We might think that for a regular college student the main concern is to attend classes, study for exams and turn in the papers before the deadlines. However, this is not the case in North America. The students in the United States and Canada have to deal with quite complicated financial decisions throughout their years of higher education. The reason is that higher education in these countries is provided by private institutions, which offer quality education but at quite spicy costs. In these conditions, students and their families have to face tough financial decisions when they choose a college to attend. For most of them, the fees are too expensive so the first step is to try obtaining a full scholarship or partial financial aid. For the rest of the expenses, there is the widespread option of contracting a college loan.
Students can contract more than one college loan during their four years of college. If they also pursue graduate studies, it is likely that they will end up with a collection of college loans that they end up paying back for many years after graduation. It thus turns out that a college loan is not something you leave behind at graduation, along with all the other college stories, but it is a life-long commitment. The practice of contracting a college loan is so common that an entire business has developed around it covering financial and legal services for the loan contractors.
A college loan can be offered by either a governmental agency or by a private company that takes care of such financial services. If the student contracts all his student loans from the government, than he can use the option of college loan consolidation. College loan consolidation is extremely advantageous because it actually means replacing a whole set of different loans with various interest rates with just one loan having a unique rate. The main benefit of college loan consolidation is that it gives the chance to lock in the interest rate at its current value (the value at the time when the consolidation is made) thus offsetting changes in interest rates taking place over the next years, when the loan is being repaid. Nowadays, all recent graduates are advised to pursue college loan consolidation as soon as they can because rates for college loans are at an all time low and they will not remain so for too lone. Doing college loan consolidation now means that the student makes sure he or she will pay the same low rate for the following ten or more years, although interest rates for college loans may increase by 10% or more in this period.
College loan consolidation is most commonly done by recent graduates, who are starting to face the difficulties of starting to pay back the loans. Usually, during the college years, the government will subsidize the payment of the rates for students. During the first six months after graduation, young people can still be saved the trouble of having to think about college loan consolidation because they are given a grace period during which no payments should be made. The wisest of them start thinking about college loan consolidation in this time though. They consider alternative options and decide which scheme for college loan consolidation is most beneficial for them. College loan consolidation may be a tough decision to make, the financial packages offered include details that may be tedious to follow and understand. That is why recent graduates may end up postponing thinking about it. However, they are being pressured more and more to become responsible and do college loan consolidation now because of the low interest rates they should be taking advantage of.
Showing posts with label First. Show all posts
Showing posts with label First. Show all posts
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Sunday, June 17, 2012
First Premier Bank Credit Card Review
Upon first visit to the First Premier Bank's website, I immediately liked the site design and the big sun glasses that greeted me. They set my mind into holiday mode which in turn made me want to look at what kind of credit cards were available.
I see it already, sun, sea and sand. I could book a well deserved break once I am successful with my First Premier Bank Credit Card Application.
But website design is not a good enough reason to choose a credit card, so let's see what features and benefits First Premier Credit Cards has to offer.
When you submit your credit card application, it will take you all of 60 seconds to know your fate, if you are a busy person, (and who isn't) or like me, you want to book that vacation fast, you know how good this feature is.
Bad credit? No problem, if you have less than perfect credit your application is still welcomed.
The APR on purchases is 9.99%. This is an excellent rate, the website did not say if this rate is adjustable based on credit history but it seems so competitive, I tend to think that the lower your credit score the higher the rate. If this is not so, then you are on to a real cracker.
The cash advance APR is19.9% which is fair enough, after all it is a credit card and should not be used as a debit card.
You should be aware of the Penalty APR on purchases though. If you miss your due dates twice in any six month period or for two consecutive months, your APR would increase to 19.9% and will remain at that rate until you pay your bill on time for 3 consecutive months. The clouds are beginning to roll in on this offer.
If you think a bit of cloud is bad, when you see the fees attached to this card, those clouds would really bring the rain down.
On receipt of your card, your limit would be a minimum of 0. Then comes the fees: Annual fee Account Set up fee Program fee Participation fee $ 6 monthly Additional card fee per card Internet Access Fee .95 once you sign up for the service
Most of the fees are added to your account from day one and it would reduce your available credit. When all is said and done, you could actually end up with an available limit of as little as depending on which fees apply to you.
WOW! How far can get me? My local Days Inn?
Based on these features, the First Premier Bank Credit Card operates a lot like a bad credit credit card. But on the plus side, once you pay your bills on time you would benefit from the competitive 9.9% APR.
I would definitely explore some other options.
To determine if this offer is the best you can get (and I sure hope it isn't), compare other bad credit credit cards and see what they have to offer before making your final decision. It could be that your credit history is ok, so check out the vast range of credit card offers that do not carry so many fees.
I see it already, sun, sea and sand. I could book a well deserved break once I am successful with my First Premier Bank Credit Card Application.
But website design is not a good enough reason to choose a credit card, so let's see what features and benefits First Premier Credit Cards has to offer.
When you submit your credit card application, it will take you all of 60 seconds to know your fate, if you are a busy person, (and who isn't) or like me, you want to book that vacation fast, you know how good this feature is.
Bad credit? No problem, if you have less than perfect credit your application is still welcomed.
The APR on purchases is 9.99%. This is an excellent rate, the website did not say if this rate is adjustable based on credit history but it seems so competitive, I tend to think that the lower your credit score the higher the rate. If this is not so, then you are on to a real cracker.
The cash advance APR is19.9% which is fair enough, after all it is a credit card and should not be used as a debit card.
You should be aware of the Penalty APR on purchases though. If you miss your due dates twice in any six month period or for two consecutive months, your APR would increase to 19.9% and will remain at that rate until you pay your bill on time for 3 consecutive months. The clouds are beginning to roll in on this offer.
If you think a bit of cloud is bad, when you see the fees attached to this card, those clouds would really bring the rain down.
On receipt of your card, your limit would be a minimum of 0. Then comes the fees: Annual fee Account Set up fee Program fee Participation fee $ 6 monthly Additional card fee per card Internet Access Fee .95 once you sign up for the service
Most of the fees are added to your account from day one and it would reduce your available credit. When all is said and done, you could actually end up with an available limit of as little as depending on which fees apply to you.
WOW! How far can get me? My local Days Inn?
Based on these features, the First Premier Bank Credit Card operates a lot like a bad credit credit card. But on the plus side, once you pay your bills on time you would benefit from the competitive 9.9% APR.
I would definitely explore some other options.
To determine if this offer is the best you can get (and I sure hope it isn't), compare other bad credit credit cards and see what they have to offer before making your final decision. It could be that your credit history is ok, so check out the vast range of credit card offers that do not carry so many fees.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)