Success after dropping out of college can be achieved through a variety of means. Due to their in-demand knowledge and expertise, some people who don’t attend college or community college can succeed in life. Others could have a better chance of success because they can pick up new abilities rapidly and seize opportunities when they present themselves.

So, if you’ve been debating whether to enter the workforce right away or take some time to cruise as a student, take into account these justifications for why you do not need a traditional bachelor’s degree to earn well.

You may learn seven different reasons why an MBA, Ph.D., or BBA is not crucial to becoming successful:

1. College does not provide practical training.

You must look for mentors and role models who can show you the ropes because of this. You’ll be well ahead of the game if you can locate someone willing to mentor you. If you can’t locate a mentor, there are tons of resources online and in libraries that you may use. You can learn what you need to know about the actual world with a little work. If you are an undergraduate and you have some skills to show you can achieve success.

Your preparation for the outside world will not be sufficient after graduation. The real world requires many abilities that you won’t learn in college or community college. It’s not the same as doing them, even though you can study these things in college. And, let’s face it, most college students don’t have the resources—either in terms of time or money—to devote to studying these topics.

 2. High-paying jobs don’t require college degrees.

There are various good-paying jobs without the degree available. There are many high-paying jobs available without a degree. In certain professions, a college bachelor’s degree may provide you with an advantage, but it’s not always required.

You may learn a lot of well-paying occupations on the job or via vocational training. The following are a few instances of well-paying employment that don’t require a college bachelor degree:

Commercial Pilot

The median yearly compensation for a commercial pilot is $78,770, and career prospects are promising. High school graduation and a commercial pilot’s license from the Federal Aviation Administration are requirements for becoming a commercial pilot. You can obtain this license by finishing an approved flying training course.

Construction Manager

Construction project managers oversee work from start to finish. They recruit contractors, plan and schedule work, and ensure projects are finished on schedule and within budget. Construction managers make an average of $91,370 per year, and the employment market is strong.

3. Be your own boss without a degree.

While having a college bachelor’s degree increases your chances of becoming wealthy and finding a job in the future, there are plenty of entrepreneurs who defied expectations and succeeded anyhow.

You won’t develop the skills necessary to succeed as your boss in college. Yes, there are many fundamental talents you can learn to help you in your endeavours, but entrepreneurship is a personality attribute, not a skill that can be learned.

 4. Online education elevates you to the status of an expert.

There are numerous courses available on the internet that will provide you with all the knowledge you need in a short amount of time and allow you to put that knowledge to use by having you complete tasks. You can become a graphic designer, SEO expert, or SMO expert by using the internet. All you require for success in your career is determination and consistency.

 5. Student debt may destroy their aspirations.

If earning a bachelor’s degree or doctorate will leave you deeply in debt with no way out, you shouldn’t pursue it. The figures on student loans are dismal, with over 44.2 million Americans in debt.

The average monthly student loan payment for borrowers between the ages of 20 and 30 is $351, and the default rate is 11.2%, according to information from Student Loan Hero.

Consider what would occur if you missed that loan installment. With $351, you could start your own company or invest in your education to build the sort of job and revenue stream you choose.

 6. Your degree might not be useful. As soon as you graduate

Although it is risky, I’m not absolutely against the college community or any college. You devote a lot of time and money to earning a degree that could or might not be out of date when you’re ready to utilize it. Technology, business methods, and fashions change swiftly. When you spend four years lagging behind your textbooks, it’s difficult to stay up with emerging trends.

 7. You can’t learn grit in college.

Textbooks and test-taking do not teach grit. It is acquired through experience in the real world overcoming obstacles and figuring out how to make things work. You may develop grit on your own by starting a business, becoming a freelancer, finding finance for your venture, or even working remotely while traveling.

In the end, you don’t need a bachelor’s degree or an MBA degree to succeed and earn a lot of money. A bachelor’s degree may help develop your talents and establish new contacts, but it is not necessary to become a leader in your field. If you are an undergraduate you can still achieve Success in life and the product of hard labor, and it may be attained without formal certifications in the field.  

