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NEWS BRIEFS
Private college groups launch web loan tool in Ky., Ohio
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Private, nonprofit colleges in Ohio and 11 other states have launched a new web tool to help students find private loans for school.
C. Todd Jones, an Ohio official who helped develop the website called The Marketplace, said students can find it daunting to shop for bank or credit union loans needed to fill the gap between government grants or scholarships and the cost of attending college.
"The big difference in this is that it will now allow a transparent marketplace where students can find out how much they are going to be charged for their loan before they make a loan application, and they won't have their credit rating dinged five times," said Jones, president of the Association of Independent Colleges & Universities of Ohio.
Jones said The Marketplace service saves lenders overhead costs so they're able to eliminate fees and markups that can surprise student borrowers.
The online loan comparison and shopping service is operating in Ohio, California, Maryland, Oregon, Pennsylvania, New York, Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee and Alabama.
Jones said he and his counterparts in California and Maryland conceived the web tool about two years ago and hired Overture Technologies of Bethesda, Md., to build it.
