Repaying your International Private Loan

1
Repaying your International Private Loan
Presented by Jason Cook Citibank, The Student
Loan Corporation
2
Agenda

• Loan Features
• Repayment Options
• Forbearance
• Borrower Benefits
• Online Services
• Private Loan Consolidation
• Final Tips

3
Loan Features

• Interest Rates
• Most Private Loans have a variable interest rate.
• Most interest rates, such as CitiAssist, are
  reset quarterly.
• Interest is capitalized once prior to repayment
  and is generally calculated using the
• daily simply interest method Principal
  (stated annual interest rate/365number of
• days for which interest is being
  calculated)
• Lenders typically use two types of instruments
  along with a rate spread to determine
• interest rates
• Prime Rate
• Interest rate charged by banks to their
  creditworthy customers.
• The rate is almost always the same amongst major
  banks.
• Adjustments to the prime rate are made by banks
  at the same time
• although, the prime rate does not adjust on any
  regular basis.
• Example Private Loan is based on Prime Rate
  2.00
• (Current prime rate is 4.00, therefore, current
  rate is 6.00).
• LIBOR Rate
• Stands for "London Inter-Bank Offered Rate."  It
  is based on rates that
• contributor banks in London offer each other for
  inter-bank

4
Loan Features

• Billing
• If you have more than one private loan with the
  same lender, you will receive one bill for all
  loans due be sure to verify your accounts with
  your lender
• Grace Period and Repayment
• Your grace period is 6 or 9 months depending on
  the lender and year (CitiAssist has 6 months)
• Graduate students have 15-20 years to repay the
  loan depending on the lender and year.
  (CitiAssist has 15 years)
• Longer repayment terms MAY be available check
  with your lender

5
Repayment Options

• Level Repayment
• Pay the same amount for the duration of your
  repayment period payment changes only when the
  variable interest rate changes.
• Interest-Only Repayment
• Also known as Graduated Repayment. You pay only
  the monthly interest that accrues on your
  account, or 50.00 whichever is greater for 24 or
  48 months.
• After the Interest-Only period ends your loans
  are automatically set up for Level Repayment
  Plan.

6
Repayment Options

• Capitalization
• Unpaid interest that accrues while you are in
  school and during your
• grace period once you graduate will be
  capitalized at repayment.
• Unpaid interest that accrues during any
  forbearance period will be
• capitalized at the end of any forbearance
  period.
• Paying interest during in school, grace, and
  forbearance periods will
• greatly reduce the amount of principal you pay
  back!
• Important to check with your lender to
  determine the specifics
• regarding capitalization.

7
Managing Debt

• If you think you will have a financial problem
  replaying your
• loans at any time during repayment contact
  your lender
• immediately.
• Lenders will help you explore all of your
  options to avoid
• delinquency.
• Lenders can offer possible options such as
  reduced monthly
• payments or a temporary postponement of
  payment
• otherwise known as a Forbearances.

8
Forbearance

• Forbearance enables you to temporarily postpone
  making principal payment if you are experiencing
  financial difficulties.
• Important Facts
• Forbearances are at the discretion of the
  lender.
• You must apply for a forbearance it is not
  automatically
• granted.
• Your original repayment schedule remains in
  effect until a
• decision has been made so you need to
  continue payments.
• Apply at least 30 days before you want the
  forbearance
• period to begin.
• Forbearances are offered for a limited time for
  the life of loan
• repayment. Use them wisely!

9
Borrower Benefits

• Most lenders reward borrowers who are responsible
  
• about paying back their student loans. Look for
  special
• borrower benefits such as
• Interest rate reduction for automatic payments
  from
• a U.S. checking or savings accounts.
• CitiAssist offers a 0.25 interest rate reduction
  for auto-debit of loan payments.
• Interest rate reduction for consecutive,
  initial on-time
• payments over a specified period of time.
• CitiAssist offer a 2.00 interest rate reduction
  after making 48 on-time consecutive payments.

10
Online Services
Online Account Access - Make a
payment - View balances - View
electronic statements - Select a
repayment option - Apply for
forbearances Other - Repayment
calculators - FAQs and additional loan
information To sign up for Citibank account
access go to www.studentloan.com
11
Online Services

• Making payments outside of the U.S.
• Pay online with your own credit card
• Citibank customers www.studentloan.com/paybycredi
  tcard
• No currency issues, no conversion delays
• Usually free but may incur credit card
  conversion fees.
• Automatic payment borrower benefit may not
  apply if you
• use this option.
• Contact your lender for more details about the
  repayment
• services offered.

12
Private Loan Consolidation

• Private Loan Consolidation can help you reduce
  your monthly costs by consolidating multiple
  private student loans into one new loan with an
  extended repayment period.
• Important facts
• Due to the instability of credit markets most
  lenders have
• suspended as a loan option.
• You may and probably will be offered a higher
  rate than
• on your existing private loans.
• You may incur additional loan fees.
• Not all private loans may be eligible to
  consolidate.
• Most require applicant to be a U.S. Citizen or
• Permanent Resident to apply without a
  co-signer.

13
Final Tips

• Identify all student loans borrowed.
• Develop a repayment strategy that best suits
  your
• needs.
• Use online repayment calculators to estimate
  monthly payments.
• Register for online account access to review
  your student loans,
• make payments, update contact information,
  and more.
• Always update your contact information.
• Sign up for Auto-Debit payments if you
  maintain a U.S.
• bank account take advantage of interest
  rate discount.
• Need assistance? Call your lender! We are
  ready to assist you!

14
Questions?

If you have a CitiAssist loan and want to know
the specifics about your loan account please
contact Citibank customer service at (800)
967-2400.