What are INvestEd Student Loans?

Getting a student loan is usually a problem for students, hence various companies come out to make it easily accessible for them. INvestEd is not one among them. INvestEd is an Indiana based company that believes that loans are the last option to go for when choosing an education funding plan. It operates with Hoosier families to help the students get the most out of free financial aid money.

It advises Indiana students, families, counselors and anyone who decides to join an Indiana institution to look for other ways of funding college like financial aids in the form of grants, scholarships, college savings plans, and more. But in case the students have to go for loans, it makes sure that they get a more desirable private loan option with great benefits.

Invested Student Loans

source - investedindiana.org

Table of contents

INvestEd Loan Options
Benefits to the Borrower
Strategic Partnerships
INvestEd Refi Loan
Is INvestEd a better option?

INvestEd Loan options

INvestEd provides variable and fixed-rate loan options available to the borrowers depending upon their needs and requirements. The loan repayment term is usually for a period of 5, 10 or 15 years irrespective of whether it is a fixed or a variable rate loan.

Variable Rate Loan Options

The starting interest rate on this option will be from 3.865% - 7.675% APR and will vary with the market rates but will not exceed 21%.

The rate of interest is determined based on your credit score (and the co-signer, if necessary), the repayment option and term of the plan you’ve selected. If approved, the company will let you know about the rate. If you have a good credit score then you need not appoint a co-signer.

Loan Fees

Origination fee - 0%

Late charges - 5% (should not be lesser than $5 or more than $15)

Returned payment fee - $10

In case of default, you would have to pay additional charges as per the law applicable.

There are three options available to you on how you can pay back this loan:

(i) Defer payments - Under this, you need not make any payments while you’re in school. Interest will accrue and the principal and interest amount will be payable when the repayment period starts.

The repayment period starts around 30 to 60 days after the grace period or in case there is no grace period, then after you’re out of school.

The interest rate ranges between 1.45% + 3 month LIBOR index to 4.96% + 3 month LIBOR index.

(ii) Interest-only payments - Under this, you need to pay only the interest amount while still in school and defer the principal payments till you graduate. The interest is payable on a monthly basis after 30 to 60 days from the date the loan was fully disbursed. The total principal along with the interest amount for the leftover months will be payable after you got out of school.

The interest rate ranges between 1.30%% + 3 month LIBOR index to 4.81% + 3 month LIBOR index.

(iii) Immediate Payments - Under this, you have to make repayments of both the interest and principal amount while you’re still in school. The repayments will start around 30 to 60 days from the date the loan was fully disbursed. The interest that accrues in the meantime from the 1st to the final loan payout will be added when you start making repayments.

The interest rate ranges between 1.15% + 3 month LIBOR index to 4.66% + 3 month LIBOR index.

Example - Suppose the borrower took a loan of $10,000 and stays in school for 48 months with a loan having 6 month grace period. It is based on the highest starting interest rate charged at the longest duration, i.e. 15 years.

Repayment Option	Amount ($)	Interest Rate (highest starting rate)	Loan Term	Total paid in 15 years ($)
Interest-only Payments	10,000	7.53%	15 years	19891.32
Immediate Payments	10,000	7.38%	15 years	16709.4
Defer Payments	10,000	7.68%	15 years	22851

Fixed Loan Options

The starting interest rate on this option will be from 5.570% - 9.420% APR and will remain fixed throughout the life of the loan. This interest rate is applicable to all the three repayment options available.

The rate of interest is determined based on your credit score (and the cosigner, if necessary), the repayment option you’ve selected and its term. If approved, the company will let you know about the rate. If you have a good credit score then you need not appoint a co-signer.

Loan Fees

Origination fee - 0%

Late charges - 5% (should not be lesser than $5 or more than $15)

Returned payment fee- $10

In case of default, you would have to pay additional charges as per the law applicable

There are three options available to you on how you can pay back this loan:

(i) Defer Payments - Under this, you need not make any payments while you’re in school. Interest will accrue and the principal and interest amount will be payable when the repayment period starts.

The repayment period starts around 30 to 60 days after the grace period or in case there is no grace period, then after you’re out of school.

(iii) Immediate Repayment - Under this, you have to make repayments of both the interest and principal amount while you’re still in school. The repayments will start around 30 to 60 days from the date the loan was fully disbursed. The interest that accrues in the meantime from the 1st to the final loan payout will be added when you start making repayments.