Extra knowledge and some extra skills will eventually help you in your future so if you want you can pursue these colleges as well Dartmouth, Ivy colleges, brown university, and Columbia university or you can find some colleges by searching “colleges near me” on the search engine.

You create opportunities in life to hone your abilities, develop your talents, learn about and investigate various fields of study, and nurture experiences. 

Why You Don’t Need A College Degree To Be Successful is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

Student loans to get through college can only be taken out during the current school year. That can leave graduates with four more more separate loans to repay.

Managing multiple loans can be tricky, but there are a few things to know about them that can make it easier:

Know who your student loan servicer is

Student loans can come from a bank or the federal government, and the loans can be outsourced to a bank or servicing firm. Whoever your student loan servicer is, that’s who you’ll deal with if you have questions and where you’ll be sending payments to. It won’t necessarily be the same financial institution where you took out the original loan.

You might have multiple loan servicers if your financial aid package is made up of different types of loans and is a mix of federal and private loans.

Paying federal student loans

Federal loans can be spread among a few loan services that you’ll have to keep track of and make sure you don’t miss any payments to.

If you apply for income-driven repayment plans, you’ll need to contact each loan servicer. Each may have a different deadline for the paperwork, which requires an income certification each year.

To find out who is the loan servicer for your federal student loans, or the status of any federal loans you have, use the National Student Loan Data System to retrieve your loan information.

Private loans

Private loans don’t have income-driven repayment plans, but they may have other options such as deferment or forbearance so that you don’t default on the loan.

Whatever types of student loans you have, expect the loan servicer to keep you informed of loan terms, repayment options and if the loan servicer is being changed because the loan is sold to another servicing company. Your new loan servicer should also contact you.

Consolidating loans

If you don’t want to deal with multiple loan servicers, you can consolidate or refinance your loans.

Federal loans can be consolidated with a Direct Consolidation Loan that still allows you to have the flexible repayment plans that federal loans offer. Private student loans can be consolidated through a larger private loan to replace the other loans.

If you have a combination of federal and private loans, you may want to keep your federal loans because they offer smaller monthly minimum payments, giving you more money to pay off your private loans quicker.

If you want to consolidate or refinance your student loans, be sure to shop for the best loan at the lowest interest rate.

Dealing With Student Loans Through Multiple Loan Servicers is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

If you have ever considered studying education, you must have thought about this a hundred times. With the long list of professional degrees that are available today, does it even make sense to opt for a master of education in learning program? Is it a waste of time?

The answers to those questions are yes, it does make sense to study education even in this time and age, and no, it isn’t a waste of time.

In order to properly understand the answer, you will need to go through the following points.

The Right Degree

Choosing the right degree is particularly essential here as you do not want to waste precious years on something that doesn’t help your career in any way. The online MELCD degree that is being offered at Rutgers Online is the kind of program that you want to enroll yourself into for a number of reasons.

A MELCD stands for Master of Education in Learning, Cognition, and Development program, it will teach you about the very core of how people think, learn, adapt, and develop in any given environment. This is true in any field of education, irrespective of who or what you are trying to teach.

Take the Course Online

This is a practical suggestion based on the fact that in order to truly launch your career in any given field, it is best if you also pursue a professional or specialization program on the side. For example, if you have an MBA as well as a MELCD degree, you will do exceptionally well as a corporate trainer and your salary will be significantly higher. I

f you want to teach subjects to children at school or young adults at a college, you will most definitely need education in the respective subjects. The flexibility of schedule which an online course offers to its students makes it possible for them to pursue two or more courses simultaneously, thereby saving years in the process. Also, the courses are cheaper and allow their students the time to hold a job on the side. It’s basically a win-win scenario in most cases.

Career Paths

In spite of what your peers may tell you, the value of someone who knows how to teach is always going to be there in every field. If you are looking for specific career paths or prospects that you can look forward to after completing your master’s degree in education, the following should help you get an idea of what to expect.

