Private Student Loans

[haugen16]

Hello.

I have private student loans that I would love to get rid of. They're at 18% interest rate and are unable to consolidate with any other loans. What the heck now?! I personally cannot afford the payments and its driving me mad just thinking about them.

Help!

[humandraydel]

There isn't really much you can do about them except pay them off, unfortunately. They are just about impossible to get discharged even in bankruptcy.

[Hot dog]

That is a high interest rate!! Maybe you can transfer to a fixed 4% cc or something that seems way high for a school loan

[disneysteve]

I'd look for any other source of lower interest borrowing like home equity, credit cards, etc. 18% is ridiculous.

[rebeccae55]

How much do you owe?

Do you get credit card offers? Try to move as much as you can to credit card or other type of loan.

Also, how many hours do you work in a week? Dedicating the income from a second job would be a big help.

[humandraydel]

Although it's usually not a good idea, would it be possible to get a loan at say 7% interest from a family member? Always a touchy situation, but it could work out well for both of you.

[disneysteve]

Although it's usually not a good idea, would it be possible to get a loan at say 7% interest from a family member? Always a touchy situation, but it could work out well for both of you.

Another option would be to borrow on prosper.com. I'm sure you could borrow for far less than 18%.

[neguy11]

Nelnet (where I work) offers a Private Consolidation Loan, for private student loans. The minimum balance requirement is $5000. The interest rate is 8.25-13% based on your credit. There a number of requirements so not everyone qualifies but it's worth a try. The number is 866.426.6765 and you can call 24/7.

[loanstar]

18% is way too high. depending on your credit rating, you can try and get another loan and use it to pay off that one or get a credit card with a lower interest rate.

[PAZach]

Wow 18% is terrible. I thought mine were bad at 8.75 and 9.75. Once I pay off my credit cards I'm going to do a balance transfer for 5.9 fixed. I was also looking into refinancing my house and using home equity.

[Sinthya Goodwills]

Goshh !! 18% is too much.

Take help from your friends or family members. Move as much as you can to credit card or other type of loan and if you are working then Dedicating the income from a second job would be a big help. It means you need to find a part time job because since it is a private student loan, you must repay at any conditions. The lenders will don't give you more flexibility.

Best of Luck

[gprimr1]

That is really high for a student loan. Is it through Terri? They ran that Astrive student loan deal.

Unfortunately, I'm sort of in the same boat. I have 4 loans with different companies. None of them are that bad, but I planned to refi and now the bottom fell out.

That said, I have an idea that might help. Wells Fargo and a few other banks are still doing private loan refinances. You might try with them, or talk to your parents about co-signing a refinance loan.

Good Luck, I know how much it sucks to have planned out everything and then the market fall apart.

It will get better in time though

[Seeker]

Hello.

I have private student loans that I would love to get rid of. They're at 18% interest rate and are unable to consolidate with any other loans. What the heck now?! I personally cannot afford the payments and its driving me mad just thinking about them.

Help!

18% -- are you in default?

You cannot "get rid" of student loans.

Have you spoken with your lender? You may be eligible to repay under a graduated income or essentially an income-based schedule.

Can you transfer the loans to non-private agency? There are debt-counseling services that can potentially play middle-man for you and simultaneously clear up the credit history.... then transfer the debt to someone else. But these have outrageous fees too.

Can you defer?

[Seeker]

Sorry, just noticed the original date of this thread. Oops.