Question on Student Loans

[Sip]

Yes. If you have very low APR credit cards or promotional ones with 0%, that might be good (for short term).

They usually send you some checks you can use to pay off different things. But read the fine print on them carefully as many will charge a balance transfer fee of 3% or more on the amount of the transfer (usually maxed at $50 or $75). If you transfer a large sum, that fee is usually not bad, especially if you'll save on interest.

[spiral]

Ya, that's what I was thinking about. I figure if I transfer onto a credit card with 0% APR, I can make large payments for a year, and once the 0% APR duration is done( a year approx), I can tranfer onto another, and so on...

[ddd]

Wow, some of you guys should really have a talk with a financial planner. If you have a loan at 2.7% interest, that's ONLY .7% more than the average cpi.

Some banks have better yielding interest on their SAVINGS/CHECKING accounts. If you put the cash in savings instead of paying more than the loan's minimum, you would gain more in the long run, guaranteed. 2.7% is a VERY low interest rate.

There are much better things you can do with your money instead of paying off such a low interest rate. Buy CDs, open IRA accounts, invest in mutual funds/stocks, buy land in a developing city, take your boss out & buy him some strippers...the list goes on and on.

If any of you have any questions regarding these issues, feel free to message me. I'm not in the field, but I've experienced enough to know a thing or two, and can point you in the right direction.

[ddd]

Can you transfer loans onto credit cards?

This is a bad idea for large loans. Credit cards usually offer 0% for 6-12 months max, and a variable rate ranging 10%-30% after that.

If the loan is large, and you expect to be making payments for atleast another 3 years, taking this approach will result in a messed up credit, and the chance of acquiring much more interest than you would have originally acquired on the fixed rate loan.

[spiral]

This is a bad idea for large loans. Credit cards usually offer 0% for 6-12 months max, and a variable rate ranging 10%-30% after that.

If the loan is large, and you expect to be making payments for atleast another 3 years, taking this approach will result in a messed up credit, and the chance of acquiring much more interest than you would have originally acquired on the fixed rate loan.

True, though I do think it may be possible and beneficial with careful consideration. Asumming that the remaining balance be transfered onto anther credit card with 0 or low APR, repeatedly, until the whole amount is covered....

[ddd]

As Sip mentioned, there may be fees tied to that, and like I said, you're ruining your credit doing that. Consolidating your dept onto a fixed low interest loan is your best solution; it's not worth lowering your credit the lightest bit for fractions of a percent, because you'll be taking a much bigger hit when you don't qualify for the lowest interest home loan.

[spiral]

How does that effect credit?

[ddd]

You would need to constantly open new accounts. Although your credit rating is proportional to your dept/credit ratio, constantly opening and closing accounts isn't something the credit bureaus look highly upon. Last time I checked, the ideal number of credit cards to have is 2.

[parthiapride]

Re: Question on Student Loans

I'm so glad I'm dropping out...

[asian]

Re: Question on Student Loans

My pharmacist aunt graduated with $100k of loans, & she's not stressing over it. Her comment is, it's such a low interest of about 2%, so who cares. She'd rather use her paycheck on current purchases without using a creditcard or getting bank loans that can have interests upto 20%.

Well, just chose the route that saves you the most money, or makes you the most money if you'd rather invest your paychecks. Also, if you know you're gonna make good money after graduating, I wouldn't worry too much about getting loans, but of course there's scholarships, etc...to use too.