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Rank: Frosh
Groups: Member
Joined: 3/4/2008
Posts: 36
Location: Hamilton, ON
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Has anyone found a "better" bank loan deal other than OSAP?
experience it - enjoy it - just don't fall for it <3
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Rank: Senior Student
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Joined: 3/30/2008
Posts: 75
Location: toronto
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aya017 wrote:Has anyone found a "better" bank loan deal other than OSAP? dont quote me on this but i think osap has no interest on their loan while banks do put interest on their loans. SO ultimately I cant see a bank having a better loan deal than osap
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Rank: Student Body Vice-President
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Joined: 3/6/2008
Posts: 755
Location: Ottawa, ON.
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scholar27 wrote:aya017 wrote:Has anyone found a "better" bank loan deal other than OSAP? dont quote me on this but i think osap has no interest on their loan while banks do put interest on their loans. SO ultimately I cant see a bank having a better loan deal than osap No interest while you're studying, that is. There will still be interest when not studying.
Carleton University Class of 2012, Honours Bachelor of Arts
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Rank: Valedictorian
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Joined: 5/20/2008
Posts: 562
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D.Dickin wrote:scholar27 wrote:aya017 wrote:Has anyone found a "better" bank loan deal other than OSAP? dont quote me on this but i think osap has no interest on their loan while banks do put interest on their loans. SO ultimately I cant see a bank having a better loan deal than osap No interest while you're studying, that is. There will still be interest when not studying. If I'm correct, it's no interest while you're studying + no interest for the first 6 months right after you finished studying (maybe not OSAP but some other government student loan is like this at least). No bank loan is going to do that for you.
UWO 2012
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Rank: Student Body President
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Joined: 3/4/2008
Posts: 1,132
Location: Ottawa
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It might be that the terms after studying could be better for some of the bank loans though, which could make a difference in the long run. I don't know if that's the case or not though. (e.g. if the bank loan is 5% interest and OSAP 6%, take out your max with the bank loan in your last year and use it to pay off OSAP) 
 
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Rank: Frosh
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Joined: 6/15/2008
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Location: Ottawa
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Kaylya wrote:It might be that the terms after studying could be better for some of the bank loans though, which could make a difference in the long run. I don't know if that's the case or not though. (e.g. if the bank loan is 5% interest and OSAP 6%, take out your max with the bank loan in your last year and use it to pay off OSAP) That's...really freakin smart! Luckily, I dunno how, but I'm going to graduate debt free. I've got my OSAP in a savings account and making money off of it. I'll pay the entire thing off by the deadline so I won't have to pay interest on it, and I'll get to keep the interest I make from it  Playing with money can be fuuun!
Saint Lawrence CollegeTecnologia Turistica Total
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Rank: Student Body Vice-President
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Joined: 3/6/2008
Posts: 755
Location: Ottawa, ON.
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Money's great if you can figure out how to make it work for you  There's only a problem with a loan when you get behind with the payments and interest begins to pile up.
Carleton University Class of 2012, Honours Bachelor of Arts
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Rank: Frosh
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Joined: 6/21/2008
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Location: Waterloo
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The OSAP loan is interest free during the time that you are a student. This typically means that if a student is taking three classes the interest on the loan is frozen. The day that you finish a clock starts and for six months you do not have to pay back the loan. However, during that time period interest is charged. But if you go back to school in this time period and take 3 classes your loan is refrozen. This means that during the time you are a student it is highly unlikely anyone can beat that interest rate. However, when you graduate the interest rate can be considerably higher. (Mine was slated to be prime plus 2%). At this point in time it may be possible even easy to find a better interest rate. However, be careful as the OSAP loan system has a number of other advantages, like loan forgiveness and the ability to re-freeze your loans interst if you decide to go back to school.
Another passing thought, and one of the quirks of the OSAP system, once your debt level gets really high you may want to give serious consideration to doing a second degree part time well working rather than entering the repayment phase. To give a quick example, imagine you had a $50,000 OSAP debt. Simplifying things also assume the interest rate is 6.5% annually (this is likely a conservative estimate) and assume that tuition for 3 classes would cost $2000. If you decided to attend classes every other semester at a 3 class level it will cost you $6,000 over a two year period. However, over that same two year period you would've paid $6,500 in interest (your actual cash flow costs would be even higher once the principle payments are added).
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Rank: Student Council
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Joined: 5/22/2008
Posts: 480
Location: Kingston, ON
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Kaylya wrote:It might be that the terms after studying could be better for some of the bank loans though, which could make a difference in the long run. I don't know if that's the case or not though. (e.g. if the bank loan is 5% interest and OSAP 6%, take out your max with the bank loan in your last year and use it to pay off OSAP) Where does it say how much osap charges for APR?
BAH '08 (Queen's) MA'11 (Queen's)
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Rank: Student Body President
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Joined: 3/4/2008
Posts: 1,132
Location: Ottawa
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CRAZYBUBBA wrote:Kaylya wrote:It might be that the terms after studying could be better for some of the bank loans though, which could make a difference in the long run. I don't know if that's the case or not though. (e.g. if the bank loan is 5% interest and OSAP 6%, take out your max with the bank loan in your last year and use it to pay off OSAP) Where does it say how much osap charges for APR? From McMaster's site (the first thing that came up) Quote:Interest accrues on your loan principal beginning the first day of the month following the end of your full-time study period. The actual interest rates and conditions for repayment are set at the time you enter repayment. On Canada Student Loans, the current fixed rate of interest is prime + 5% and the current variable (floating) rate is prime + 2.5%. Ontario Student Loans have an interest rate of prime + 1%.
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