Recommendations for student loan providers

I completed my FAFSA last week, and was denied.   :\\\'(

It wasn't completely unexpected of course, since I made a decent living back home last year and there was no question asking if I was still working etc...  But still stung.  Plus, they expected my yearly contribution to be 35% of what I made!  Geez...   

Anyway, to the point, I need to go private now, and I would love to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly experiences you have had with various lenders.  My program will be £9000, and while I have my living expenses pretty much covered, I would also like to take out enough for a new laptop and books and materials I may need.

Thanks for your help!

I used IEFC for my TERI private loan and had a good experience.  It was pretty painless- I needed a cosigner (opposite situation to you, I was unemployed so got all the FAFSA money possible but needed help with the private loan!)  But once I got past the credit hurdle, the process was fairly quick- the only slowdown was waiting for my uni to sign the paperwork! I got all my money in a lump sum, which I thought was fairly unusual.

I did have a minor issue when I actually got the money- the cheque was made out to both my university and myself, and neither of our banks would deal with it.  So I had to get the cheque re-issued in my name only, but it was done within a week or two.

Will definitely look into it.  My problem with the FAFSA was that it asked for my income from last year, but there was nowhere to take into account that I moved to the UK in December and have not been able to work since!

Also, I am one of those ignorant types that has no idea what my credit score is back home...  If I have a cosigner does it matter?

Also, I am one of those ignorant types that has no idea what my credit score is back home...  If I have a cosigner does it matter?

As long as your co-signer has good credit themselves, it should be fine.

I completed my FAFSA last week, and was denied.

Wait, you were just completely, flat out denied any kind of federal loan? I'm in pretty much the same position financially (made significantly more last year but not much recently) but the student aid people at my university told me not to worry. They said I likely wouldn't be eligible for the subsidized loans but I shouldn't have a problem getting the full unsubsidized amount. Now I'm all paranoid!!!

Now I'm hoping I read everything wrong!  Unfortunately I'm off to bed so I can catch an early flight tomorrow, but I'll let you know how everything works out once I get back from vacation.  Good luck!

..... But once I got past the credit hurdle, the process was fairly quick- the only slowdown was waiting for my uni to sign the paperwork! I got all my money in a lump sum, which I thought was fairly unusual.

Just how quick was it?

Just how quick was it?

Went like this:

Credit approval

Paperwork automatically sent to my uni for signature and return (this is the step that broke down for me- IEFC had the wrong fax number for my university on file so the stuff they sent never got there and I had to get them to resend to the right fax number.  But if this goes through first time like it's supposed to, then this happens within a day or so of your credit approval.)

University signs paperwork and returns it to IEFC (they can do this via fax, so as long as they're diligent about it, can be done within a day.)

Final approval of loan - 48 hours after all paperwork received.

So theoretically, you could have all this done inside of a week if everything works smoothly and goes according to plan, but of course things happen so you have to keep on top of each step.  Once I realised that the loan paperwork had never reached my uni, I spent some time on the phone with IEFC sorting it out and then spent some more time on the phone making sure my uni did it in a timely fashion, and had my loan approval about a week later.

Get on it quick.  Banks are starting to pull student loans in the U.S. the same way banks are pulling mortgages here. 

And a caution I always try to throw out to those thinking about taking out private loans. They do not have the same policies for deferrment/forbearance that the government does. About a year max I think. If you are not on your feet financially when the loans come due, it can all go pear-shaped very quickly.

I speak from experience.