The |default_lender_name| Private Student Loan can be used to pay for qualified educational expenses including tuition, room and board, books, and other school related expenses. Private student loans serve as a way for students to fill the funding gap between the cost of attending school and the amount of federal loans, grants, and available scholarships.
[TOP]Federal student loans follow guidelines set forth by the U.S. Dept of Education and typically offer fixed and lower interest rates compared to private student loans. However, federal loans, unlike most private loans, have borrowing limits, which may not allow a student to borrow enough to cover the entire cost of education. Private loans help students fill the funding gap between the cost of attending school and the amount of federal loans, grants, and available scholarships. Both private and federal student loans typically allow students to defer payments while in school and some offer economic forbearance options once a student completes school. Unlike federal loan programs, private lenders assess the credit history of the borrower and cosigner before making a loan.
[TOP]Eligibility for federal, state and university funded financial aid is determined by completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). All students are strongly encouraged to apply for federal aid by completing the FAFSA, which can be obtained online at www.fafsa.ed.gov.
[TOP]The financial information you provide in the Free Application for Federal Aid (FAFSA) is used by the government to determine your Expected Family Contribution (EFC), which is the amount you and your family are expected to pay towards your education. The EFC is then subtracted from the cost of attendance for your respective school to determine the amount of financial aid you are eligible to receive.
[TOP]The EFC is a calculated assessment of how much your family is expected to contribute to your college costs. The EFC takes into consideration your family’s financial strength – income and assets. Other factors considered include the number of family members and number of family members in college.
[TOP]To apply for a |default_lender_name| Private Student Loan, you must be a |student_citizenships| enrolled at least half-time in a degree-granting program at an eligible school, and you must be a member of |default_lender_name|.
|student_faq_cosigner_eligible_loan|
[TOP]You can confirm whether or not your school is an eligible school on the first page of the application.
[TOP]No. Students are encouraged to explore and exhaust all federal aid options first, and then use private loans to help pay the remaining education expenses.
[TOP]A cosigner is a parent, grandparent, guardian or other adult who is creditworthy and willing to assume legal responsibility for the loan liabilities along with you. The cosigner must be a |student_citizenships|.
[TOP]|student_faq_cosigner_required_for_loan|
[TOP]Yes, in a cosigned loan both the borrower and the cosigner are jointly liable for making all loan payments. The loan will appear on both the borrower and cosigner’s credit report.
[TOP]If the borrower fails to repay the loan, then the cosigner is responsible for repaying the loan. However, the cosigner may be released of this obligation once the borrower is able to meet certain criteria to determine creditworthiness and makes |cosigner_release_months| consecutive and on-time full payments of principal and interest during the Repayment Period.
[TOP]We encourage you to start early. You can start the loan application process once you know what school you will be attending, the Cost of Attendance for the current academic year, and can provide a proof of enrollment. You should allow yourself 6-8 weeks from the time of the initial application until your school receives your funds.
[TOP]You can borrow as little as |student_minimum_amount| or up to |student_undergraduate_maximum_amount| per year for a maximum of |student_undergraduate_aggregate_limit| in undergraduate loans or |student_graduate_aggregate_limit| in graduate loans.
[TOP]The application process must be completed online at http://|domain|.lendkey.com/
[TOP]Yes, you must provide proof of enrollment at an eligible school to complete the application process.
[TOP]If you are a returning student, you must provide an unofficial copy of your most recent graded transcript as proof of enrollment at the school you are attending to complete the application process. If you are an incoming freshman, your school will confirm your enrollment during the certification process.
[TOP]You must provide a copy of your two most recent pay stubs within the last 60 days. Pay stubs submitted for review must clearly display the following five pieces of information:
(See an example pay stub with the required fields) Depending on your type of employment or financial situation, we may be able to accept alternate proof of income:
If the loan is cosigned, only the cosigner needs to submit these documents.
[TOP]School certification is normally completed by the financial aid staff and will include information like the Cost of Attendance and the registration status of the student. Certification ensures that the student is not over-awarded in total funding beyond the Cost of Attendance.
[TOP]Yes, all loans are certified with the school.
[TOP]During the application process, cosigners will be asked to create an account and complete their own application. They complete the same application procedures as the borrower for joint-credit.
[TOP]Yes. During the application process, and as part of the underwriting process, a credit bureau report is pulled on both the borrower and cosigner.
[TOP]ACS (Academic Credit Score) is a proprietary scoring model that assesses borrower creditworthiness by taking into account not only the credit bureau data, but also the student’s academic characteristics such as GPA, course of study, class standing, and year of study.
[TOP]The status of your application is available by signing in to your account. The green status bar you see immediately after login indicates which state your application is currently in.
