The federal government offers students several types of financial aid, including Pell Grants and Stafford Loans. Grants are always better than loans because you do not have to repay a grant, whereas the loan comes with a commitment to repay it. Therefore, get as many grants as possible while limiting your loans.
The Department of Education designed Pell Grants to serve as the foundation for financial aid. Students qualify for the grants based on their family’s income, assets and ability to pay for college.
More borrowers across all education sectors are defaulting on their student loans, study shows
Credit card delinquencies and charge-off rates have steadily declined in recent months, but the same cannot be said for student loans. The most recent information reveals the national student loan default rate for fiscal year 2008 rose to 7 percent, up from 6.7 percent in 2007, according to the Department of Education.
The department examined the default rate for borrowers who began their repayment period between October 1, 2007 and September 30, 2008, and defaulted before September 30, 2009. Read full article…
A sea change is under way in Americans’ debt habits: They are changing how they borrow, how they pay their loans, how they get out of debt and when they default.
It used to be that smaller, revolving credit loans – like credit card debts – were the most likely to go unpaid. Now, it’s home equity loans that have the highest rates of default.
The problem, reports the New York Times, is essentially crashing real estate values, which are driving people to walk away from their home equity loans. In 2009, lenders wrote off around $31 billion in home equity loans and lines of credit. Read full article…
More young adults are turning to bankruptcy as an option to discharge large student loans
Tuition prices continue to increase each year, making it more expensive for young adults to get an education. To keep up with the rising costs, millions of college-bound students are forced to rely on student loans for financing.
However, many recent graduates may find it difficult to find a job that provides sufficient income to pay back college debt – assuming they can find a job at all in the current economy. Read full article…
This week will be a big one for investors, policymakers, home loan customers and first-home buyers as the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) prepares to make its next decision on whether to lower interest rates again.
But the Sydney Morning Herald reports that while one eye will be focused on the RBA on Tuesday (February 3rd), many people are apprehensive about official data out on the same day which could show that the country has slipped into a recession.
Speaking to the paper, a panel of experts said that the RBA is likely to pull down interest rates to an even three per cent, an event that is likely to be met with some joy among those looking to compare home loans and get on the property ladder.
Those on a variable rate home loan will also see their average repayments fall, which may make a possible recession slightly easier to bear.
It may also prove an opportune time to compare home loans and lock yourself into a fixed rate deal after some experts warned that the RBA is running out of room to make further interest rate cuts.