• School teacher and school principal
• Instructional coordinator/curriculum director
• Education administrator, athletics administrator, alumni director at a university
• Dean, assistant dean
• Adult educator
• Corporate trainer

In case you already have a bachelor in education, going for a master’s degree is a no-brainer. Not only will it increase your prestige and knowledge as a teacher but it will also add a substantial amount to your annual salary as well. Just make sure that it’s a good program from a well-known university.

Can a Master’s Degree in Education Really Launch Your Career? is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

In order to land your perfect job, creating a resume that stands out for all the right reasons is essential. Many people fail to get called for interviews because their resumes don’t reach the standards required by today’s employers.

However, there are many ways you can address this issue so that you give yourself a much better chance of finding a job you really want. Below are some of the ways you can enhance your resume.

1. Complete a Relevant Course

To have any chance of getting to the interview stage for a skilled, higher paying position, you need to have some kind of recognized qualification that you can add to your resume. Starting a new course may be a daunting prospect and a large number of people don’t want to spend a few years of their lives attending classes and lectures at a college or university.

However, there are courses like the online masters in engineering that you can complete in as little as thirteen months. As well as taking less time to complete than other types of courses, you can complete an engineering online program over the internet, without ever having to go to a college or a university in person.

2. Get Relevant Work Experience

Some type of qualification is a basic requirement for most jobs and employers expect to see this information listed on your resume. However, to really impress a potential employer, you need to have some relevant work experience too.

Unfortunately, this can be a Catch-22 situation because you need a job to get experience and experience to get a job. To overcome this issue, you must think outside the box and find ways to get the work experience you need for a particular type of job. You could start by offering your services for free or for a lot less than you know your services are worth until you have built up enough experience to add to your resume.

In other situations, you could become a freelancer for a while and outsource your services to clients over the internet. Good examples of services that you can provide in this way include web design, content creation, online marketing services, bookkeeping tasks, and virtual assistant work. These services are always in demand and it’s often easier to get this experience without already having experience in these areas.

3. Make Sure Your Resume is Up to Scratch

Even a candidate, who has the necessary education, skills, and experience required for a particular role, may find it difficult to get called for an interview. If you are one of the people who struggles in this way, the quality of your resume may be the problem. The good news is there are many ways you can easily rectify this issue.

A good resume should be easy to read, it should be concise, and you should focus on your previous work achievements and results. As well as this, there should be no spelling mistakes, grammar mistakes, or gaps in your resume.

A resume is a key component for job seekers. Following the three steps above will ensure that you are more likely to get the job you really want.

How to Enhance Your Resume in 3 Easy Steps is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

To help students cope with short finances, the tips below have been drawn up to help them have a more convenient and less financially stressful academic experience.

1. Get a job

The surest way to expand your income as a student is to get a job. The added income is bound to enable you live the student life you want. But be careful not to pick a job that’ll interfere too much with your academics.

A job that’s in line with what you’re studying will be most suitable because it’ll look good on your résumé.

2. Pay rent and bills on time every month

Bills are an unshakeable reality of life. Regardless if you are a student, employer, or employee, there will always be bills to pay. But one efficient way to manage your finances is to ensure all your bills as well as your rent are paid on time.

The reason for this is, ignoring bills won’t make them go away. Instead, they’ll just build up over time and leave you with a larger and more daunting debt to settle.

3. Make a budget

Instead of spending your savings, be it little or large, on a whim, make a budget that details out all your expenses and income for a week or month and live by it. With a well-drawn budget, you are able plan what you’ll spend in a month in line with how much you actually have. This stops you from overspending, and helps you spend on only what you actually need.

4. Choose your bank account wisely

Opening the right bank account with the right bank is vital. This is because certain banks actually help you grow money saved with them, while other banks, depending on sort of account, charge you on transactions, thus shortening your finances.

Also, the right bank can offer loans to help ease a student’s financial struggles. But if considering this option, be sure to first use a loan calculator to determine what sort of loan will best suit your needs. Blindly applying for an excessive loan might prove detrimental in the long run.

5. Set some money aside

No matter how much you have, it’s always a smart move to put some aside for a rainy day. Putting aside as little as £10 a month can prove to be a lifesaver in the long run.

