Can You Get Low Interest Student Loans with Bad Credit?

Many students don't even bother to look at interest rates when selecting a private lending company for their student loans. This may be because students have a high level of trust in the free market and believe that any company still competing in the market must have competitive rates; however, this is highly unlikely. A much better explanation might be that when debt reaches a certain size, the numbers fail to mean anything to us, especially if we don't have to begin making payments this month, as is the case with most student loans.

If you're not one of these students—if you're actually looking for low interest student loans—the number one determinant of your eligibility for low interest student loans is your past credit history..

Is your credit history riddled with all sorts of problematic issues, such as failure to pay credit card bills? Or is your credit history completely clean? A good way to test this is to obtain a free credit report from one of the three major credit bureaus. If you live in the United States, you are entitled to a free report, which you can obtain from the TransUnion site. This will give you a rough idea of whether or not you will be able to get low interest student loans.

If you do not have a good credit history, you simply will not be able to get approved for low interest student loans without a co-signer; in fact, you might not be able to get a loan at all. If this is your situation, you should consider asking a family member if they are willing to co-sign a loan with you. Not only will your interest rate significantly drop, but you will also have a better chance of getting approved for a much larger loan—one that will not only cover tuition and books, but also living expenses.