it only for undergrad loans?
Wachovia is offer 1 after 12months, 1 after 24 months, 1.5 after 36 months, IN REBATES, not interest!

Im curious how you got the interest rate deductions

 

[UserNameNeeded]

How did you get that? Is it only for undergrad loans?
Wachovia is offer 1 after 12months, 1 after 24 months, 1.5 after 36 months, IN REBATES, not interest!

Im curious how you got the interest rate deductions

You know what, I think that was it, gator. The rebate thing, if you have it applied to pay down your debt, I think is better than the rate deduction because if you plan to quickly, painfully pay off the debt in five years with larger repayments toward the end of the five years as opposed to the beginning. I may be wrong, though.

Texas has a couple of non-profit lenders, too, which also had really good offerings like THE. I didn't really think too hard (I just compared the school's preferred lenders and whoever returned my emails/calls the quickest) to decide on a lender for that last undergraduate subsidized loan because...does it really matter? Once you're in medical school, you'll be taking out more loans and then having to consolidate. So the consolidation benefits are what matter, in the end.

 

[fsupharm]

Im interested in this THE but don't know much about loans and my parents don't seem to be helping me much. I currently have a stafford loan for my undergrad at suntrust and I'll need to borrow all of my tuition for pharmacy school, about $20,000/yr. Should I take out a stafford loan from THE, and does the stafford pay that much? Or do I need to add the grad plus loan too. Sorry, I just need some guidance.

 

[megflan4]

So I'm leaning toward THE as well, and I've tried to calculate all the numbers and am going nuts! My question is this: I think will pay off my interest while in school (for Stafford loans), and dont anticipate (although that 7% of students who do make payments on time is scary!) missing payments, isn't the Sallie Mae classic option going to be better?

 

[UserNameNeeded]

Meg, how are you going to pay off interest while in school?

I would love to do that, too, but I don't understand how students (who, usually, should have no income since they're not working at all during medical school) are able to pay off interest before residency.

 

[megflan4]

Meg, how are you going to pay off interest while in school?

I would love to do that, too, but I don't understand how students (who, usually, should have no income since they're not working at all during medical school) are able to pay off interest before residency.

I've been out of school for a few years and have saved enough to be able to pay off the interest. That's my plan for now at least.

 

[Tristy]

How long does it take to process the federal loan..Its already been over a week for me...still waitin =/..and yes..i chose T.H.E. as well

It took them about a week to process mine.

 

[LovelyRita]

The Bonus gets wiped if you file for economic hardship deferment. You get no bonus. So although that sounds delicious as you start school, when you are graduating and calculating that your monthly payment is going to be a massive chunk of your monthly income, you (like I and many others) will elect to do econ. hardship deferment. No loan payment. You can do this for 3 years after med school. Bonus schmonus.

Otherwise, the ppl at THE are very nice and will always help you keep organized.

 

[DentalNerd]

The Bonus gets wiped if you file for economic hardship deferment. You get no bonus. So although that sounds delicious as you start school, when you are graduating and calculating that your monthly payment is going to be a massive chunk of your monthly income, you (like I and many others) will elect to do econ. hardship deferment. No loan payment. You can do this for 3 years after med school. Bonus schmonus.

Otherwise, the ppl at THE are very nice and will always help you keep organized.

If I understand correctly, once you consolidate into a longer term loan, I think all those bonuses, rate reduction, credits (whatever) go away. So unless you plan to pay off your loans in 10 years, you lose all those benefits. Then you have to shop around for similar perks in your new consolidated loan.

 

[kilani]

If I understand correctly, once you consolidate into a longer term loan, I think all those bonuses, rate reduction, credits (whatever) go away. So unless you plan to pay off your loans in 10 years, you lose all those benefits. Then you have to shop around for similar perks in your new consolidated loan.

well that sucks, I guess I didn't read the fine print... never do

 

[Doctor Bagel]

well that sucks, I guess I didn't read the fine print... never do

The good news is that it appears they offer the same bonus for consolidated loans (or at least similar). Also, that hits with any lender, which I guess sort of takes the stress off of picking a lender because most of us are going to consolidate. One thing to note is that if you only have one lender, you have to consolidate through that lender, so you might want to shake it up a bit to give you more consolidation options.

