Lauren Nowacki is a former senior writer who joined the Bankrate Loans team in 2024, bringing more than a decade of experience writing about personal finance. As a former writer and editor for Rocket Mortgage, Rocket Loans and One Reverse Mortgage, Lauren is passionate about helping people confidently navigate their finances — at every age and stage in life. With expertise in home loans, personal loans, student loans and reverse mortgages, she strives to simplify complex loan products and processes.
There’s nothing Lauren enjoys more than finding data that tells a story that can educate and inspire a reader. Her reporting on previous studies has been featured in The New York Times, Entrepreneur, Forbes, GOBankingRates, MSN and Yahoo Finance.
When she isn’t writing articles or balancing her budget, Lauren enjoys camping with her family, hiking, traveling and telling anyone who’ll listen how she strategically obtained a perfect credit score.
When it comes to financial independence, preparation is key. Creating a strategy and giving yourself time can help you avoid having to borrow money. However, life is expensive and unpredictable. When necessary, loans can be a great financial tool — but, like any tool, they can either build or they can disassemble. Approaching your borrowing armed with knowledge and a plan can set you up for success and even help in other ways, like improving your credit score.
Even if you have bad credit or no credit, it's still possible to get a student loan. Bankrate examined lender fees, APR ranges and eligibility requirements to see which lenders kept costs as low as possible for bad-credit borrowers.
Graduate school loans are a great option for people who don't have the money to pay for college out of pocket and who have exhausted scholarship and grant opportunities.
When you refinance your student loans, you may qualify for a lower interest rate and a different repayment timeline, which could help you save money on interest or lower your monthly payments.
Using Bankrate's student loan calculator can help you create a student loan repayment strategy that’s right for you.
Bankrate's expert team helps you compare good credit loans from an array of lenders. Apply for a loan today!
Use this calculator to find out how much a loan will really cost you.
This guide will help you understand the FAFSA, everything you need to know to apply, and what to expect when you're done.
Credible is a comparison site that lets you get prequalified with multiple lenders.
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