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When I was younger, I absolutely destroyed my credit. I got two student credit cards in my first year of school and it all went downhill from there. My parents hadn’t taught me about credit and honestly, my money management in general was just terrible. Since my parents couldn’t help me with school, paying for it was always very difficult.

My credit score was terrible – actually under 500. Getting loans was quite difficult. Anyone that wanted to check my credit would deny me. I couldn’t get a cell phone or a satellite dish so it seemed safe to assume that I couldn’t get any type of loan. I didn’t believe that student loans would ever work for me.

School is now over for me and I have started correcting my credit. I actually now have a credit score over 700. Since I’m somewhat interested in going to grad school, I have been looking into student loans. The funny thing is that I now realize that I could have taken out loans all along.

Stafford loans are provided by a lending institution and secured by the federal government. This takes away the risk for the bank. If you default on your loan, the federal government will repay your loan to the bank. They will of course then come after you for the money.

Economically, it makes perfect sense for the government to loan money to students. Even students that have bad credit will increase their lifetime earnings significantly if they graduate from college. The government knows they will get more in taxes if they can get more people to finish school.

In order to qualify for Stafford loans, you have to be a citizen of the United States that is in financial need. In other words, if your parents can easily afford to pay for your college, it will be impossible for you to take out Stafford loans. If you have need, you can be approved quite easily.

Stafford loans are almost always available to people as long as they haven’t defaulted on a student loan in the past. Once you have a default, you are required to repay your previous loan before you can take out another.

If I had learned about these loan programs earlier, I could have finished school in a much shorter time period. As is, it took a few extra years. I guess you have to live and learn. Hopefully this article will help someone to learn that getting loans is an option now.

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