I wonder how startups like Sofi (https://www.sofi.com) and Sixup (https://sixup.com) play into this. Are they better options than what the school offers in terms of loans, etc?
(Strictly speaking for myself, and my experience may not be representative of what others are experiencing).
I investigated Sofi as an option to consolidate my several loans into one. This would simplify my payments, and get me a lower interest rate.
Sofi's offer was actually a poor one for me. They would've provided one large loan as opposed to the numerous loans I have, but the rate was skewed so much toward the highest end of the spectrum.
I rejected the offer out of concern that I would be locked in to a single high-rate loan that looked good on paper because the rate was slightly lower than my highest rate. The nice thing about having numerous loans as I do now is that they are "compartmentalized". If I want to pay one of the loans off I can do that and lower my total monthly payments. But if I consolidated and had one large loan, if I pay 50% of that loan, it's not like 50% of my monthly payments go away.
Hopefully this makes sense. I'm not a financial guru, so maybe there's something I'm missing in this equation.
I investigated Sofi as an option to consolidate my several loans into one. This would simplify my payments, and get me a lower interest rate.
Sofi's offer was actually a poor one for me. They would've provided one large loan as opposed to the numerous loans I have, but the rate was skewed so much toward the highest end of the spectrum.
I rejected the offer out of concern that I would be locked in to a single high-rate loan that looked good on paper because the rate was slightly lower than my highest rate. The nice thing about having numerous loans as I do now is that they are "compartmentalized". If I want to pay one of the loans off I can do that and lower my total monthly payments. But if I consolidated and had one large loan, if I pay 50% of that loan, it's not like 50% of my monthly payments go away.
Hopefully this makes sense. I'm not a financial guru, so maybe there's something I'm missing in this equation.