For those who have used Sallie Mae:

[Rookie02]

Hey guys,

 

For all of those who have taken out loans with Sallie Mae, may I ask you a question. I got approved for 20 grand today, but of course I need much, much more. I know I can start school and rip through my 20 grand and then reapply. I know many of you were or are in a similiar situation. Did you guys have problems getting the rest of your needed money after reapplying or did you get denied?

[PhotoFlyer]

I didn't use Sallie, but I have a lot of students who do. Quite a few of them have multiple loans from Sallie, each with a different co-signer. I wouldn't wait until you need the money to apply. Apply early, and get approved. The money doesn't need to be disbursed immediately, they will hold it until you need it.

[itake_flight]

I didn't use Sallie, but I have a lot of students who do. Quite a few of them have multiple loans from Sallie, each with a different co-signer. I wouldn't wait until you need the money to apply. Apply early, and get approved. The money doesn't need to be disbursed immediately, they will hold it until you need it.

 

 

I am looking into a flight school that uses Sallie Mae. Are you saying that it is not possible to get a single loan for $70Kish that

seems to be a median price for me in the LA area.... you have to go for several smaller loans? I may need a co-signer, and if

I go that route, I don't think I'll have several people to do that for me...

[jehh]

It is possible to get a single loan, just a challenge. The thing is, Sallie Mae doesn't normally lend out that much money on private loans, and it requires VERY strong co-signers to get it.

 

We have more than a dozen students with SLM loans, 2 actually got the full amount, both required 2 co-signers. There are other loan programs to fill the gap.

 

Whatever you do, your school should help you though this process, talk to their financial aid department.

[chop_top]

I used Sallie Mae and to be honest they're a joke. I was approved for 12k alone, and was told with a co-singer the rest would be EASY to get. I spent over 2 months with Sallie Mae on the rest of the loan. With a credible grandparent for a co-signer. They lost my application twice, approved me for the wrong school once, and the third time they placed the wrong school number on the application. So by this time I had applied so many times and they ran my credit each time. I was only approved for another 12k through them with a co-singer. When my grandparents have two houses paid in full and acres of farm land and are basically millionaires. They said that they were not reliable co-signers because they had no income, but thousands in the bank and great credit. So now 24k into training WITH TWO different loans and the rest my grandparents are going to loan me themselves. I don't know but it was very poorly ran and they do not help at all with negotiating interest rates. Even my school said they were a joke. Last year they sent 20 cosmetology students financial information to a helicopter training facility. I was suckerd into it, I now have two loans and crazy intrest. The sad part is its the only place to get money. But I will never say anything good about them.

[Hedge36]

There does seem to be a bit of a disconnect between Sallie Mae's online system and their internal operations... approval notifications aren't that great, nor do they do a very good job of describing the process by which they go about approving and disbursing your loan.

 

That said, with a decent co-signer or two they shell out a bucket of money upon request, so whatever hoops you have to jump through to get there, you do it and you do it with a smile on your face - because without it, you're standing on the other side of the fence watching other students preflight and wondering when you'll get your chance.

 

There are other lenders - Loans2Learn comes to mind, and your local credit union may be willing to work with you - but the long and short of is this: get what funding you can and don't stop securing more funds until you're finished with whatever level of training you seek. The upshot to getting less than what you actually need is that you're not too heavily invested in it should you find (for whatever reason) that you can't pass your medical or you simply aren't up to the task of flying helicopters. The downside is pretty obvious!

 

FWIW, I got 20K from SM and am doing Part 61 with Bristow (141 classes were full, and frankly it's a bit cheaper) - will be back to working full-time this week so I can afford my instrument and commercial. I treat flying (even under instruction) as a job... sometimes it's my primary occupation and sometimes it isn't. One of these days it'll be my sole occupation if I stay on this track.

 

Good luck.

