Do I Need Good Credit To Borrow A Student Loan

Q: Do I need good credit to borrow a student loan?

A: To determine if credit will play a part in your student loan borrowing, we have to define what type of student loans we’re referring to. Federal student loans for college, (with the exception of the PLUS loans) will not take into consideration your credit score or history. Federal student loans are based on financial need, and are not based on the borrowers credit profile. Individuals do not need good credit to qualify for federal student loans. To learn more about federal student loans, you can visit our Federal Student Loans section.

Private student loans for college are based on a borrowers credit. If you have poor or little credit, you may have trouble securing a private student loan without the help of a creditworthy cosigner. A cosigner with a great credit profile that is willing to cosign on a private student loan, can sometimes help those borrowers with bad credit obtain private student loans for college. To learn more about private student loans you can visit our Private Student Loan section, or choose from some of our most popular private student loan topics:
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