[TOP]Applying:
The borrower started the application but it has not been credit reviewed for one of two reasons:
Reviewing:
Gathering:
Approving:
Signing:
Disbursing:
No. A borrower may withdraw a request at any time and has up to 30 days from the loan disbursement date to return the money and avoid being charged any fees or interest.
[TOP]The repayment term begins 6 months after the borrower graduates or ceases to be enrolled at least half-time in an eligible degree-granting program. Once repayment begins, the borrower has 10 years to repay the loan.
[TOP]The loan proceeds will be sent to the school by check or through electronic funds transfer (EFT). The check will usually be mailed within 5-7 business days of the borrower accepting their final disclosure unless the school requests a later date.
[TOP]Interest Rate = Base Rate + Loan Margin
The Base Rate is the |explained_index_to_s|, which is a variable component that resets quarterly on the first day of January, April, July, and October.
|student_faq_how_we_calculate_interest|
[TOP]Unpaid interest accrues while the borrower is in school. Upon entering full repayment, all accrued and unpaid interest is capitalized (or added) to the principal balance once at the time repayment begins.
[TOP]Borrowers receive electronic monthly statements summarizing all account activities.
[TOP]Borrowers may request Forbearance due to economic hardship for up to 18 months over the life of the loan. Borrowers are eligible to receive three Forbearance periods up to 6 months each. However, only one Forbearance period may be requested in a calendar year. Interest continues to accrue during Forbearance and the term of the loan is not extended.
[TOP]Two in-school repayment options allow the borrower to defer full principal + interest payments until six months after separating from the school:
The in-school period lasts while the borrower is enrolled at least half-time and includes a 6-month Grace Period once the borrower leaves school. During this time, the borrower is required to either make full interest payments or a monthly $25 Proactive Payment. Any unpaid interest continues to accrue during the in-school period.
[TOP]The Grace Period is a 6-month period of time that begins once a borrower graduates or is no longer enrolled at least half-time in a degree granting program. After the Grace Period, the borrower must begin making regular principal and interest payments. Borrowers are required to either make full interest payments or a monthly $25 Proactive Payment during the Grace Period.
[TOP]A Proactive Payment is a $25 monthly payment the borrower must make while they are in school. The borrower will begin making full principal + interest payments once they have separated from the school or dropped below half-time status. The Proactive Payment helps the borrower demonstrate financial discipline and saves the borrower interest expenses over the life of the loan.
[TOP]All monthly loan payments are made to the servicer, LendKey, using either an electronic transfer from a financial institution account designated during the application process or mailed in by check. Borrowers can set up automatic monthly ACH payments directly from their account by logging into their account, clicking the Payments tab, and Manage Payments. Please have the following information available: Financial Institution Name, Account Type, Account Holder Name, Routing Number, and Account Number.
Borrowers can submit payments via paper check to the following loan payment address:
LendKey P.O. Box 824575 Philadelphia, PA 19182-4575
Please write your Loan ID and the payment date in the memo line. For example, if your payment is for your March 1st invoice, please put “03/01/12” next to your Loan ID.
[TOP]Borrowers are given a six month Grace Period once they graduate or separate from school before they enter repayment status. Once a borrower enters repayment status they are responsible for making full principal and interest payments.
Some students may not yet have found employment six months after leaving school; therefore, borrowers may request to pay just the interest expense on the loan for the first two years while in repayment status, this is referred to as the "Initial Interest Only" option.
[TOP]Yes, a borrower may prepay the loan either partially or in full at anytime without incurring any fees or penalties. Please submit prepayments via paper check and ensure to write your Loan ID and “Toward Principal” in the memo line.
[TOP]Please consult our privacy policy for additional details.
[TOP]Our servers are equipped with Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate technology, which encrypts the user's entire online session. Automatic sign out occurs after a period of inactivity. All banking information and social security numbers are stored in a secure off-site data center. All users must pass through our secure verification systems to prevent identity theft.
[TOP]All borrowers must have a valid driver’s license or social security number. This information is used to obtain non-credit based questions from an identity verification agency. The user is asked a series of questions that must be answered correctly. Since these questions are not based on a person’s credit history, obtaining another person’s credit report does not provide sufficient information to pass our identity verification test. Those who violate our security and privacy protections are subject to disciplinary action, including prosecution to the fullest extent allowable by law.
[TOP]Is there life after college for parents and students? You betcha! And how you live it is easy with ORNL Federal Credit Union. Whether you're a student who's just starting the college experience or a parent paying those hefty out-of-state tuition fees and looking for a little extra money, we have loans to help in whatever stage of life you find yourself. Get rolling in a set of wheels for your college or work commute with our lower than ever auto loan rates! Tap into the equity of your home with a HELOC or lower your monthly mortgage payments by refinancing! Check out our rewards credit card with no balance transfer or annual fees! Be sure to visit us at www.ornlfcu.com or stop by any of our 32 branch locations to find out how a loan with ORNL FCU can make life just a little bit easier.