<p>Are there any benefits to using one particular lender? I'm leaning toward just using the usc credit union...</p>
<p>chela is the best lender if you are planning on making payments on the loan for all 10 years (and not paying it off early) b/c you pay the least amount of interest over the life of the loan than with any other of the SC preferred lenders! (the highest lender when i ran a spreadsheet was close to $1500 more in interest.</p>
<p>We went with USC Credit Union...</p>
<p>Cedit union. Its there, they cut the interest, and I'll probably have it paid of shortly after college (maybe even during)</p>
<p>On a similar note, </p>
<p>The USC Credit Union approved my request for the subsidized Stafford Loan. I'm thinking of opening up a checking account with Bank of America... can I credit the money I get from the loan to my Bank of America account?</p>
<p>USC Credit Union.</p>
<p>My Stafford loan money gets automatically applied as a credit to my USC Account. I do not think you can elect to have the money go into your checking account.</p>