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Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 125
CEG\'er
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CEG\'er
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 125 |
Wow, my wife and I went to Baylor University so we have student loans in the amount of $120k-$140k. The Stafford loans (Federal) have an interest of around 1.9%, while our private loans (Citibank) and my CAL loan (State of Texas) have interest around 5% (which I thought was high!). We are in the process of consolidating, but you can only consolidate federal loans, not private or state loans. Thankfully they will take my private and CAL loans into consideration when figuring out how long to let me pay (I'm guessing it will be 30 years), but I have still been having to pay around $700/month on my loans previous to consolidation. There has got to be a loan company that you can find that will buyout your current loan and give you one at a much better rate because 15% sucks, and sounds like more of a rate you'd expect on a credit card, not on a loan.
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Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 125
CEG\'er
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CEG\'er
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 125 |
Originally posted by 99SESPORT:
It's not normal. And there isn't a consolidation "cutoff".
I'm in the process of consolidating my student loans and my wife's and the interest rate through Citibank is 3.5% for consolidation. The deal with the June 30th cut off date was to have it even lower than that...After June 30th, the rates were raised (I actually got the form several months ago and they told me this. Life just sometimes takes away time for filling out a consolidation form (like three pages, DOH!!)
Straight off their website...
Originally posted by CITIBANK STUDENT LOANS:
Current Interest Rates
Stafford ........................ 5.30%*
PLUS ............................. 6.10%*
Loan Consolidation ....... 3.50%*
Oh, and we are doing the same thing 99SESPORT, and using Citibank to consolidate our loans.
Oh, and I like your signature and agree with you. I own a Chick-fil-A and that is one of the things that the founder S. Truett Cathy says. He says our company isn't a Christian company because Christ didn't die for a company, but rather a company that is based upon biblical principles.
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 2,454
Learned patience the hard way
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Learned patience the hard way
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 2,454 |
Russell,
Don't shoot yourself in the foot. It's great that you can work as a mechanic and do well at it, but owning a shop is a completely different monster. Have you taken the time to do an actual honest business plan, cash flow estimate, income statement, etc? If you want to have a better chance at business and at getting a loan, you'll need to have these things. I've really looked hard at opening my own shop and unless you intend to either employ 10 mechanics to help pay the bills or work long hours for low pay with only yourself being the mechanic and all the office work, you won't make much money if any. There are tons of costs involved that people don't really think about. 5 months at a mechanic shop won't endear you well to getting a loan to open a mechanic shop either. Are you an ASE certified tech? If not, then there's one other strike against it.
In all, I say keep looking for a better computer job and consolidate your loans. If you really want to have your own shop, start working on a business plan and make sure it will realistically make money otherwise you'll get even further in debt.
Last, but not least, DO NOT go into business with your buddy, especially if his credit is worse than yours. If you really want to work with him, you own the business and hire him as an employee. You don't want to get roped in with someone else who can't make their own bills in a business as you'll end up owing for their portion of the bills as well.
Rick
Owner of 00 #1611 Silver (Totalled) 98.5 T-Red SVT #6180
Buckshot77@msn.com
Misc 3L parts for sale
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 2,118
Hard-core CEG\'er
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Hard-core CEG\'er
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 2,118 |
Originally posted by sigma:
Glad to hear that our students aren't THAT screwed over. 10% is absurd, 15% is highway robbery.
CitiBank will treat you right. They have me. I have numerous lines of credit through them, but they were really easy to work with on the Student Loan bit and are happy to help you with anything at all in my experience.
I did mine a while ago, it was 2.4% back then and they gave me another 0.5% discount for paying on-time for a year. Something like that anyhow.
The 10 and 15% are on private loans. Your 2.4 is for federal loans right? Even with federal loans you still have to go through a bank...
"Moore has also accused the American people of being the stupidest, most naive people on the face of the Earth. And after last weekend, he's got the box office numbers to prove it!"
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 4,220
Hard-core CEG\'er
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Hard-core CEG\'er
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 4,220 |
Originally posted by 99blacksesport:
Originally posted by sigma:
Glad to hear that our students aren't THAT screwed over. 10% is absurd, 15% is highway robbery.