Being at university is both an exciting and challenging time. It’s the environment in which you will learn skills that will take you through the rest of your life, and if you get into the right habits with your spending here, you will find that you will be more careful with your spending after you graduate and get a proper full-time job.

Here Are 5 Student Saving Money Tips You Wish You’ve Known is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

Before you leave school, also make sure you know the answers to the following questions. Good news: We’re giving you them (or at least telling how to find them on your own).

1. What Kind of Loans Do I Have?

You either have private student loans or federal loans. You can look up your federal loans using the National Student Loan Data System (NLDS). You should have the paperwork from your lender or student loan servicer (private and federal) from when you took out the loan. Private loans generally come from traditional banking institutions, while federal loans are issued by the government. Common federal loans include Direct subsidized loans, Direct unsubsidized loans and Perkins loans.

2. Whom Do I Owe?

You can find this information in the resources referenced above. Your financial aid office should have information on file as well, since they receive the money. If you haven’t gone through student loan exit counseling at school, you need to before you graduate. They’ll explain whom to pay, and it’s the perfect time to ask any questions. Once you know who’s managing your loans, set up an online account to access all your information.

3. What Are My Repayment Options?

This depends on the type of loans you have. Private student loan repayment tends to follow a typical installment loan repayment structure, in which you make monthly payments for a fixed loan term. Federal student loans offer more options. The default play is called standard repayment: fixed monthly payments for 10 years. If you want a lower monthly payment when you start out, you can change your repayment plan at any time for free, though the change may not take effect immediately. If you want to enroll in an income-driven repayment plan, graduated repayment or extended repayment, be sure to request a new plan through your student loan servicer as soon as you can. You can learn more about student loan repayment options here.

4. How Much Are My Monthly Payments?

For loans with a set repayment term, the payment will be the same every month if you have a fixed-interest rate (as all federal loans do), or your monthly payment amount will change if you have a variable-interest rate (as some private loans do). Monthly payments through income-driven plans will depend on how much money you make. You should be able to get this information from your lender or servicer.

5. When’s My First Payment Due?

Federal student loans generally have a grace period of six months, meaning your first payment comes due six months after you graduate, leave school or drop below half-time enrollment. Some grace periods are nine months. If you have a private lender, you may not have a grace period — find out as soon as possible.

6. How Do I Pay?

You’ll start hearing from your lender or servicer soon if you haven’t already. Like most bills, you can go the old-school route of sending a check, or you can pay online. Keep in mind you don’t have to wait till your grace period ends to make a payment, and you can also enroll in automatic payments to make sure you don’t miss any. On that note: You don’t want to miss any student loan payments, because it will damage your credit, and your credit score plays a role in how much you pay for other credit products, as well as renting a home or buying a cellphone. You can keep tabs on how your student loans are affecting your credit by getting two free credit scores every month on Credit.com. If you’re thinking about getting a credit card after college, here are a few good options for new grads.

7. What’s My Interest Rate?

This should be in your loan paperwork and in your online account. Make sure you know if it’s a fixed- or variable-interest rate.

8. How Can I Make Repaying My Loans Easier?

If you have multiple federal student loans, which most borrowers do, you can consider consolidating them. With a federal Direct consolidation loan, you can qualify for certain loan forgiveness and loan repayment options (though you may not have to consolidate to qualify), and you’ll only have to make one monthly payment, rather than several to multiple servicers.

You could also consider refinancing multiple loans with a private lender, but know that you’ll be giving up many of the benefits that come with federal loans if you do this. There is no federal refinancing option. You can also enroll in automatic payments to make your life a little easier — just be sure to check that it goes through every month and that your bank account has enough money to cover the bill.

9. How Can I Make My Loans More Affordable?

Among the benefits previously noted, enrolling in automatic payments usually gets you a 0.25% discount on your interest rate. Private loan refinancing could also help you save money if you have good credit and can qualify for a lower interest rate. Additionally, changing your repayment plan to a longer term or an income-driven plan can lower your monthly payments.

