We have good news for college graduates and parents who are paying off loans for their children, and it`s all thanks to the state.
Kayli Thiel graduated from the University of Mary last spring and is now working as a sales representative for United Printing.
“Going to a private school my parents decided to help me out a little bit more, versus going to a two year school. So what they`re going to do is they are paying for two years of it and then I have to finish off the other two years is what they`re planning,” she said.
Since Thiel is no longer in school, she and her parents can apply for a low rate consolidation through the Bank of North Dakota. It`s offering a fixed rate of 4.3 percent and a variable rate of 1.8 percent.
“This is a pretty big drop in rates and we should see very nice savings, probably the best part about the whole consolidation program is that we`re not going to charge North Dakotans any fee to consolidate those loans,” said Bank of North Dakota New Loans Manager Tom Ternes.
You don`t have to be a current customer and you can also use it to pay off federal loans.
“Having the interest rate go down for my parents is going to be awesome, especially with a little brother that`s going to be going to college next year. Any little thing that can help as far as saving money,” Thiel said.
Some parents are going to save a lot of money.
“If a parent that had about $20,000 in PLUS loans at 8.5% interest rate over a 10 year term and by lowering that rate to 4.31% they`re going to save about $5,000 over the life of that loan,” Ternes said.
You can apply for the loans January first through March 31. In Bismarck, I`m Kristin Clouston for NBC North Dakota News.
You can find all the details on the Bank of North Dakota`s web page, banknd.nd.gov.
