This information is intended for lenders, marketing partners and schools considering using the Student Loan Marketplace. If you are a student or consumer, please go to our marketing partners' sites.
Significant changes in the student lending industry have created new opportunities for students to get more information about borrowing options. To help students sort through the wide range of options available to them, FinAid.org has published a list of standards for loan comparison sites, which may be viewed here.
While there are many options for students to choose from, comparison sites powered by Overture’s Student Loan Marketplace provide unique advantages for students, schools and lenders. To learn more about these advantages, click on the categories below.
The Marketplace provides a complete set of key information about the loan terms of each product presented to students. When private loans are displayed, students view an “apples-to-apples” listing of all costs and fees with the option to sort by total cost, APR or monthly payment, allowing them to effectively compare loan options.
The Marketplace provides students with the ability to compare and select reliable financing options rather than "as low as" advertisements. By viewing reliable loan terms side-by-side, students will be better able to make informed decisions for their individual situations.
By only using one credit check to match loan terms for all participating lenders, the Marketplace is designed to help protect students’ credit scores. Many other systems send out user information to multiple lenders, each of which might obtain a credit report, which can damage a consumer’s credit score.
As the Marketplace maintains lenders’ credit guidelines within its decisioning engine to match with user information, students’ and parents’ private information remains within the system and is not sent to any lender other than the one chosen by the user.
The Marketplace is an open network of lenders that allows schools to provide their students with meaningful guidance in a safe and trustworthy environment. The Marketplace is able to match loan products to students, providing transparency that is unprecedented in the private student loan market. The student is then free to select a loan product and apply with a lender.
The Marketplace can be configured with school-specific information about policies, deadlines, academic programs and grade levels to ensure that students are presented with tailored loan options. Schools also have the option of preserving the advisory role played by financial aid administrators as students consider their loan options by providing ratings and guidance.
The Marketplace places a priority on borrower education. The process of obtaining a private loan to fund a student’s education can be complex and confusing, and the Marketplace helps to alleviate the student’s burden by providing in-depth help text for key information within the borrower experience. Additionally, borrowers are encouraged throughout the Marketplace to engage in smart borrowing practices, including maximizing scholarships, grants and federal loans before applying for a private loan, and using a co-signer on their loans.
The Marketplace delivers to lenders only consumers that match lending criteria, thereby improving conversion rates and customer satisfaction. This process improvement is accomplished because the Marketplace matches potential borrowers with lenders' specific loan products based on a full review of the consumer’s credit report and consumer data.
Overture’s system maintains guidelines for each participating lender's loan programs and pricing. These guidelines are approved by the lender. When a student submits an inquiry, the Overture system obtains a credit report and matches the student with all loan products for which he or she appears to qualify based on the submitted information. Because the Overture system is robust and rigorous, we believe the results presented are very likely to be identical to the results the student or parent would obtain from the lenders directly, but this is not guaranteed. Upon selection of a particular loan product, the system will transmit the consumer's information to the lender to complete the process.
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