Student Loans in South Dakota
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South Dakota’s primary state-sanctioned not-for-profit student loan guarantor is the Educational Assistance Corporation. This big bright website corrals gobs of financial aid information including critical college planning advice, financial aid calculators and easy ways to apply for federal student loans, scholarships and grants.
The Educational Assistance Corporation offers straight up student loan advice with no frills, but plenty of emphasis on proper planning. EAC provides complete explanations for each of the federal loans, as well as details reviewing who may qualify and how they should be used, just in case you did not already know. You’ll find generic interest rates for all, maximum loan amounts and repayment terms in easy to understand language.
How EAC Works
The way EAC works is by partnering with a long list of lenders, mostly private commercial banks, that make it part of their business to finance and manage the loans such as the Stafford and PLUS loans, all collectively known as the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP). South Dakota borrowers may choose a lender, make sure they partner with EAC, explore interest rates and benefits, and apply by filling out the FAFSA.
Choosing a Lender in this Way
Many state-sanctioned student loan guarantor agencies work closely with one student loan provider, but EAC gives you a lot of leeway to shop for your own. If you shop the list from an exclusively SD perspective you will find only smaller, commercial lenders such as Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank and small hometown banks. But if you tackle the lender list through their link to national lenders, you will find some of the heavy hitters in the student loan arena. The larger national agencies, like Edamerica or Nelnet are experienced at offering highly competitive federal student loans with attractive interest rates and even pre-packaged alternative loans with strong merit.
Applying for Loans
Of course applying for your Stafford Loan constitutes filling out the FAFSA, but other loans such as any alternative loans you may apply for include a credit check. If you are not able to supply the necessary credit credentials, i.e., enough credit or good credit, you can apply through a lender using a co-borrower. Typically most of the large student loan providers make it part of their “borrower benefits” to be a little more lenient in the credit department and even roll together the combined credit records for both you and your co-borrower in order to get you the best interest rate ever.
When you make on-time payments over a consistent span of time, you may receive a couple of points off your interest rate, and a bit more for setting up automatic payments, which saves your lender money.
Consolidation Loans through EAC
The Federal Consolidation Loans are as popular and commonplace as the rest of the FFEL loans. Their purpose is to make it easier and more affordable on a monthly basis to pay off multiple student loans. EAC uses Wells Fargo or the Wyoming Student Loan Corporation to finance the Federal Consolidation Loans for its customers. With the federal consolidation program you end up with one monthly payment, in an amount likely half what you were paying. The hitch is that your term of repayment is typically quite extended in order to spread out the amount of the loan, but you take fewer chances with defaulting on your loans and possibly ruining your credit.
