School of Medicine

Alternative Loan Programs

Section: Alternative Loan Comparisons

The Office of Student Financial Planning at the School of Medicine has prepared this listing of alternative loan lenders for your review and consideration. We review and select lenders for inclusion on this list based upon the following: repayment benefits offered, low origination fees, customer service and the ability of the lender to provide life-of-loan servicing. The School of Medicine does not endorse any lender or loan product - this information is made available solely to assist students in comparing student loan products.

You are not required to select one of these lenders as the provider of your alternative studnet loan and you will not be penalized in any way by choosing a lender that does not appear below.

This is not an all-inclusive listing of alternative student loans available to medical students. Students are strongly advised to compare alternative student loan programs, and to explore all federal student loan eligibility, before applying for an alternative student loan.

CHASE HEALTH PROFESSIONS LOAN

- 0% origination fee
- variable interest rate of Prime plus 1.00% to Prime plus 7.0% based upon the student borrower’s credit history 
- 0.25% interest rate reduction during repayment for ACH debit of montly loan payments
- residency deferment available

 

 CITIBANK CITIASSIST HEALTH PROFESSIONS LOAN

- origination fee of 0% to 3.50% based upon the student borrower's credit history
- variable interest rate of 3-month LIBOR plus 4.75% to 3-month LIBOR plus 11.50% based upon the student borrower’s credit history
- residency deferment available

DISCOVER STUDENT LOANS

- 0% origination fee
- 0% repayment fee
- variable interest rate of Prime minus 0.50% to Prime plus 4.75% based upon the student borrower’s credit history
- 0.24% interest rate reduction during repayment for ACH debit of monthly loan payments
- 2.0% reduction of outstanding principal balance upon graduation
- Residency deferment available

SALLIE MAE MEDICAL LOAN

- 0% origination fee
- 1.50% repayment fee
- variable interest rate based upon the student borrower’s credit history
- in-school interest rate of Prime plus 0%
- repayment interest rate of Prime plus 1.25% to Prime plus 2.0%
- residency deferment available 
 

SUNTRUST ACADEMIC ANSWER LOAN

- 0% origination fee
- variable interest rate of 1-month LIBOR plus 3.00% to 1-month LIBOR plus 8.0% based upon the student borrower’s credit history
- $300 principal reduction per loan at graduation
- 0.25% interest rate reduction during repayment for ACH debit of monthly loan payments
- residency deferment available 
 

WELLS FARGO MEDCAP LOAN

- 0% origination fee
- variable interest rate of Prime plus 0% to Prime plus 2.50% based upon the student borrower’s credit history
- 0.50% interest rate reduction at graduation
- 0.25% interest rate reduction during repayment for ACH debit of monthly loan payments
- residency deferment available

Alternative student loans are unsubsidized and interest accrues from the time of initial disbursement until the loan has been paid in full.  The interest rate on alternative loans may change as often as every 30 days and most alternative loans do not have a maximum interest rate.

CURRENT BASE INTEREST RATES:

Prime Rate - 3.25%

1-month LIBOR - 0.31%

3-month LIBOR - 0.65%

The Prime Rate is the interest rate charged by commercial banks to their most creditworthy customers.  The Prime Rate does not adjust on any regular schedule but it usually changes when the Federal Reserve Bank adjusts the Federal Funds Rate.  LIBOR (the London Interbank Offer Rate) is the interest rate that banks charge each other for loans in the London wholesale money market.  The LIBOR is officially set each day by a group of major London banks.  Adjustments to the 1-month LIBOR are reported here on the first business day of each month.