[Rookie02]

Yeah, Sallie Mae is ridiculis. I have a credit score of 720 and they only approved me for 20 grand as well. When I asked if once I took the twenty and started training would I be more likely down the road to get approved for the rest, their answer was that they didn't know. When I asked why I was approved for so little when my credit is so good, the answer was they didn't know. On top of that the APR they gave me was 11.25, which is just absurd. What's the point of having good credit if you're not rewarded for it. When I recieved my paperwork concerning the loan it stated the reason why I did not get approved for the full amount as "insufficient credit history." Well, that's odd. I'm 27 and have started credit lines since I was 17. I have had student loans in the past and paid them off as well. It's absolutely appalling how student loan companies in this country bend you over as hard as they can as a consquence of you trying to better youself. I had been going back in forth on trying to decide whether or not to turn in my application for the Warrant Officer Flight Training in the Army. Sallie Mae sure made my decision easy.

 

Itake: I'm in the LA area as well. Where are you looking that costs 70? I was trying to get 65 and that's what I've found to be the most expensive school around, but you do come out with a CFII.

Edited September 24, 2007 by Rookie02

[fry]

Yeah, Sallie Mae is ridiculis. I have a credit score of 720 and they only approved me for 20 grand as well. When I asked if once I took the twenty and started training would I be more likely down the road to get approved for the rest, their answer was that they didn't know. When I asked why I was approved for so little when my credit is so good, the answer was they didn't know. On top of that the APR they gave me was 11.25, which is just absurd. What's the point of having good credit if you're not rewarded for it. When I recieved my paperwork concerning the loan it stated the reason why I did not get approved for the full amount as "insufficient credit history." Well, that's odd. I'm 27 and have started credit lines since I was 17. I have had student loans in the past and paid them off as well. It's absolutely appalling how student loan companies in this country bend you over as hard as they can as a consquence of you trying to better youself. I had been going back in forth on trying to decide whether or not to turn in my application for the Warrant Officer Flight Training in the Army. Sallie Mae sure made my decision easy.

 

Itake: I'm in the LA area as well. Where are you looking that costs 70? I trying to get 65 and that's as what I've found to be the most expensive school around, but you do come out with a CFII.

 

Yeah, I've got a credit score over eight hundred, why can't I borrow a million dollars. Oh yeah, ability to pay. Even with a credit score of 720 you do not have some kind of inalienable right to life, liberty and unlimited access to borrowed money. It's an unsecured loan for goodness sakes...would you loan someone in your situation tens of thousands of dollars based solely on his promise to repay you?

 

And why won't the customer service rep you're talking to on the phone guarantee you that somewhere down the road you be able to get another loan? Because he doesn't make that decision...the lender's underwriters make the loan decisions based on applications in front of them. That's how all lenders work.

 

And finally, do you know what that 11.25% rate is going to cost you over 15 or 20 years. They've done you a favor by not lending to you.

[jehh]

Yeah, Sallie Mae is ridiculis. I have a credit score of 720 and they only approved me for 20 grand as well.

 

For once, I agree with Fry... (was that a pig I saw flying?)

 

Your good credit score will get you a house, a car, and a credit card. It won't get you $60,000 unsecured if your current income and debt loads won't support it.

 

They figure interest rates on credit score, they figure dollar amounts based on debt to income ratio.

 

On top of that the APR they gave me was 11.25, which is just absurd.

 

Why? The best they will do is Prime + 0% for the very best credit (add 100 points to your score for that) Also, is your 720 a FICO score, or a FAKO score? Anything other than FICO doesn't count, the rest are just fake meaningless credit scores. Go to MyFico.com to get your real credit score.

 

If you take the deferred payment option, they add 1% to the interest rate on the loan. That would be 9.25% interest. So you're just 2% higher than the very best rate they give. This is not a college loan, you won't be getting 6% interest rates with this.

 

What's the point of having good credit if you're not rewarded for it.

