deferring loans from Citibank - 4 year max

[browneyedgirl]

I searched but didn't see this anywhere on the forum, and I'm hoping this is useful information for some of you:

I have a (small-ish) graduate loan from Citibank that I took out to cover some costs of my MA about six years ago. I'm currently about to start the fifth year of my Ph.D., and was quite surprised to find out that they have a four-year in-school deferment policy. This became news to me a few days ago, when I asked why my loan was in repayment, thinking it had something to do with summer.

I can thankfully afford the payments, as they're small, but I'm sure there are people with much larger loans from Citibank. If you're one of those people, and you're planning to be in a graduate program for more than four years, beware that you'll need to deal with this issue (they do offer economic hardship programs, so those might cover the remaining years, but I didn't ask about that).

I was also informed by the manager with whom I spoke today that they have a one-time six-month grace period when you're finished with school - I used mine after my MA was finished, so even if the deferment were to continue, I'd have to start repaying immediately after graduation.

[Chronos]

Wow I did not know this. Thanks for posting. Luckily I also didn't take out too much from them. But SallieMae... that's a different story.