 

[ZAZA67401]

Can you still consolidate after July 1st 2006? I didn 't think we could anymore, so it won't matter anyway...I thought that was what Bush's new plan does, prevents us from consildating anymore...but I am probably wrong...

 

[Anath]

The Bonus gets wiped if you file for economic hardship deferment. You get no bonus. So although that sounds delicious as you start school, when you are graduating and calculating that your monthly payment is going to be a massive chunk of your monthly income, you (like I and many others) will elect to do econ. hardship deferment. No loan payment. You can do this for 3 years after med school. Bonus schmonus.

Otherwise, the ppl at THE are very nice and will always help you keep organized.

I seriously doubt that and have found nothing to say that they completely take away your bonus just because you file for economic hardship. The vast majority of us will *have* to file economic hardship because, well, who in the world can afford the 100K+ that most of us will have during residency and they know this. If it was true that they truly completely wipe out your bonus, then their % receiving hte bonus would not be as high.

What you may actually be confusing it with is that you do NOT get the THE bonus *during* deferment. Which makes absolute sense because you are not yet in repayment. It is up to you on whether you want to make the interest payments or not.

AH! I found on THE where they directly say you do NOT lose your bonus because of deferment: You do NOT lose your THE Bonus by deferring! (You might not have meant to, but please don't try to make statements like that and put people into an uninformed panic! Well, at least, *me* anyhow )


Secondly, to the person who said that your THE bonus gets taken away if you do a 30 year term, etc ... that is not true. If you even look at their charts, they usually have the payment terms automaticalkly set at 360 months (because they know most of us will take that as a default due to the high amount of money we have borrowed). Their THE bonus calculation charts are based on how much you are going to save over those 30 years. I can't imagnie that they are then going to say that you completely lose your bonus just for taking a 30 year term.

Now, there are guidelines on your repayment terms based on how much you have borrowed (check out page 5 of this link THE Consolidation link) -- it may well be that they will not give you the bonus if you try to *extend* the payments over a longer period of time than the ranges put you into by default. (Do they even let you do that?). Having for example a $25,000 total loan would automatically put you into a 20 year repayment plan. If they allow you to say you want to stretch that out to a 30 year term to significantly lower your payments, it would also make sense that they would not apply the THE Bonus for you as you are already receiving a significant rate reduction for trying to stretch out your payments beyond the norm. I will say that this specific paragraph is speculation. So I can't honestly speak on what happens if you ask to extend your repayment period beyond with their guidlines put you into based on your loan amount. A good chunk, if not most, of us will have 60K+ so we automatically get put into a 30 year term.

And you do NOT lose your bonus just for the sole reason that you are consolidating. That's hog-wash.

Check out page 7:
http://www.northstar.org/downloads/ConsolFAQ.pdf

 

[LovelyRita]

At our exit interview lecture on financial aid and repayment, they definitively said that no matter who your lender is, such 'bonuses' are null and void unless you begin repayment after you graduate or after the 6 or 9 month grace period.

Can you point out the exact verbiage that says you still get the bonus after filing economic hardship deferment?

 

[Anath]

At our exit interview lecture on financial aid and repayment, they definitively said that no matter who your lender is, such 'bonuses' are null and void unless you begin repayment after you graduate or after the 6 or 9 month grace period.

Can you point out the exact verbiage that says you still get the bonus after filing economic hardship deferment?

?? link is above. it says you do not lose benefits (and that link is referring to the THE bonus) by deferring or forbearing your loans.
And if you defer, you're deferring your actual period where you're repaying, so no, you're not going to have a bonus applied during your deferment period. When you go back into actual repayment *after* your deferment is over after residency, then you will get your bonus.

If you dont believe me, you can call Northstar.

