Education Loan In PNC BANK USA

Financial Literacy Education

PNC is your comprehensive source of financial aid and personal finance education. Learn to minimize college debt by making smart financial choices. Sample a single multimedia module or take the entire course.

As a college student, you already know that college can be a demanding experience. From maintaining your grades to making new friends, each day presents its own challenges. But for many students, college also presents a very real financial challenge. In fact, attending college is one of the single largest expenses most adults will ever have. If you receive financial aid, you know that the amount of aid your receive is often determined by factors you can't control, like your parents' income, the cost of your school, and how each school calculates financial need. But once you arrive on campus, you're in total control of your spending decisions, perhaps for the first time.

Choosing the Right Loan

Choosing the right loan is important for minimizing overall education cost.

Student loan choices can make a real difference in both cost and convenience. Federal loans may offer loan forgiveness options in which some or even the entire loan is repaid based on the work students do after college while private loans may offer discounts off the interest rate.

That said, once federal loan limits are maxed out, private loans can be a sensible choice - as long as you pick the right one.

Before choosing any education loan, make sure you can answer the following questions:

Is the loan a federal or a private loan? Federal loans should be the first choice.

What is the loan interest rate? Private loan interest rates typically vary depending on the borrower and co-signer credit history. Private loans are often subject to credit approval and other required criteria.

Will you be required to make loan payments or pay interest while you are enrolled? Paying interest while in school is a good idea, but ideally it should be an option, not a requirement.

If you do not pay interest while enrolled, how often will interest be capitalized or added to the remaining principal on your loan? The more frequent the capitalization, the more expensive the loan is likely to be (provided you are comparing with another loan with the same interest rate).

Will the lender also be the ongoing loan servicer or will the loan be sold or transferred for service once it is made?

Who will be your servicer?

How easy is it to access the lender and servicer by web, phone or in-person? If you have questions, you need an easy way to get answers.

How Are Federal Loans Repaid?

You can repay your loans by sending monthly checks to your loan servicer or you can set up monthly automated payments deducted from your bank account. Automated payments reduce the chances of a missed payment, which can mean additional fees and higher interest rates. Some lenders and loan servicers offer an interest rate discount if you set up automated payments from a bank account.

There are several different options for structuring the amount of your monthly payments on federal loans:

Standard Repayment Schedule: You pay a fixed amount throughout your repayment period, which is usually up to 10 years. If you can handle the monthly payments, which start higher than other options but remain the same throughout repayment, this plan enables you to pay off your loan as soon as possible. This option is typically the least expensive repayment option overall, since you pay less interest.

Graduated Repayment Schedule: This schedule begins with a lower monthly payment amount than the Standard Schedule and then increases the amount on a periodic