CitiBank will treat you right. They have me. I have numerous lines of credit through them, but they were really easy to work with on the Student Loan bit and are happy to help you with anything at all in my experience.
I did mine a while ago, it was 2.4% back then and they gave me another 0.5% discount for paying on-time for a year. Something like that anyhow.
The 10 and 15% are on private loans. Your 2.4 is for federal loans right? Even with federal loans you still have to go through a bank...
Yeah, mine are Federally Guaranteed loans, about 1/3 were subsidized, that were issued through Citibank. They issued all of them, never sold them off, and I consolidated with them as well.
2003 Mazda6s 3.0L MTX
Webpage
2004 Mazda3s 2.3L ATX
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Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 362
CEG\'er
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CEG\'er
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 362 |
Wow, that is a really really high interest rate. I went to a really expensive engineering school for my bachelors and masters so I owe about 130k on my own. I just consolidated my federal stuff and it will end up at like 1.6% or so after 3 years of on time payments. The rest of my loans are what they call private loans, still education ones, but variable rates and the highest one there is 7% I think and that is real high to me. Right now it sucks because no one really consolidates private loans unless your rate is above 8% so I can't consolidate those. All in all, I pay out about 900 bucks a month or so just for student loans.
I am also getting married next May and my fiancee has about 20k in loans so that will bring the total up to about 150k or so for both of us. Student loans suck, but it was all worth it in the long run. Look around, I guarantee you can find a better rate than 15%, that is killing you.
2001 Volvo S40-Perrin MBC@ 11psi, EST intake, 35% tint, still slow
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Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 503
Veteran CEG\'er
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Veteran CEG\'er
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 503 |
Originally posted by Buckshot77:
Russell,
Don't shoot yourself in the foot. It's great that you can work as a mechanic and do well at it, but owning a shop is a completely different monster. Have you taken the time to do an actual honest business plan, cash flow estimate, income statement, etc? If you want to have a better chance at business and at getting a loan, you'll need to have these things. I've really looked hard at opening my own shop and unless you intend to either employ 10 mechanics to help pay the bills or work long hours for low pay with only yourself being the mechanic and all the office work, you won't make much money if any. There are tons of costs involved that people don't really think about. 5 months at a mechanic shop won't endear you well to getting a loan to open a mechanic shop either. Are you an ASE certified tech? If not, then there's one other strike against it.
In all, I say keep looking for a better computer job and consolidate your loans. If you really want to have your own shop, start working on a business plan and make sure it will realistically make money otherwise you'll get even further in debt.
Last, but not least, DO NOT go into business with your buddy, especially if his credit is worse than yours. If you really want to work with him, you own the business and hire him as an employee. You don't want to get roped in with someone else who can't make their own bills in a business as you'll end up owing for their portion of the bills as well.
Rick
Exactly what he said. Coming from me it don't sound like much but opening a buisness in debt is hard, even doing one not in debt is hard. I work for a houseboat rental place and my boss pulls in $15k minimum a week. after 4-5 months of buisness, he only makes 80-100K after expenses are paid. 2 totally different buisnesses but just showing that no matter what, you will pay tons in expenses. And get taht nice car running decently if it isn't and stop there until you get money. But I wish you the best and good luck.
95 LX-with a mind of its own
24v DOHC
SVT exhaust and K&N=all thats worth modding
Go Fighting Sioux!!!
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 4,397
b0x @dm1n
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b0x @dm1n
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 4,397 |
I've helped my dad keep his up. He was a 25+ plus mechanic with a huge following. Those that know him love because he is an honest guy, all the rest try and screw him.
I'm talking him into closing it now and going to work for someone else. He can make almost the same money with half the hours and a tenth of the headache.
Auto shops are often worth the work unless you are doing something you absolutely love.
-Andy
Andy W.
The problem with America is stupidity.
I'm not saying there should be a capital punishment
for stupidity, but why don't we just take the safety
labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?
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