 

You were offered $20K. We have a lot of loan applications that are denied outright. $20,000 is a lot of money.

 

When I recieved my paperwork concerning the loan it stated the reason why I did not get approved for the full amount as "insufficient credit history." Well, that's odd. I'm 27 and have started credit lines since I was 17.

 

That doesn't always mean length of time, it also can mean not enough unsecured debt history. They do look at how much unsecured debt you have handled in the past. If you have a $10,000 credit card, even paid in full, they have no history on how you'll handle $60,000 of unsecured debt. It makes the underwriter nervous.

 

I have had student loans in the past and paid them off as well.

 

You probably had Title IV college loans. This is not a student loan, it is a private, credit based loan.

 

Don't like it? Go start your own loan company, we'll be happy to work with you.

[fry]

Yeah, Sallie Mae is ridiculis. I have a credit score of 720 and they only approved me for 20 grand as well.

 

From today's WSJ:

 

Lenders Require Higher Credit Scores

By JILIAN MINCER

September 25, 2007

 

The credit crunch is putting a greater premium than ever on making sure your credit score is as high as possible.

 

A low number could cost even high earners thousands of dollars in additional finance charges -- and could prevent access to credit and insurance and even hurt your employment prospects.

 

The credit crunch, which has spilled over from subprime mortgages into all sorts of lending, has raised the bar. People now need even higher scores than they did in the spring to get the best interest rates.

 

Most consumers don't know their numbers until they apply for loans. Scores typically range from 300 points to 850 points. Fair Isaac Corp. developed the FICO credit score, used by more than 90% of the largest lenders. About 40% of the population has a FICO score of 750 or higher; 18% has a 700-749 score; 27% has a score between 600 and 699, and 15% has a score below 600.

 

The score doesn't include a person's savings history or income. It varies depending on whether it comes from Fair Isaac or from one of the three largest credit reporting bureaus -- Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. However, about 35% of the score comes from payment history. That includes whether a person pays on time, and the presence of adverse records like a lien or bankruptcy, says Craig Watts, a Fair Isaac spokesman.

 

An additional 30% of the score is based on the amount owed, says Mr. Watts. Someone who has borrowed the maximum on a credit card will get a lower score than someone carrying a debt of less than half of what is available on the card. A further 15% comes from a person's credit history. The older the accounts, the better. An additional 10% is based on the type of credit on record, and the final 10% comes from the number of recently opened accounts and credit inquiries.

 

Missing even a single payment could cost 100 points. Consumers can raise their scores by paying bills on time, not borrowing to the limit on credit cards, and paying off debt.

 

Until this summer's subprime crisis, a score of 720 or higher earned you some of the best interest rates, says John Ventura, director of the Texas Consumer Complaint Center at the University of Houston Law School. Borrowers now need a score in the high 700s to get the same benefits, he says.

 

Getting the best rates could save thousands of dollars. A report released in July by the Consumer Federation of America and Washington Mutual Inc. found that if consumers with an average score increased their score by only 30 points, they would save $76 a year in finance charges. If all consumers raised their scores by 30 points, there would be $20 billion in savings.

 

The benefits are dramatic for mortgages. Raising a score from a range of 580-619 to 660-699 could save someone with a 30-year, $300,000 fixed mortgage $5,148 in one year, according to Fair Isaac's Web site (www.myfico.com).

 

Consumers shouldn't cancel old cards that they don't use, because "closing an account eliminates a positive reference," says Steven Katz, a spokesman for TransUnion.

 

If you plan to apply for credit in the near future, experts advise, don't use a credit card to pay for groceries and other purchases. Credit-rating companies see only the balance on the day they check.

 

Consumer groups recommend getting your score and a credit report at least once a year, more often if there is any possibility that you have been a victim of identity theft.

 

The reports are available free once a year from each of the three major reporting agencies and for a fee more often. Consumers must use the Web site www.annualcreditreport.com rather than the individual Web sites to get the free reports.