Student Loans offered through Discover Card
So, apparently Discover card is no longer just an ordinary credit card company. They have taken a step into the world of student loans. I know that with the way the economy is, private student loans are very hard to come by. The government is now running the show for the federal loans, which is certainly the easier loans to get, as pretty much everyone qualifies should you complete your free Federal Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). When the economy started to tank a few years ago, private loans hit the road to splitsville because banks were no longer willing or able to finance them. This was a big hit to students who used private loans to supplement what they didn’t get from the government. These loans usually covered living expenses while attending college. Necessity items such as food, gas, car payments/insurance, rent, etc.
After a little bit, schools decided to try and help students with their school finances. Some students were invited to apply for private loans with some student loan companies. However, not like in the past where the student loan lender guaranteed the loan in case of default, the schools took that responsibility and were the ones to guarantee the loans as no financial institutes were willing or able to do so.
As they should, Discover highly recommends that you start your financial goals with the federal Stafford Loans and PLUS loans. If you need additional monies, they offer the private loans to help supplement the amount you need. Their certified private loans have a 0% origination fee and a 2% graduation reward.
From Discover Cards website:
Graduation Reward Eligibility
– You will be eligible to receive a Graduation Reward if:
– You graduate from the degree program (undergraduate program or graduate program) that the loan was used to fund, and
– Your graduation date is more than 90 days and is less than six years after the date of the loan’s first disbursement, and
– Your loan is not in default on the graduation date
– You are the student borrower for a Certified Private Loan (also called Private Education Loan) from Discover Bank
– You are the student borrower for a Federal Stafford Loan or Federal Grad PLUS Loan from Discover Bank, and you submitted the loan application between July 1, 2007 and October 9, 2007
– You are the parent borrower for a Federal Parent PLUS Loan from Discover Bank, and you submitted the loan application between July 1, 2007 and October 9, 2007; for Federal Parent PLUS Loans, “you graduate”, “your graduation date” and “your school” refer to the student’s graduation and school
If you have multiple loans, they said that you MAY be eligible for as many rewards. However, you will not, of course, be able to redeem more than one reward per loan.
Who do you use when obtaining private student loans? Would you have thought to check with your credit card company?
See the below image for more information. I’ve highlighted some info that I felt was important for you to take note of:
