Many people are curious, and often worried, about the effect that student loans will have on their credit score. They wonder if taking out a student loan will help their credit, or hurt it, and to what degree will it influence overall creditworthiness. The way that your federal student loans impact your credit is … Read more
My most recent article, “11 uniquely positive things about federal student loans,” has just been published at the Deseret News national site. You can read it at this link. I especially liked writing this article because it put a positive spin on student loans — which is a much-needed perspective, in my opinion, considering … Read more
Recently, I was asked to contribute to U.S. News & Report’s article on Parent PLUS Loans titled, “4 Strategies for Repaying Federal Parent PLUS Loans.” The rules and regulations governing these loans are particularly complex, so I was glad to shed some much-needed light on them (in plain English). Since the article was published, … Read more
As you may have noticed, in recent days, there have been numerous news stories highlighting the negative aspects of student loan debt. Student loans have consistently made national headlines, with stories that have highlighted their overwhelmingly complex nature, government attempts at reforming them and wildly complicated repayment terms. Although the student loan industry is in … Read more
You might remember my blog about ITT Tech’s getting into hot water with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), when the latter sued ITT for using predatory lending practices on its students. That was back in February. Now here we are in September, and a similar story is in the news — only this … Read more
A common question I get from borrowers across the U.S. is this: Why are my student loans so complicated! Honestly, it’s because of many reasons. One of the main reasons is that there are many different types of loans, and many different lenders. Each lender has different rules for how it wants to be … Read more
Fact: The U.S. Department of Education can garnish up to 15% of your wages, as a way to recover the money you owed on a defaulted student loan. Nobody wants to be in the position of having their wages garnished, but if you are, there is still plenty you can do to get … Read more
Presently, there are countless borrowers across the U.S. seeking relief from their student loan debt. And, unfortunately, an entire industry has noticed their vulnerability, and wasted no time in taking advantage of their youthful inexperience, and their search for guidance and financial breathing room. This is the shady student loan “debt relief” industry, and … Read more
Most borrowers do not realize that they can consolidate their federal loans for free, and unethical debt relief agencies take have taken full advantage of this fact. They’ve been charging borrowers expensive closing costs + monthly fees, all while claiming that consolidating federal student loans is something that’s too difficult to attempt alone, and can only be done … Read more
In June of this year, Obama signed an Executive Order on student loans, aimed to provide some much-needed debt relief to borrowers. Since then, there have been many complex articles written about the topic, but what you need to know is actually quite simple. All things considered, it’s all good news. It’ll either improve your student … Read more