There’s another way to look at loan affordability: long-term savings. For example, all the interest your loan accrued while you were in school will be added to the principal once your grace period expires, meaning you’ll have to pay interest on interest. You can avoid this by paying off the interest before your first loan payment comes due. You can also pay more than your minimum payment each month, which can help you pay off your loans early.

Student loans can be complicated, so reach out to your student loan servicer if you have questions. Conversely, if you’re having issues with your student loan servicer, you can file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

More from Credit.com

• The Best Balance Transfer Credit Cards of 2017
• The Best Low-Interest Credit Cards in America
• The Best Business Credit Cards of 2017

This article originally appeared on Credit.com.

9 Questions to Ask About Student Loans Before You Graduate is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

1. Take Them Grocery Shopping

Encourage your teen to participate in a “grocery day” with you to better understand financial literacy. Sit down with your child before shopping and go over your budget and your list. Explain to them how much you are looking to spend and the food you need for the week/month.

Have them help you coupon clip and try and make a goal to save a specific dollar amount. Take them with you to the store and have them help you look for each product. Make sure you stay within budget; you might want to consider bringing only cash with you so you don’t go over.

You can turn this into a fun adventure! This can make grocery shopping fun for the both of you.

2. Invite Them to Help You Organize Your Receipts

 After your holiday shopping, you might be stuck with a lot of receipts and bills. Invite your child to help you organize your receipts to understand how much expenses cost. Your child may be surprised to learn how expensive things can be. This might teach them to think twice before asking for luxury items next year.

Your child also may be interested in holding a job so they can pay for more discretionary expenses on their own. You could even teach them a little about tax on products when going through your receipts.

3. Set a Short-Term Savings Goal

Sit down with your pre-teen and ask them what their short-term goals are. They might not have an idea and that is OK. You might want to go over some of your short-term goals with them to help them better understand what they want. For example, maybe you want to plan a family vacation the following year or maybe save up for a new TV for the family room.

Pick a goal with your child and create a “savings jar” for that goal. Invite your child to contribute when they can. It can be very rewarding to reach your goal, especially if you reach it before you expected. Your teen will get motivated to help you — especially if it means they will be getting a vacation out of it!

4. Give Them Rewards Instead of Allowances

If your pre-teen doesn’t have a job, you might be giving them an allowance to spend on discretionary expenses. If this is the case, you might want to switch the allowance to a “rewards allowance.” Encourage your child to help out around the house with chores such as, cleaning, taking out the trash, doing the dishes or even helping with dinner.

If they meet each chore every week, you can reward them with an earned allowance. They will not only want to help out more, but they will realize you have to work for your money!

5. Have a Discussion

You can teach your child about money through games and lessons, but why not sit down and ask them what they know already? You might want to consider sitting down with your pre-teen once a week and discussing their financial goals, wants and needs. (You can track your financial goals, like building a good credit score, for free every 14 days on Credit.com.) Explain to them how much things cost and the importance of a job.

You can even teach your child about money each time you pay your bills. You don’t need to discuss numbers with them, but instead show them how to use a check, bank account and credit card. They will thank you later.

This article originally appeared on Credit.com.

5 Fun Ways to Teach Your Pre-Teen About Money is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

There’s also another reliable way to pay for it — hit up your parents.

The average cost for an in-state public college for the 2015-16 academic year averaged $24,061, and was $47,831 at private colleges, according to a survey by College Data.

Graduates may eventually cover those expenses with future earnings, but that’s years after leaving college and doesn’t help at all before starting school.

For parents who are generous enough to pay for some or all of their children’s college education, it can require some sacrifices. And I’m not just talking about taking out a loan, dipping into a retirement account or taking out some equity in your home.

Cutting vices

Some families have to make life changes to be able to afford college. These can go well beyond stopping smoking or not going out for coffee every weekday. Getting rid of your vices makes sense for more than monetary reasons, but some pleasures in life are worth keeping, even if your kid has to get a college loan or two.

