Student Loan Websites

One of my goals for the next month is to post each day of July about a List of 10 dealing with a personal finance or money saving idea topic.

On a recent airing of the Suze Orman Show, Suze stated that student loan debt in America has topped $1 trillion.  In many cases, it may be necessary to go to college and obtain student loans.  One guideline she suggests is not to take out more in loans than the amount you think you will earn in salary your first year of employment.

Following are  10 websites with information on student loans.

1)      FAFSA is the site to apply for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and information on it.

2)      FinAid is the Smart Student Guide to Financial Aid.

3)      Saving For College is a guide to 529 plans.

4)      Staffordloan.com has information about Stafford loans and other student debt.

5)      Department of Education Direct Loan homepage has information about Direct Loans.

6)      Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a guide of what to know before borrowing money.

7)      Loan Consolidation has information if you need to consolidate your federal loans.

8)      Federal Student Aid has information to help you resolve your loan dispute.

9)      Student Loan Network has resources about student loans.

10)  FinAid Calculator estimates how much your monthly payments will be and what salary you should have to be able to make payments on your student loan.

Click here for previous posts.

Charging Student Loan Debt

One of the callers on the Suze Orman Show the other night was calling about his student loan debt. He had put part of his student loan debt on a interest free credit card and was wondering what she thought about it. He was planning on having it paid off before the zero interest period was over.

Suze thought it was the right thing to do. Since credit card debt is unsecured debt, if something happens that you can't make your payments it is more difficult for them to come after you for it. In some cases they may sue you for the balance but not in all cases. On the other hand, student loan debt is nearly impossible to get out of. It is one of the few debts that is not dischargeable upon bankruptcy.

So even though it is the right thing to pay off the debt, in some cases circumstances come up that make it impossible to meet all of your obligations.

So her suggestion was if you have student loan debt and can get a credit card with a lower interest rate, it may be helpful to transfer the debt to the credit card.