Loan questions to continue my education?

Question

I'm trying to go back to college after two years and currently in debt. I'm saving up to pay it all out of pocket, but after the school lying to me 3+ times in this span, I would be about $1,500 short (Got alot in savings account from warehouse working). What I was wanting to do is get a loan for $1,500 and pay off the College debt to get that out of the way forever, so I only would have to focus on the loan I got.

Thing is though, I don't have any credit. My parents told me to check the freecreditscore.com. Idk, but it says my credit was 700. I was wondering if someone can explain why it's saying that, when I don't have any memory of past loans (It says everything is in check and perfect and I've been working on establishing credit for a year and four months)

Also, would it be a good idea to get the college debt out of the way and be able to focus on just a bank loan (Or should I try credit union)?

I would cosign, but my mom has ~575 and my stepdad ~620, so I don't think that would work

If none of this would work, I could always continue paying it by saving up, it would just take another longer than wanted time since I usually help weekly with Gas/Grocery bills and occasionally with other expenses like Light/Electricity/Phone and this week rent.

But please, let me know ALL my possibilities, thanks in advance
(I'll easily take the harsh truth, as long as it's not put in a immature way)

Goonhilda · Accepted Answer

You need a plan to get your debt under control first.  You should only have a couple of thousand in savings for emergencies, if you are carrying debt, because debt will cost you more per dollar owed than savings will earn you in bank interest.  

Do not borrow to pay off your loan.  That isn't solving the problem.  Just pay off the debt.

Write down the loans that you have, ranking them from highest interest rate to lowest.  Pay minimums on the lower rate debts, and the minimum plus any extra you can manage on the highest interest rate debt.  This will clear the debts as fast as possible.  That is the priority.

If you are really serious about going back to Uni and paying your own way, you should consider finding a second, part time or casual job.  Over a two year period, you would only need to save an extra $14 to have that money.  You could easily do this.  You may only need to do it for a few months.  Or consider selling some stuff you own on EBay to generate some of the cash. You have heaps of time.  

A loan isn't a good option.  It would likely have to be a personal loan, which incurs a relatively high interest rate.  

If you do plan on going down the loan path, you should take your time and get your credit score right up.  Get a low interest rate credit card with a low limit (like $500 or lower) and use it for one of your regular expenses, like petrol for the car for instance, and then repay it immediately.  Remember, you are only inserting the extra step of "Pay with card, pay back card" when you make the purchase.  It should be a purchase you have regularly, that you would normally pay cash for.  

Just keep saving.  If something goes wrong, like you can't work, or you're hurt or sick, or lose your job, you don't want the added burden of a debt.

Debt should only be incurred for things that go up in value, if you can help it.  So that would be a house, or in certain instances, education.  But for the small amount, I don't think a loan is in your best interest.  Think about it. You'll be paying a loan back for years.  Wouldn't you rather put that money into savings for an emergency?  It'd be easy to save this small amount of money if you waited a year, or even a few months, and really controlled your spending, and got an extra job.  Then you WOULD only have one debt, presuming you have to get a student loan now to go back to school.  (I'm an Australian.  We have a different system).  

Avoid the loan.  You can do better. :)

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Loan questions to continue my education?

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