Student Loan Companies

Hey Everyone. I'm going to be starting my course this September in the UK and right now I'm trying to sort out my loans for this. I know Sallie Mae offers loans for US students studying in other countries, but I'm trying to see if any others offer better terms or at least see what is out there. Anyone know of any other loan companies like this? I still have 2 1/2 months till I leave, but I want to get the paperwork in shortly.

I'm taking out two loans, a Stafford loan and a private loan.  For the Stafford loan I'm using Bank of America, which seems to be pretty easy and painless so far.  I filled out the online app/MPN and then got the bank to fax the school certification form to my uni while I mailed them my SAR.  My private loan is through a company called TERI (which does a lot of student loans), but I applied through IEFC (International Education Finance Corporation) because they seem to have more experience dealing with loans for overseas schools, and because by using them I could apply online, which isn't possible for the regular TERI application.  My uni has dealt with IEFC (http://www.iefc.com) before so that process is running smoothly as well (so far!).  Hope this helps

edited to add: One thing I like about Bank of America for the Stafford is that they pay your 3% origination fee for you...nice little perk that I haven't seen anywhere else.

oh, and you should get started on this ASAP... 2 1/2 months sounds like a long time, but when you're talking about sending things back and forth through the mail internationally and then having to be on someone else's schedule for the certification the weeks just fly by.  Have you filled out your FAFSA yet/gotten your SAR? If you have it'll move much faster, otherwise I would say start filling out stuff tonight, hehe

I started the process back in early May, and I'm still waiting for all the stuff to go through, so I'd definitely get started straight away, because you never what hitches you'll hit.  I use Bank of America as well, simply because it's who I already bank with & I figured with my online account, it'll faciliate repayment (especially when I might still be in the UK at that point).  Andrea, I didn't know they paid that - lucky choice for me, I guess!  I just picked them because they're a multinational corp and they are one of 3 bank listed on the IEFC website (I think Wachovia & Sallie Mae are the others??).

I'm taking out two loans, a Stafford loan and a private loan.  For the Stafford loan I'm using Bank of America, which seems to be pretty easy and painless so far.  I filled out the online app/MPN and then got the bank to fax the school certification form to my uni while I mailed them my SAR.  My private loan is through a company called TERI (which does a lot of student loans), but I applied through IEFC (International Education Finance Corporation) because they seem to have more experience dealing with loans for overseas schools, and because by using them I could apply online, which isn't possible for the regular TERI application.  My uni has dealt with IEFC (http://www.iefc.com) before so that process is running smoothly as well (so far!).  Hope this helps

edited to add: One thing I like about Bank of America for the Stafford is that they pay your 3% origination fee for you...nice little perk that I haven't seen anywhere else.

Andrea,
Did you wait until you heard back regarding your Stafford loan before applying for your private loan or did you just go ahead and apply at the same time? I was going to wait until I had my Stafford loan, but I don't want to wait too long.

Thanks!

Thanks for the replies. I've got my FAFSA sent in already and have my SAR in hand. It just feels a bit overwhelming looking at interest rates and stuff. I was also concerned about repayment since I'll still be in the UK at that point (or at least I want to be), so I want to make the payments across international lines as easy as possible.

Andrea,
Did you wait until you heard back regarding your Stafford loan before applying for your private loan or did you just go ahead and apply at the same time? I was going to wait until I had my Stafford loan, but I don't want to wait too long.

Thanks!

I applied at the same time- I was going to wait as well, but then I realized how long it was going to take so I decided to just go ahead with it.  I should be getting the full 18.5K for the Stafford so I based the amount of my private loan on a budget I already had worked out.

Has anyone had their 2006/2007 school year Staffords actually approved yet?

Nope. My uni sent the paperwork earlier this week. He said I should be hearing from the lender "at some point". Once I get the paperwork, I'm going to call BOA.