The Maine Advantage Education Loan is the only discount loan program where borrowers receive the full benefit of their interest rate discount starting with their very first payment. Other discount programs require borrowers to make two, three, or even four years of payments before the borrower receives the full discount offered by the lender. With some programs, even if the borrower is successful in making all payments on time, the lender still does not reduce the borrower s monthly payment. Rather, the lender applies more of the payment to principal. That means that with some discount programs, the borrower must make more than nine years of payments before they receive the full benefit of their interest rate discount.
Many students find themselves juggling payments as they start their life after college.
With other discount programs, just one late or missed payment will end up costing the borrower hundreds or even thousands of dollars in higher interest rate charges. No other loan program offers borrowers this kind of promise. With most discount programs, a payment is considered late if it is received 15 days past the payment due date. However, some lenders only provide borrowers with a 10 day grace period beyond the payment due date. With other discount loan programs, if a borrower is late or misses just one payment during the initial two, three, or four year repayment period, the discounted interest rate is permanently lost .