Which Bank to Pick for Loan?

[DesiInNyc]

hi everyone,

i will be a first-year student in the fall of 2003 and my med school wants me to pick a bank for the loans. they have several "preferred" banks that they say pay on time. and when i asked for advice, the FA office says to pick any bank, because they all come out same at the end.

is this true? can you tell me which bank you all picked for your stafford loans, and why?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[mpp]

Find a lender with no guarantee/origination fees and ones that offer a nice repayment package (i.e., discounted rates for electronic payment and consecutive on-time payments). Check the lender websites for this information. There are many threads on this forum that discuss this and give links to lender websites.

 

[KyGrlDr2B]

This thread should help you. Happy financial aiding. Lender comparison chart

 

[DesiInNyc]

thank you for the great link, KyGrlDr2B!
i always feel like an idiot for not searching through old posts, but i sure am glad that u and others are there to help

now, a followup:

LaughingGiraffe asked a great question on that link back in 04.09.2003, but no one responded
so, i have cut and pasted it below in red, can anyone pleaseeee try to answer, now that some time has passed, and a lot of people have made their loan lender decisions-- thank you!

quote:
hey guys,

could someone help explain how the various special benefits/incentives tend to stack up? i'll be taking out the full $38,500 in stafford loans each year (unless there is some cap that prevents me from doing that fourth year), plan to begin repayment in residency, and am the type of person who will make 100% of my payments on time. from that chart, some of the benefits are:

*1 percent fee rebate (zero guarantee fee) on Stafford loans.
* 0% interest for the first year of your unsubsidized Stafford Loan.
* AMS will invest the 3% loan origination fees that have been paid into a Personal Investment Account in the borrower's name. The investment will be made in three equal installments: 1% at graduation, 1% when repayment begins, and 1% twelve months after repayment begins.
* Students will receive an automatic 0.5% interest rate reduction after 36 consecutive on-time payments and a 0.25% interest rate reduction for automatic withdrawal.

*0.25 % reduction in the interest rate for debit from a checking or savings account
* 2.00 % interest rate reduction after 48 monthly on-time payments

*1 percent fee rebate (zero guarantee fee) on Stafford loans
* Student borrowers receive 3.3% - cash or credit- based on the original principal balance of each Stafford loan disbursed through Bank One on or after July 1, 2002 and serviced by Sallie Mae. To qualify, students must 1) Make 33 initial payments on time, 2) Sign up for Internet Self-Service and 3) Agree to receive Sallie Mae account information at a valid e-mail address.



which of these would be the best deal if all payments are made on time?

 

[mpp]

It will all depend on how interest rates go and how you plan to payback the loans...will you consolidate, will you try to pay off early or just pay the minimum, will you pay interest during residency, etc., etc.

In reality they are all fairly similar as long as you don't pay the upfront origination/guarantee fees...those are simple cash of your pocket and into your. The rest of the stuff is just gravy, so pick what you think might be best. Run it through an Excel spreadsheet if it's important to you to want to see which will save you an extra buck or two in the end.