How to Arrange a Student Loan through Virgin Money

Conventional student loans don't really do the trick in terms of covering tuition, room, board, books, and the other costs of a college education. You can ask mom and dad for help, but increasingly, the 'rents are expecting the loan to be paid back (seems fair!). Here's how Virgin Money's social networking loan service can be of assistance.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Virgin Money (a Richard Branson company, as is Virgin Airlines) is a "personal loan management" service. Check out their website (see Resource links, below).
2. Virgin Money allows groups of people to set up and formally structure a loan. One or several parties lend money at an agreed-upon rate of interest and repayment schedule. The recipient of the loan agrees to the conditions, just as he or she would at a bank.
3. It's possible, at Virgin Money, to borrow funds from strangers. But for a student loan, we'll focus on borrowing from your personal network of family and friends. The advantages of a formal set-up are that (a) you can reach out easily to a broad circle of acquaintances, and (b) everyone is comfortable understanding exactly what is expected, and when. See Resources, below, for more information on student loans at Virgin Money.
4. Many of the student loans at Virgin Money are structured at zero interest! This is an option that works with family members, but you'd hardly expect to see this from a bank!
5. There are fees involved to set up and maintain a loan at Virgin Money. They are fairly minimal (as is paperwork), but still, you should certainly be aware of what's required. The Resources, below, will provide additional details on the actual requirements.
6. Lastly, there are other social networking (peer to peer) loan services, such as prosper.com and greennote.com These operate in a similar way to Virgin Money, but there are differences as well. Again, the Resource links directly below will provide all the information you need.