Comparison of the range of the College Family Loan's fixed-rate annual percentage rates against the range of fixed-rate annual percentage rates from three national lenders and the Federal PLUS loan. Potential discounts have been applied to all ranges. For more information, visit each lender's website. Iowa Student Loan: 5.05% to 6.85%, College Ave: 5.96% to 11.91%, Sallie Mae: 5.49% to 12.87%, Well Fargo: 6.74% to 12.99%, Federal PLUS: 8.06%.
Many lenders only offer limited information about their actual rates upfront. They do not provide all the rate details within the range of rates depicted on this graph. The specific rate an applicant is offered will be determined by the loan type selected and the applicant's or, if applicable, the cosigner's, credit history and credit score. Annual percentage rates (APRs) were retrieved from the lenders' websites on Oct. 15, 2019, for fixed-rate loans for parent or family borrowers while the student for whom the loan is being requested is enrolled at least half time. The ranges contain rates offered to applicants with a wide range of credit scores and for a variety of repayment options and terms.
Because each lender offers different in-school repayment options and different repayment terms, an identical loan comparison between lenders is not possible. However, the APRs in the chart are listed as the highest and lowest available rates for each lender. For complete details on how APRs were calculated, visit the lenders' websites. The U.S. Department of Education does not provide APR calculations for federal loans. As a guide for comparing costs, however, the costs of the Federal Direct PLUS Loan is approximately equivalent to an APR of 8.06%, which is based on borrowing $10,000, a 4.236% origination fee and a fixed interest rate of 7.08% during the 120-month principal and interest repayment period. APRs may be different for different types of loans. For this example, a 0.25% auto-debit interest rate reduction (repayment benefit) has been included in Iowa Student Loan's lowest APR.
Before applying a student loan from any lender, you should consider additional characteristics, including: credit requirements, monthly payment amount, origination fees, capitalization frequency, borrower benefits and protections, repayment term, when repayment begins, and the total amount to be repaid over the life of the loan.
