LOANS » Current Rates, News & Information

Having to manage debt can be difficult, particularly the larger the amount the harder it gets to stay on track. This is why understanding how much you need to pay down is essential to your financial success. Use this loan calculator to determine how much your loan payments are going to cost you each month.

You can also adjust the loan payment calculations on a weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly schedule as well. Simply input the total amount of your loan, the loan interest rate, how many years it’ll take to pay it off and how often you’d like to submit payments.

The following is a guest post from MD of Studenomics. Make sure you check the blog out if you want down-to-Earth tips for finding the best online banking and killing your student debt.

You’ve been seeing someone for a few years and now it’s time to tie the knot. You’re already engaged and ready to start planning that colossal wedding. There’s only one little hurtle– one of you is in massive amounts of student loan debt!

A large increase in tuition was padded by a big jump in federal aid offered by the government, according to a new report from the nonprofit College Board. The report also found that the dollar amount of student loans taken out this year was reduced thanks to the increase in aid.

Tuition Costs Increased This Year

For nearly two years you have been paying back your personal loan diligently. You have some extra cash and want to pay off the final months but are concerned about having to pay prepayment penalty fees for paying off your personal loan too early.  One would think that paying back borrowed money earlier rather than later is a good thing, but that may not be the case.  In many cases, when you pay back your loans ahead of schedule, you may be charged an exit fee.

Exit Fees

Taking out a student loan these days is not much different than creating a social network profile; virtually anyone can do it and any subsequent repercussions from the action could take months or even years to surface. The only problem is some students don’t realize just how much of an impact taking out a student loan can present on their financial lives down the line, especially if they don’t earn enough to pay it off after graduating.

Some students take out the maximum amount available only to make a fraction of that loan amount per year in income. This is why it’s good to have an idea of your earning potential before ever applying for a student loan. This way, you won’t end up with student loans you can’t afford to pay off later.

A tax credit proposed by President Barack Obama could help finance all four years of college and save families thousands. He is currently calling Congress to action to make the credit permanent, something he hopes will create the highest number of proportionate college graduates in the world.

The American Opportunity Tax Credit

Sometimes taking out a loan can’t be accomplished on our good credit alone. When that happens we need something to offer the lender as collateral. If you happen to have invested into a certificate of deposit (CD) you can use it as collateral for a loan.

CD as collateral:

You love your brother as you do all family, but he has a less then perfect past with responsibility. After years of hard work and dedication, he has finally settled into a positive groove with a secure job, growth potential, a lovely new wife and a new sense of financial responsibility. Unfortunately, his credit history shows the damage of his past choices and he is now requesting your assistance co-signing a car loan.

Your first reaction may be to agree, but you should understand you leave your own credit open to potential risk in this situation. Before making the decision to co-sign on a loan for anyone, weigh the advantages and disadvantages of co-signing an auto loan thoughtfully first.

If you need to borrow money but you’re uneasy about doing it, one way that’s pretty safe is to borrow against your CD (certificate of deposit). When you take out a loan using your CD as collateral, you’re ensuring that you’ll be making money on it while at the same time enjoying the benefits of your new loan. You may have invested in your CD at a certain bank, and then, for whatever reason, seek to get the loan from another bank. In most instances banks are not inclined to give out loans against another bank’s CDs. In most cases, you would be better off getting a loan from the same bank where you invested your CD.

When you borrow against your CD, it makes more sense to go to the bank that issued you the CD. The bank which has issued the CD will be more comfortable lending you money because that bank knows you’re credible.  However, if you need to borrow from different a bank, you can still try to get a loan using your CD as collateral.  Though it is an option, it is always best to take out a loan through the same bank.

Parents plan to raid retirement funds as a way to pay for their children’s college tuition, says a new study by Sallie Mae and the Gallup organization. According to the study, released on Tuesday, nearly a quarter of the nation’s parents who plan to pay for their children’s college education believe that pulling from their retirement accounts will be necessary to supplement their savings, but is this smart?

24 Percent Plan to Dip in 401(k)s