Liberty Bank of Chicago recently put together a graphic (at the bottom of this post) that lists simple vices that can be cut to help struggling families save for college. The bank based the total savings amount for each item on putting the money in a savings account for 18 years that earned 3 percent interest.

It’s interesting to see how much can be saved by not doing something for 18 years — all of your child’s life. 

Cutting some vices sound like smart moves — stopping smoking can save $115,000 in New York, where cigarettes are expensive, but $62,000 elsewhere. But other cutbacks could leave you with little to do in your spare time.

No more vacations, beer or ballgames

Here are the top activities it suggests cutting, from the most money saved to the least:

• Vacation
• Cigarettes
• Dining out
• Sporting events
• Coffee
• Buying lunch
• Beer
• Wine
• Manicures
• Golfing
• Movie tickets

Not paying for annual vacations for 18 years could be enough savings to pay for two kids to attend private college. For one year.

After that, you’d have to give up dining out for dinner, Starbucks, not taking the family to any sporting events to pay  for three more years of private school for one of your kids.

For the other kid, your family would need to stop buying lunch out, drinking beer and wine, and not having manicures.

That would leave your family with money to spend on such joys as golfing and going out to the movies. That doesn’t sound like too much fun.

If you only have one child or your kids are OK going to a public college, then your costs would drop in half. That would give your family a few more “vices” to pick up again, such as drinking beer and wine and going to a few baseball games a year.

The ultimate lesson here? Maybe going to a private college isn’t such a great idea. Or if they are, find other ways to pay for it such as by working an extra job or taking out a loan so that some of the daily joys in life don’t have to be taken away.

If those aren’t aren’t viable, tell your child to do well in math or sports so they can get some sort of scholarship.

What it Costs to Give Up Your Life to Send Your Kids to College is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

Time-Management

A successful student is a prepared student. Having a planner or calendar to track due dates, lectures, labs, the little free time you may have, and, most importantly, sleep, is pivotal. For nursing school, you’ll need a watch with a second hand for taking accurate pulses. That watch can also help you stay on top of your packed schedule. Cell phones are invaluable, as they are a calendar, personal assistant, and clock all in one. Exercise caution, though, as some professors won’t be fans of your pocket-sized best friend.

Organizational Skills

In addition to staying on top of your schedule, you will also be taking in tons of new information. Taking detailed, organized notes is important. Knowing where you keep those notes is even more crucial. There are a few habits that highly effective people swear by, including a regular sleep schedule and writing everything down. Try a Bullet Journal for planning and organizing your tasks, thoughts, and schedule.

Effective Communication

The ability to express your thoughts, questions, and opinions in a concise and precise manner is crucial to succeeding in a high-stress environment like an accelerated nursing program. The best nurses know how to connect with their patients, so getting a head-start on your gift of gab can only help you. Also, being able to let your classmates and instructors know when you are confused about or have mastered a topic can help you get, or offer, necessary help.

Self-Advocacy

Speak up when you’re struggling. Nursing school can be stressful and overwhelming, so be sure to ask for help if and when you need it. Try to connect with at least one classmate, ideally another nursing student, on your first day, so you don’t feel alone and have a study buddy to help you understand tough topics; it helps if you live in the same dorm or have similar class schedules. Be sure to make use of your instructors’ office hours and any academic counseling services available, even if you do not feel you’re struggling. That open line of communication will help you succeed.

Attention to Detail

Good students, like the best nurses, are detail-oriented. Your notes should be thorough, but not so much so that the important details get lost in the mass of pages. Being able to identify and capture the important bits of information in your courses will really help you be successful. Medicine is a very precise, and incredibly fast-paced, field, so managing an accelerated program will really help prepare you for your future work environment.

Strong Work Ethic

In order to truly succeed, you have to have the desire to do so. Your education, and the corresponding workload, takes priority, which can be tough if you’re considering accelerated nursing programs in Las Vegas or other cities with a vivacious nightlife. When all of your friends and classmates are out partying, it can be hard to resist temptation, but remembering why you enrolled in an accelerated program in the first place can help you maintain your focus.

