Comments on: Private Student Loans

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:46:58 +0000

ASTRIVE will sell your loan to a junk company.

Bottom line:
ASTRIVE will package a bunch of loans they write for a HUGE origination fee and reasonable interest.

They will the sell you loan to another company who will jack the interest rate and seemingly make it as difficult as possible to pay your bill on time. I dont get regular bills from the company that bought my loan from astrive, they just send me bills with ridiculous late fees.

I know every troll on the interwebs will just tell me it’s my own fault, but hey when your parents cant afford to pay for your education and you’re working two jobs to pay for it and get a loan that screws you over like this it’s worth mentioning. Besides I was an english lit major not an economist.

The company that bought my loan was “National Collegiate Trust” or “American Education Services” I dont know which one actually own the loan because Ive never been sent written notification that ASTRIVE still doesnt, they dont send regular bills, and refuse to give me a payment booklet… WTF?

If anyone here is going into the financial sector please fix this horrible mess of snake oil loan companies. They have no place but in the gutter.

Final advice: You’re better off working your ass off in college and not getting a loan for anything, unless you want to research it for months on end to be sure you’re not getting raked over the coals, then they can wind up selling it to a company that will… Your choice.

By: John Smith

John Smith — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 15:14:13 +0000

I had to have the private school loan money to go back to school. I was a social worker making 23,000 dollars a year for 9 years and went back to school to get my masters in special education. I now make 30,900 dollars a year and owe 58,000 (stafford,etc.) and 23,000 astrive. ASTRIVE SUCKS!!!! I borrowed 20,000 and they charged 2,000 right off the bat. I have been paying 222.00 a month for 2 years and I now owe 23,000!!!!!!!! Don’t do it!!! I would rather had given hand jobs at a truck stop to put my way through school!! DON’T DO IT!!!!!!

By: Chris Cox

Chris Cox — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 19:48:41 +0000

Like most students fresh out of high school I knew that I had to go to college in order to succeed in life. What I didn’t know was that the college of my choice had already set out to ruin the lives of its customers (students) and reap huge profits in the process. This is my sad story.
I wanted to attend Pennsylvania Culinary Institute, a reputable Culinary school, at the time of my attendance, #2 in the USA for schools of its kind. What I didn’t know was that these 2 year trade schools, aka diploma mills, were hit hard by the lobbying of private student loan lenders. Upon taking my tour of the school, the vultures in the admissions (read: sales) department had already begun seeking my signature on loan forms. Before even finishing the tour, they tried to get me to sign BLANK loan forms “just in case” I wanted to attend school. Once I decided that I wanted to attend, they told me in order to go to school here, you must sign for these loans unless you plan on paying for school yourself, in full. So, like any eager student assuming my college could do no wrong, I had my dad sign as the mandatory co-signer for my loans. They told me in Financial aid, that most of my money would come from the Federal Government, in Federally backed loans, and that I would get the maximum amount allowed by law, and the rest of my funds would come from Private Loans, and all I had to do was sign the papers and they would file it all for me. 6 months later I find out that not only did I NOT receive federal funds, 100% of my cost would be covered by high interest private loans (minus the measly amount that I received from the Pell Grant) and that it was all owned by Sallie Mae. I later found out that it wasn’t mandatory to have a co-signer, I wasn’t required to use Sallie Mae to fund my education, and that there were many federally backed loans that I could have applied for to attend that school. Now, I have about $48,000 in private loan debt that was signed unto me before I knew the consequences of trusting my school to fund my education. I have since called the department of Financial Aid at PCI to ask questions however the entire department gets re-staffed every year, so none of the original employees are there to help me. All I can offer to other students for advice is do your homework on loans, and never believe what they tell you in financial aid. Now, no matter what I do, whether or not I am in school or unemployed, the interest will continue to accrue, and then capitalize, until my 30 year payment plan has expired (30 years is the only plan I can afford, and my current payment is about $380 a month, even though I am going back to school to get a bachelor’s degree and am currently unemployed.) I paid over $4,000 worth of interest in 2007, and reduced my principal amount by less than $700. What kind of financial aid is this? I’ve never had less money in my life.
ccox@gmail.com

By: Tim Dugan

Tim Dugan — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 16:25:01 +0000

What they don’t tell is that you can’t lock the interest rates on private loans or consolidate them and lock the interest rate. My research was impeccable and I did a lot. But you can spell it out all you want on paper, most people will miss some information. What the government needs to do is clobber these crooks and lock interest rates at a reasonable rate. Calling people idiots in this situation because of what you percieve to be lack of thorough research is your own misgiving since this is the biggest problem facing college graduates next to landing a job that actually pays.
TD

By: kissmysmack

kissmysmack — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 18:24:05 +0000

“Nice article on Think in today’s Buffalo News business section. They seem to be growing pretty quickly and could turn into a nice job-creator for Buffalo.

Everyone needs money for college, rt?”

Sounds like they’ll soon need the entire office they share with BRO – they’ll get it when the magazine eventually folds…I think they actually own it all anyway. So, good for the Think Financial good ‘ol boys club!

By: consolidation loan » Private Student Loans

consolidation loan » Private Student Loans — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 15:02:52 +0000

[...] cleanjokes wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptThe ads for these private student loan companies and their websites have little mention as to the general interest rate which is applied to the total amount after graduation. After a little digging, I was able to find a site that helped … [...]

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 12:27:53 +0000

I find it pretty interesting that Geek watches those commercials and wonders how the process works, does a little digging into the private student loan scandals, and asks a few pertinent questions while Matt Glynn from The Buffalo News writes a puff piece on making those commercials. In the business section of the paper for chrissakes.

Or Barry Heneghan saw the article here, called over to a friendly reporter at The News and had a puff piece written…one way or another.

By: JonHigg

JonHigg — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 02:29:13 +0000

Nice article on Think in today’s Buffalo News business section. They seem to be growing pretty quickly and could turn into a nice job-creator for Buffalo.

Everyone needs money for college, rt?

By: Financial Aid Guru

Financial Aid Guru — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 21:13:00 +0000

I am not sure what all the fuss is about. The federal student loan program is pretty good and provides decent funding – through the Stafford Loan (http://www.StaffordLoan.com) and the federal PLUS loan (http://www.ParentPLUSLoan.com). Combined, you can borrow up to the total amount of education at fair rates and fees. The other programs you mention are private student loans with market rates. If people choose to apply for them for their reasons, then they are choosing to pay more.

Yes – The marketing of private loans will be better – but private student loan companies can afford more marketing because they make a lot more on each loan.

I don’t like Bush but the country voted him in…

By: Alan Collinge

Alan Collinge — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 01:52:57 +0000

I’ve been keeping an eye on the student loan industry for a couple of years, now, and I have to tell you that federal student loans are a scam, and are ruining people’s livelihoods due to an astonishing lack of consumer protections.

Private loans, however, are far worse in terms of the true cost of the loans, and also are exempt from bankruptcy discharge.

These loans are a banker’s wet dream. All of the interest that a credit card carries, but none of the protections.

This is why you see Astrive, Think, and other private lenders popping out of the woodwork. Particularly on MTV who, by the way, have “partnerships” with “Charitable Foundations” such as Sallie Mae, and the College Board.

What a cruel joke to play on low and middle income students.

We borrowers are beginning to band together on this. Come to StudentLoanJustice.Org to find out more.