Discover Bar Study Loan Review - Learn more on Discover, Learn more to Discover

Are you a Law Student who is facing financial difficulties to meet the expenses of your Bar Study?

Then here is what you can do: You can seek Bar Study loans. Private lenders offer such loans, like the Discover Bar Study Loan. You can deal with the expenses related to your Bars Studies such as preparatory expenses, Bar exam fees, other associated fees, and living expenses.

Table of contents

Understanding the Bar study loan
Who is Discover
Discover Bar Study Loan
Eligibility
Features
How to apply
Repayment
Refinancing
Pros and Cons
Alternate lender
Concluding thoughts

Bar Study Loan

Law Students who fall short of financial support to continue their Bar Studies in the U.S. may find their way for money by applying for Bar Study Loan. Bar Study Loans are offered by many lenders in the U.S.The borrower of this loan can use the loan amount as assistance to fulfill their Bar Study-related expenses.

Bar Study Loans offered by different lenders may vary according to the policies that they keep up. Different lenders offer a different loan amount and at different interest rates and with different repayment time.

Who is Discover?

Discover is one of the top private lending firms of the U.S.They are working to become the leading direct bank and payments service company. They claim to have a mission of helping people to manage their debts, spend smarter and save more for a brighter future. Discover offers Personal loans, Student Loans, and Home Equity Loans. Discover also provides banking and credit products to their clientele to help them successfully reach their goals by establishing good credits, which makes it easy for them to get loans or to get their loans consolidated.

Learn more about discover student loans

Discover Bar Study Loan

Discover provides different kinds of loans. Under Student Loans, they offer a special category of loans for the Law Students who seek financial support mainly for their Bar Study and preparation classes.

Discover Bar Study Loan is facilitated for the Law Students of the U.S. to make their Bars Study easier.

Discover Bars Study Loan is more like any other private student loan. Discover hold the sole control over lending the Discover Bar Study Loans and collecting them back. Students striving to pay their fees and manage their expenses for Bar Study can opt for Discover Bar Study Loan.

Worried about your college tuition? Find the best student loan suited for you

Am I Eligible to apply for Discover Bar Study Loan?

Check out the following criteria that you must qualify as a valid borrower, before applying for the Discover Bar Study Loan.

Academic Eligibility: While applying for the Discover Bar Study Loan you must be enrolled in the final year of your study in a graduate law degree program, or have graduated from a law school within the past 6 months.
Citizenship Eligibility: Like any other student loans Discover Bar Study Loan also expects a few criteria regarding the citizenship of the applicant. Discover allows the applicant to borrow Bar Study Loan if the applicant is a U.S citizen. If not, the applicant must be a permanent resident of the U.S. or an international student.

Credits: When you apply for a Bar Study Loan at Discover, they check your credit scores to make that you have a good credit history.
Cosigner: A Cosigner is not required while applying for the Discover Bar Study loan if the applicant has a good credit score and is a citizen of U.S, or is a permanent resident of U.S. Students with no credit history or a low credit score have to apply with a creditworthy cosigner to get eligible for the loan. But an international student even with a good credit score must have a cosigner while applying for the Discover Bar Study Loan.

Age: It is important that the applicant must be of the eligible age at the time of applying for the loan. The applicant should be at least 16 years old to qualify for the Discover Bar Study Loan.

Core characteristics of Discover Bar Study Loan

The contents of the table provide details about the main features of the Discover Bar Study Loan.

Features	Description
Zero Charges	That means you need not pay any fees for your loan application, organization or late fee.
Maximum Loan	Under the Discover Bar Study Loan, you can borrow upto $16000.You can also borrow as small as $1000.
Interest rate options	The Fixed interest rates are 12.47%. The variable rates are in the range of 6.73% - 11.37
Repayment term	The Discover Bar Study Loans are all on a 20 years repayment term.
Auto-debit rewards	You get a 0.25% reduction on the interest rate if you enrolled in automatic payment.

How to apply for discover bar study loans

It is advised to compare the loan options among the lenders so you can choose small interest rates. Bar loans are usually credit-based therefore higher the credit score lower the rate of interest.
Lenders usually expect you to apply for a loan in the last semester or up to 12 months after graduation so that you can work within 12 months of graduation.
In bar loans usually, the loan amount is directly disbursed to the student.
Bar loan repayment duration can be up to 20 years, if you pay the amount ASAP you can save paying the interest amount. Repayments usually start after the grace periods.
Refinancing law school loans can help you repay the bar loans quicker.If you choose to apply for forgiveness programs and federal income repayments, refinancing may not be an option.