Accelerated programs are difficult, but if you fully commit yourself and manage your time well, you can succeed. Remember to use your voice because once you get your nursing license, you’ll not only have to advocate for yourself, but also for your patients.

Top Soft Skills to Make it Through an Accelerated Nursing Program is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

Most of the money to be paid by Wells Fargo through the order by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau goes to the CFPB with a $3.6 million penalty. The bank must provide $410,000 in relief to borrowers.

The federal agency found that the bank failed to provide important payment information to consumers, charged illegal fees, and failed to update inaccurate credit report information.

How Wells Fargo erred

The consent order includes a number of things Wells Fargo must do, starting with providing at least $410,000 to compensate consumers for illegal late fees.

To get their refund for such fees, students shouldn’t have to do anything. The refunds include payments for the bank failing to disclose its payment allocation practices across multiple loans in a borrower’s account, as well as for not informing consumers that they could instruct the bank to allocate payments in a different way.

Refunds will also happen for illegal fees that were charged because the bank didn’t combine partial payments made in the same billing cycle, and for fees improperly charged when borrowers made a payment on the last day of the grace period.

Misinformation on partial payments

As any borrower can do with a loan, a partial payment can be made — though they’ll likely have to pay a late fee. Still, a partial payment will help a borrower avoid some interest charges, and is better than no payment at all.

For students with multiple loans from a bank, a partial payment can satisfy at least one loan payment in an account, meaning they’d be late for other loans but not the one where the partial payment was made.

Wells Fargo’s billing statements made misrepresentations to borrowers that could have led to an increase in the cost of the loan, according to the CFPB.

It incorrectly told borrowers that paying less than the full amount due in a billing cycle wouldn’t satisfy any obligation on an account. In reality, partial payments on accounts with multiple loans may satisfy at least one loan payment in an account.

This information, the CFPB says, could have deterred borrowers from making partial payments that would have helped at least one of the loans in their account, allowing them to avoid some late fees or delinquency.

Illegal student loan late fees

Even for borrowers who made timely payments on their student loans, Wells Fargo charged certain consumers late fees, the CFPB says.

The bank charged illegal late fees to certain consumers who made payments on the last day of their grace periods, and to certain students who elected to pay their monthly amount due through multiple partial payments instead of one single payment.

Inaccurate credit reporting

The CFPB said that Wells Fargo also didn’t update and correct inaccurate, negative information reported to credit reporting companies about borrowers who made partial payments or overpayments.

Such errors could damage a consumer’s ability to access credit or make borrowing more expensive.

What Wells Fargo must do

The CFPB ordered several steps that Wells Fargo must take to deal with its illegal student loan servicing practices.

Along with paying a fine and refunding consumers, it must allocate partial payments in a way that satisfies the amount due for as many of the loans as possible, unless the borrower directs otherwise. This can help reduce the number of delinquent loans in an account, as wells as the number of late fees.

Federal student loan servicers are already under a similar and new federal policy guidance to handle partial payments.

The bank is also required to improve its billing statements so that disclosures are made to explain how the bank allocates payments and how borrowers can direct payments to any of the loans in their student loan account.

Wells Fargo is also required to remove any negative student loan information that has been inaccurately or incompletely provided to a consumer reporting company.

Widespread student loan problems

Last year the CFPB issued a report about widespread servicing failures reported by student loan borrowers, adding to the problems that one in four student loan borrowers have by being in default or struggling to pay their loans.

Student loans make up the nation’s second largest consumer debt market, with 40 million federal and private student loan borrowers who collectively owe about $1.3 trillion.

Wells Fargo is a private lender, doing business in student loans as Educational Financial Services. It originates and services private student loans to 1.3 million customers in all 50 states.

Last year the CFPB found that more than 8 million borrowers are in default on more than $110 billion in student loans, which the CFPB says may be driven by breakdowns in student loan servicing.

Private student loans account for $100 billion of all outstanding student loans. While that’s a small portion of the market, the consumer agency found that they are generally used by borrowers with high levels of debt who also have federal loans.

What to Do if You Got Illegal Student Loan Service from Wells Fargo is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.