Bad credit student loans – do they exist? The answer is yes, it is certainly possible to find bad credit student loans. However, you are likely going to have to pay extra or some sort of penalty to get one. But for many students, bad credit loans for students are the only way to pay for school. Let’s look at some of the best bad credit student loan options out there.
Now, there are basically two loans for students available: federal student loans and private student loans. Federal loans offer students with bad credit the most opportunity because there is no credit check or cosigner required with a federal student loan.
This means you can actually have horrible credit history and still be given the extremely low loan interest rates as a person with great credit who applies for the same loan. So if you have no credit or your credit is bad, make sure to actually start applying for federal loans.
Now, it does happen that sometimes federal loan funding won’t cover the full costs of school. In fact, you will be lucky if your federal loan covers more than your tuition. You are going to have to come up with the rest of the money – either through grant aid programs, part times jobs, and parent contributions. Another way to make up the difference is to seek out private student loans.
Most students do end up with a combination of federal loans, private loans, and parent financial help.
Now, if you have bad credit as a student and want a student loan, what type of loans are there for you? In fact, you can get any private student loan with bad credit – with a catch. You need a cosigner.
If your credit is bad or you don’t have any credit at all, you need to look at getting a cosigner. A cosigner is a person who has good credit and agrees to “sign” for your debt in the eventuality that you fail to repay. By getting a cosigner, you can use the co-signer’s. “good credit” to not only qualify for a private student loan, but get a very good student loan interest rate.
So even with bad credit, it is possible to get very good interest rates. However, if you don’t repay your student loan, your cosigner is held liable – so think very carefully about the consequences of a cosigner.
Now, there do exist bad credit student loans without cosigner, but these loans are only ever offered by online bad credit lenders. These private student loans with bad credit come with high interest rates though — so be warned.
Getting a bad credit private student loan is certainly possible – especially if you have a cosigner. But make sure to look at all the options then decide which meets your individual needs.