Repayment of Discover Bar Study Loan

The borrower has to make the scheduled payments during the repayment period. The borrower is expected to repay the principal balance along with the interest on a loan. The borrower will be given a repayment period of 20 years. If the borrower is allowed with a deferment period then the repayment period counts to 20 years after the deferment period.

The payments can start when you are in school. The payment methods are as follows,

In-School Interest-Only Payment- This allows the borrower to pay only interests as monthly payments while the borrower is in school and also during the grace period to reduce the overall loan cost and get a 0.35% discount on the interest rate.
In-School Fixed Payment - Under this payment method the borrower is supposed to make fixed payments of $25 every month when in school and during the grace period to reduce the overall loan amount.
Deferred Payment - The borrower gets a relaxation/deferment period of 9 months from the graduation day if the borrower had requested deferment and it’s been allowed by the lender. The borrower need not make any payments during the deferment period.

Note: Make payments anytime, even when you are in school, that can help you reduce the overall cost of your loan. Even if your interest rates seem low, on the long term they become too high. And those who borrow Discover Bar Study Loans with higher rates of interest must try to repay their debt as quick as possible.

Refinancing Student loans through Discover

As a law student, you might possess multiple Student loans and you may be struggling to manage all of them at once. You can solve this by combining all of them into one by getting it refinanced by a single lender(Discover) under Discover BarStudy Loan. And Refinancing helps you put more money back into your budget. Discover consolidates your multiple student loans and offers you a single student loan with different interest rates. The fixed and variable interest rates are as follows,

Fixed Rates for Consolidated Student Loan - 3.99 - 6.99
Variable Rates for Consolidated Student Loan - 3.99 - 7.24

Consolidation provides you with,

Simplified loan
Low monthly payment
Low-interest rates
Loan without cosigner
Know more if you are interested in consolidating and refinancing with Discover.

Pros and Cons

The table shown below features some of the major Pros and Cons of the Discover Bar Study Loan.

Pros	Cons
No application fees, organization fees, and late fees. Auto-Debit Rewards: borrowers who are enrolled in automatic payments get a 0.25% discount on their interest rates. When compared to other lenders Discover provides more flexible repayment options. At Discover, there is a chance that you get a reduced interest rate if you apply with a creditworthy cosigner.	A hard credit check is a must for you to know if you will qualify for the loan and what the interest rates are. The available repayment terms are only 20 years. The repayment period provided for Discover Bar Study Loan is less when compared to the terms provided by other lenders. Cosigner release not available.

Before applying for any loan, check out the pros and cons associated with it.

What to do when bar loans are rejected?

If your bar loans have been rejected due to bad credit score or no cosigner. Do the following.

Check for alternatives like federal student loans, scholarships, etc. You can also opt to work while you study. You can opt for a collateral loan - in this case, you may need to pledge any asset. Ideally, for collateral loans, interest rates are less.

Other lenders for Bar Study Loan

Although Discover offers Bar Study Loans with a good loan amount, interest rates, and decent repayment terms there are other lenders who provide Bar Study Loans with a little more benefits.

Lenders like Sallie Mae, PNC, and Citizen Bank offer Annual Principle Rates lesser than the rate offered by Discover for Bar Study Loan.

Here is a comparison among a few top Bar Study Loan lenders of the U.S.

Lender	Annual Principal Rate(ARP)	Loan Amount
Sallie Mae	4.64% – 11.56%	$1,000 – $15,000
PNC	4.67% – 11.87%	$1,000 – $15,000
Citizens Bank	6.15% – 12.80%	$1,000 – $16,000
Discover	6.37% – 12.74%	$1,000 – $16,000
Wells Fargo	11.56% – 12.67%	$1,000 – $12,000

Always compare among the loan and lender options to select the best that suits your requirements.

Concluding Thoughts

Discover Bar Study Loan is one of the best options that you can choose for your Bar Study. That doesn’t mean that you have to opt for Discover always. You can go through the benefits, terms and conditions of other similar lenders as well, and choose the best among them that you think may satisfy your requirements and eases your repayment. If you do not qualify for a Bar Study Loan offered by the leading lenders, then Discover bar study loan is the best choice to go.

If this loan does not seem right for you, then we advise you to check out these

Bar Study Loans

To get in touch with Discover, refer to the contact details listed below.