Example - Suppose the borrower takes a loan of $10,000 stays in school for 48 months with a loan having 6 month grace period. It is based on the highest starting interest rate charged at the longest duration, i.e. 15 years.

Repayment Option	Amount ($)	Interest Rate (highest starting rate)	Loan Term	Total paid in 15 years ($)
Defer Payments	10,000	9.42%	15 years	26859.6
Interest-only Payments	10,000	9.27%	15 years	22490.04
Immediate Payments	10,000	9.12%	15 years	18592.2

Benefits to the Borrower

Graduation Benefit - The borrower gets a 2% reduction on the principal amount on graduating from the program that the loan was taken for.

The graduation date should be more than 90 days and less than 6 years after the date when the loan was first disbursed. You should go through the following steps to get the graduation benefit:-

Request for the benefit.
Provide the required documents as proof that you’ve graduated.
The loans taken from INvestEd should be current and to do this, make sure that no loans are delinquent or no default status as of your graduation date and until the graduation benefit has been availed.

Once you are eligible for the graduation benefit you’ll be awarded within 90 days from the date of verification. This benefit is applicable only once per loan.

Repayment Benefit - If you opt for automatic repayment of the principal and interest amount, you’ll be getting a 25% reduction on the interest that accrues. This doesn’t mean that the monthly payments will reduce. If any deferment or forbearance is taken, then this benefit will be suspended.

Co-signer Release - You can apply for letting your co-signer be free from their obligation after the first successive monthly repayments are timely received, provided you meet your underwriting and credit standards.

Worried about school fee? Learn about students loans

Strategic Partnerships

INvestEd, which is the loan administrator or lender has teamed up with First Merchants Bank for lending the loan, Campus Door for processing the loan, and American Education Services for servicing the loan to improve their competitive position and offer quality service.

The eligibility criteria for availing this loan are-

Your approved credit monthly payments must not be more than 30% of the gross monthly income or you should have a minimum income of $3333 per month.
A minimum FICO score of 670.
Continuously being employed for the last 2 years (except for those who are retired, disables or receiving a verified income).
No delinquent loan for 60 days or more during the previous year.
You should not be subjected to garnishments, judgments, foreclosures, repossessions, by the credit providers or tax lien.
You should not be accounted for any charge offs exceeding $100.
Should not have any previous bankruptcies within the past 5 years.
Must not have a default status on any private or government student loan.

INvestEd might require you to adhere to some additional criteria for qualifying for the loan, and also have the right to change any criteria during a period of time.

Limits of the loan

The loan should not be more than the difference between the cost of attendance and other aid per annum., i.e Cost of Attendance - annual aid.
The loan should be a minimum of $1001.

INvestEd Refi Loan

For those who want to refinance their loans to new loans that have a lower rate, INvested has come up with their Refi Loan.

The refinance amount is $5000 - $250,000 with repayment term options of 5, 10, 15 and 20 years. The fixed interest rates lie between 4.51% - 8.20% and variable rates 3.08% - 6.72%.

In order to be eligible for this loan, the borrower should-

Be a permanent resident or a citizen of the United States.
Have a good credit score (minimum 670) and be able to meet your annual income requirements ($36,000). It should be done along with your co-signer if any.
Be continuously employed for one year.
Debt to income ratio should be less than 40 - 50%.

The loans that are eligible include both public and private loans, that are in good standing, as per INvestEd.

The borrowers get the following benefits-

A 25% reduction on the interest rates, if you opt for an automatic payment system.
Application for releasing the co-signer after 48 successive timely repayments.
The option of multiple deferments.

How to apply?

You can apply for an INvestEd Refi Loan by going to the website and filling up the details on the loan application. You need to complete the application which requires the following-

Your social security number
For verification of your income, you need to provide 2 of your most recent pay stubs
For verification of your employment, you need to provide your previous year W-2 forms
You need to provide detailed information about your current loans like the lender, interest rates, remaining balance, and more.

Looking for more? Find Private student loans

Is INvestEd a better option?

INvestEd has a different approach altogether, putting their focus more on helping out the students and their parents to make better decisions by looking into various other financing options before jumping into loans. They act as an advisor and provide their services for free.

The benefits they provide to the borrowers are helpful to the students to keep track of their payments and motivate them. The refinancing part is not that great as there are many other firms that provide the same at similar rates, so you can check and compare with others to find out the best rates.

Apart from that, everything that INvestEd has to offer is good, and you can actually consider borrowing their loans.