CitiAssist Student Loan Program for
Executive Masters of Taxation Students
General Description
Be sure to first read the disclaimer at the end of this document.
The
CitiAssist Student Loan Program is a low-interest, no-fee student
loan program that is administered in part by our financial aid office. The
program shares many common features with other student loan programs, such as
the Stafford student loan program.
As is the case with other FAU
financial aid programs, the University Financial Aid Office must certify student
eligibility and the cost of education. No computation for expected family contribution
are required (and hence no FASFA form is needed).
Application Process
The easiest way to apply for
the loan program is online at the
CitiAssist web site. It takes about 30 minutes to complete the application,
and almost all loans are approved in only 3-5 minutes after you press the submit
button, and some require up to 24 hours. You
are not required to sign any paper documents. One trip to the web is all that in
needed.
The web site also contains a
paper application that you can print out and fax, in which case the processing
time is normally1-2 business days. The
fax is sufficient, and you do not need to submit an original copy of the
application.
Structure of the Loan Program
Very low rates: The rates for our students are even lower than those published on
the CitiAssist web site. Our students pay prime + .375, with no fees, and after
24 months the rate will be reduced by 1.25% for paying on time (1%) and paying
automatically (.25%). The on-time payment discount on the CitiAssist web site is
stated as .5%, but this in now being increased to 1%.
So in total the discounts
reduce the rate to .875% below prime.
CitiCorp uses the WSJ prime
rate, which is now 4.75%, so that yields a current interest rate (with the 1%
and .25% discounts) of 3.9%..
Requirements: Approval is affected by credit, but not in the same way as
conventional loans, as there are no income requirements. One simply must have
established credit. If no credit is established or there are credit issues, then
the loan can be cosigned for, and the cosigner’s name can be removed after a
waiting period.
Payment Period: payments may be scheduled over 15 years, with no payments due until
6 months after graduation.
Comparison to the Stafford Loan Program
The program is able to
compete well with the federally-subsidized Stafford Loan Progarm for 2 reasons:
First, the federal government loans money to anyone without even the slightest
regard to credit, therefore increasing it’s costs due to higher default rates.
Second, CitiAssist benefits from a much more streamlined application system,
since it bypasses the FASFA process, with all its costs of processing, mail
audits, and so on.
Other advantages are that you
can borrow more money under the CitiAssist program, and you can even borrow
money up to 12 months after you complete the program. You can also increase the
amount of the loan anytime you are in the program, subject to certification by
our financial aid office. Furthermore, there are no fees with the CitiAssist
Student Loan Program, whereas the Stafford Loan Program charges a 3% on the
gross amount of the loan.
As an aside, the subsidized Stafford Loan only subsidizes the rate on the first $8,500 each year, which further mitigates the difference between the 2 programs.
One very big advantage of this loan is that it can be processed very quickly for last-minute applications. Some students may choose to start out on this loan and then switch to the Stafford loan in their second semester in the program. Other students may prefer the features of the CitiAssist loan and use it throughout the entire program.
Customer Service
John Snow is our CitiCorp
reprsentative for this program. His
email address is John.Snow@CitiCorp.Com
, and his office number is 407-292-1639. He
is out of the office a lot but monitors his voice mail and return calls.
Disclaimer