Thanks for the update, prashok. That doesn't bode well for those of us who'd been anticipating turning to private education loans and avoid GradPLUS loans to make up for expenses not covered by savings and Stafford loans.
810 is a fantastic FICO score, and it's very disturbing that the best rate you've been offered so far is in excess of 10% APR!
Hopefully "shopping around" will bring that rate down a bit, but you probably don't want to do too much of it since every credit inquiry for an education loan will affect your credit score negatively (unlike multiple inquiries within a short period of time for other loans).
Let us know how it goes. I'm sure there are a lot of people here who'd find that sort of information useful.
prashok wrote:
Thanks for the input, solaris1. I was a bit surprised myself as well, since Sallie Mae is advertising private loan rates as low as 5-6% on its website. I would have figured I'd at least get something close to 7-8%, if not the best rate.
I had thought my score from a few months ago was FICO (it was the optional score offered through the free reports with annualcreditreport.com), but it may have been a VantageScore. However, I just checked my FICO through myfico.com (from Equifax), and it's reading 810 now. So I'll definitely check with other lenders as well (I am a US citizen). In addition to Sallie Mae, LBS has relationships with AMSA, so I'll check with them perhaps.