I dunno why your financial aid office told you that. It would be very sloppy of them to make such a broad-based statement about various programs who run and apply their own private bonuses differently from each other. Unless your FAO meant (to say) that your bonuses are null because you *default* on your loan (that's different from defering). A lot of the lenders will void your bonuses and perks if you miss payments. Like many on thsi thread and others have said, one of hte benefits of THE is that you can miss a payment or two and you get your bonus reinstated when you start making payments back on time. A lot of the other lenders will not give you those perks back once you've missed payments, and some may give you the perks back but not at the same level as they had before. And then there are others will not even instate bonuses/perks until 36 months of on-time payments.

 

[DentalNerd]

Secondly, to the person who said that your THE bonus gets taken away if you do a 30 year term, etc ... that is not true. If you even look at their charts, they usually have the payment terms automaticalkly set at 360 months (because they know most of us will take that as a default due to the high amount of money we have borrowed). Their THE bonus calculation charts are based on how much you are going to save over those 30 years. I can't imagnie that they are then going to say that you completely lose your bonus just for taking a 30 year term.


And you do NOT lose your bonus just for the sole reason that you are consolidating. That's hog-wash.

Check out page 7:
http://www.northstar.org/downloads/ConsolFAQ.pdf

You do lose your original bonus. The Stafford loan carries a 10 payment plan and a 1.3% bonus reduction. The consolidated plan carries a 30 year payment plan and a 0.75% bonus reduction.

Once you consolidate, you lose the original bonus. It's similar to refinancing a mortgage. That's not to say you won't get a bonus. It depends on the consolidation program you select. All I'm saying is if you plan to consolidate immediately, don't worry about the Stafford bonus and rate reductions now. Your biggest concern is 0% origination and lender fees. Once you decide to consolidate, you need to shop around for the best loan program that carries some type of repayment bonus program. We are all killing ourselves to find the best possible program for our Stafford loans when it really makes no difference until we consolidate. That's when the real research should be conducted. If you plan to pay off your loans in 10 years, then you should find the best Stafford loan program now.

 

[Anath]

You do lose your original bonus. The Stafford loan carries a 10 payment plan and a 1.3% bonus reduction. The consolidated plan carries a 30 year payment plan and a 0.75% bonus reduction.

Once you consolidate, you lose the original bonus. It's similar to refinancing a mortgage. That's not to say you won't get a bonus. It depends on the consolidation program you select. All I'm saying is if you plan to consolidate immediately, don't worry about the Stafford bonus and rate reductions now. Your biggest concern is 0% origination and lender fees. Once you decide to consolidate, you need to shop around for the best loan program that carries some type of repayment bonus program. We are all killing ourselves to find the best possible program for our Stafford loans when it really makes no difference until we consolidate. That's when the real research should be conducted. If you plan to pay off your loans in 10 years, then you should find the best Stafford loan program now.

hence the word *completely*. Either way ya look at it, its quite different from getting absolutely no bonus at all. I wish I could pay off these loans in 10 years ... that would be heavenly. Although I guess I could live off of Ramen the whole time, and live extremely frugally, which some people actually do. Though I would have to keep this lifestyle from my patients -- nto too encouraging if they find out I'm eatin Ramen 24/7 while nagging them to eat more healthily. Ah well -- hypocracy can be grand.

 

[methamike]

T.H.E has that 1.3% bonus if you're not 60 days late. What is the monthly payment to qualify for this? Is is the total loan/120?

 

[eilros]

T.H.E. looks like a good deal. Thanks for the info.

 

[NDMD]

Your biggest concern is 0% origination and lender fees. Once you decide to consolidate, you need to shop around for the best loan program that carries some type of repayment bonus program. We are all killing ourselves to find the best possible program for our Stafford loans when it really makes no difference until we consolidate. That's when the real research should be conducted. If you plan to pay off your loans in 10 years, then you should find the best Stafford loan program now.

I agree. I consolidated my MSI-MSII loans ($95K) with Graduate Leverage (3.75% until repayment, 2.875% once repayment starts and 1.875% after 36 payments) and am now researching companies for my MSIV loan. I probably won't want to consolidate my MSIV loan ($38.5K @ 6.8%) because it will increase the weighted average considerably (4.75%) so a good Stafford deal is very important.