Get Out Of Debt

Bad Credit Student Loans Actually Exist

Posted on Saturday, 22nd November 2008 by Dave Davis

by Dave Davis

During the first few years of college, I absolutely ruined my credit. I picked up a few student Visa cards and proceeded to spend money that I didn’t have. I hadn’t learned about credit and what a terrible thing it can be to have bad credit. When I tried to pay for school and other expenses, this made life pretty difficult.

My credit score was terrible – actually under 500. Getting loans was quite difficult. Anyone that wanted to check my credit would deny me. I couldn’t get a cell phone or a satellite dish so it seemed safe to assume that I couldn’t get any type of loan. I didn’t believe that student loans would ever work for me.

School is now over for me and I have started correcting my credit. I actually now have a credit score over 700. Since I’m somewhat interested in going to grad school, I have been looking into student loans. The funny thing is that I now realize that I could have taken out loans all along.

The United States government created Stafford loans to help almost everyone to be able to get an education. Even if your credit is poor, the government will sign for you with the bank. They would definitely come after you if you defaulted on the loan, but the possibility opens up a lot of doors for people with poor credit.

Economically, it makes perfect sense for the government to loan money to students. Even students that have bad credit will increase their lifetime earnings significantly if they graduate from college. The government knows they will get more in taxes if they can get more people to finish school.

Qualifying for Stafford loans is actually quite simple. First, you will need to be a citizen of the United States that is 18 years old. Yes, minors can go to college. However, they can not legally get loans without a cosigner.

If you have a default on a student loan from the past, it will become quite difficult to get Stafford loans. Your only option at that point will be to pay off the defaulted loan. If you’ve never defaulted, chances are you’ll be approved without any problem.

If I had learned about these loan programs earlier, I could have finished school in a much shorter time period. As is, it took a few extra years. I guess you have to live and learn. Hopefully this article will help someone to learn that getting loans is an option now.

About the Author:

Dave helps educate people about guaranteed online personal loans and bad credit student loans.

Popularity: 57% [?]