Like every other aspect of lending, best student loan have been dramatically affected by the credit crisis.
But don't believe rumors that you can't get best student loan for education anymore. They're still available -- and you still need to be careful about how much debt you take on.
Here's the scoop:
- Federal student loans are an even better deal than before. Rates are fixed now, rather than variable, and students with the most need will see rates as low as 3.4% in the future. Limits on how much you can borrow have been raised a bit, and parents who take out parental student loans now can defer payments while their kids are still in school. Although some lenders have exited the federal student loan market, the U.S. government has stepped in to make sure the remaining lenders had access to cash to make best student loan.
"The government averted the crisis," said Mark Kantrowitz, the publisher of FinAid and a co-author of "FastWeb College Gold: The Step-by-Step Guide to Paying for College." "You don't have to worry about getting (federal) best student loan."
- Don't ask your lender for a consolidation loan. Consolidation allows you to make one payment instead of many, and you may be able to lower your payments by stretching out the repayment term from the usual 10 years to as many as 30. You still can consolidate your federal student loans, but you'll need to do so through the federal government. Lenders that used to make these loans have fled the market, saying they aren't profitable anymore. Visit the U.S. Department of Education's best student loan consolidation siteto get started.