<p>Ok so I have to unfortunately accept the unsubsidized loan of 2000 dollars because I have no other way of paying for it. I am, however, not going to accept the Parent Plus Loan of 300 dollars because the interest rate is just ridiculous.</p>
<p>My question is because I am accepting the stafford loan I have to select a lender on the lender list. I am not sure which one I should choose. Are they basically all the same? I did look at the lender list and saw that most of them had a 0.5% fee and a .25% reduction if payment is auto. Is there any other difference between them? </p>
<p>Also by not accepting the parent plus the other grants and loans should not be affected right?</p>
<p>i also have a question about the [Stafford</a> lenders](<a href=“http://www.fao.ucla.edu/publications/0910%20Lender%20List%20-%20Stafford.pdf]Stafford”>http://www.fao.ucla.edu/publications/0910%20Lender%20List%20-%20Stafford.pdf). it seems to be that the choice is too obvious, because one of the lenders (Discover) has no fee, while all the other lenders have a 0.5% fee; and all the other things seem to be the same. so why would anyone choose any of the other lenders? am i missing something?</p>
<p>they’re basically all the same but some have a slighter higher rate so check that out.
i chose CitiBank which had the lowest rate and is a big stable old, tried and true company (yes i know it got a piece of the bailout).</p>
<p>nodnarb: what “rate” are you referring to? for stafford loans, the interest rate is fixed for all lenders, is it not?</p>
<p>yes, interest rate is fixed. But each lender has a different fee rate which is what you were posting about.</p>
<p>They all have a 0.5% fee except Discover student loans. I thought I saw some with a higher fee fate than that but after a second look they’re all the same but Discover. </p>
<p>I picked Citibank (didn’t see that Discover had no fee at the time I picked one) so now i’ll get a fee of about $20 added onto my loan… I’m not too upset haha it’s only $20</p>
<p>I was debating between Citi and Wells Fargo. I opted for Wells Fargo, no real reason, other than it seems like one of the more stable banks. Something about Cit, although they’ve been very generous with my credit card limits, so I guess I just wanted to try something new.</p>
<p>@spoon!
I remember when I called the financial aid office about the lender list, and how Discover seems to be the obvious choice, and the lady said from a strictly “numbers” sense, it would be the best one… Then I asked her, then why would anyone choose the others, and she said because Discover is relatively new on the student loans market and not quite as established…</p>
<p>Which still doesn’t quite make sense to me, thinking about it again. Can anyone tell me the advantages of using a more “established” lender other than peace of mind?</p>
<p>Potential benefits of an “established” lender:
- They have experience, they know what they’re doing: therefore better customer service, less mistakes, streamlined process, etc etc.
- You have the peace of mind that hundreds/thousands of other people have used this lender successfully.</p>
<p>but that’s not absolute. a new lender might have it together and could provide just as good service as an established lender.</p>