NEWARK, Del.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
While interest rates for the Federal PLUS Loan for Parents will again increase, Sallie Mae — the nation’s saving, planning, and paying for college company — today announced it will continue to offer the same competitive fixed interest rate for the Sallie Mae Parent LoanSM for academic year 2017-18. The Sallie Mae Parent Loan is a private student loan available to parents and other creditworthy individuals who want to help finance their student’s education at degree-granting institutions.
The Sallie Mae Parent Loan offers competitive fixed and variable interest rates, no origination fee, and a choice of repayment options. Fixed rates will continue to range from 5.74 to 12.87 percent APR. Variable rates range from 4.50 to 10.87 percent APR. By comparison, the Federal Direct PLUS Loan for Parents is offered only at a fixed rate of 7.0 percent for academic year 2017-18, and it carries an origination fee of 4.276 percent. In addition, fixed monthly payments of principal and interest begin immediately.
The Sallie Mae Parent Loan, however, offers customers the option to choose the repayment plan that best meets their needs. The Interest Repayment Option allows customers to make monthly interest only payments while students are enrolled in school for up to 48 months, followed by monthly principal and interest payments. The Principal and Interest Repayment Option allows customers to make monthly principal and interest payments, while students are enrolled in school.
In addition to competitive interest rates and choice of repayment options, the Sallie Mae Parent Loan offers:
- Expanded eligibility. The Sallie Mae Parent Loan is not just available to parents, but to any creditworthy individual who wants to help fund a student’s college education. It also can be used for undergraduate or graduate students who are enrolled full-time, half-time, or less than half-time. The Federal PLUS Loan for Parents is available only to parents of dependent undergraduate students who are enrolled at least half-time.
- Interest rate reduction for auto-debit. Sallie Mae Parent Loan customers who sign up to make monthly payments via auto-debit are eligible to receive a 0.25 percentage point interest rate reduction. Customers who are members of Upromise by Sallie Mae may use their cash-back rewards to pay down their loans.
- Free access to credit scores. Customers have access to their FICO® Credit Score on a quarterly basis, along with information about factors that affect credit scores and why monitoring credit scores is important.
- No servicer confusion/U.S.-based customer service. Unlike other lenders and the Department of Education who may rely on third parties, Sallie Mae is the servicer for its private student loans, and customer service employees are based in the United States.
“We know that for many families paying for college is a shared responsibility. In fact, nine in 10 parents are planning to help cover the cost of their child’s college education,” said Kelly Christiano, senior vice president, Sallie Mae. “We designed our parent loan to be a flexible and competitively priced option to help parents or other individuals help their students make college happen.”
More families choose Sallie Mae for private student loans than any other lender. In addition to financing for parents, Sallie Mae also offers the Smart Option Student Loan for undergraduate students as well as loans for graduate students. Both offer competitive fixed and variable interest rates and no origination fees or prepayment penalties.
Sallie Mae recommends a 1-2-3 approach to paying for college: first, maximize money that does not need to be repaid, such as scholarships and grants; second, explore federal student loans; and, third, consider a responsible private student loan.
For more information on the Sallie Mae Parent Loan, or to apply, visit SallieMae.com.
Sallie Mae (Nasdaq: SLM) is the nation’s saving, planning, and paying for college company. Whether college is a long way off or just around the corner, Sallie Mae offers products that promote responsible personal finance, including private education loans, Upromise rewards, scholarship search, college financial planning tools, and online retail banking. Learn more at SallieMae.com. Commonly known as Sallie Mae, SLM Corporation and its subsidiaries are not sponsored by or agencies of the United States of America.
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