<p>My financial aid package for grad school has some grad plus loans and I would like to take about 1/4 of what is being offered. Well, I know that this is a credit based loan, but I have some old collections accounts that are almost ready to fall off of my credit report. I'm seeing some sites say that adverse credit in plus loan eligibility means that you can't have any negative items in the past 5 years. Does this mean that my old collections that are 6 and close to 7 years old wont affect my ability to get the plus loan?</p>
<p>Also, if I'm denied for the plus loan can I pay off these collections and then immediately reapply like a month later?</p>
<p>I don't have a co-signer. I have like 24 accounts either all paid on time, or all paid on time and paid to a zero balance, but I have 3 old collections accounts and I need to qualify for a grad plus loan :-(</p>
<p>I have researched financial aid and the federal Plus loan credit check is very lenient. They check for it if you do it through the university to make sure you “pre-qualify” (in a manner of speaking, they will assess your history). you are right about them not checking past 5 years. You shouldn’t have not had any lack of trouble with obtaining a Plus loan; I know someone who had an outsanding credit debt who was able to obtain a PLus loan, but this was for undergrad so the rules might be different for grad school. I will doublecheck my books and see what happened.</p>
<p>It sounds like you should be fine. This is from finaid.org:</p>
<p>Eligibility: Borrower does not have an adverse credit history (defined
in regulations as being 90 days or more delinquent on any debt, or
having a credit report that shows default, discharge, foreclosure,
repossession, tax lien, wage garnishment or write-off of a Title IV
debt during the five years preceding the date of the credit report).
Note that Graduate and Professional Student PLUS loans do not use any
kind of a debt-to-income ratio or FICO score, unlike private education
loans.</p>
<p>Thank you. I sent an email to my financial aid dept to check too. I hope it works out, but i guess the worst thing is i pay these and wait until aug to qualify for the plus loans.</p>