Does anybody know if american banks offer private loans to foreign students without the requirement of an american co-signer?

Hi BABC,
It used to be available before through sereval banks (citi, BoA, hsbc, wamu..to name few). but everything got canceled last fall due to economic downturn. now its hard to find a bank or a private funder willing to loan an amount to the international student EVEN with a cosigner. i guess at this time sallymae is the one if not the only source of funding. hope this helps.

Unfortunately, this option is neither currently nor in past available for foreign students without any US citizen or permanent residents co-signator. As in the previous post mentioned, this option of loan was available only through cosigner and not directly to foreign students because banks determine the loan conditions and related interest rates on top of prime rates on ones credit history and a foreign students has no credit history when he enters for study, unless he has been to US and stayed for sometime before and hold some years of history. Further, as correctly suggested in the post above even these options are no longer easily available due to credit crunch and depressed financial situations and banks showing less inclination towards students needs these days.

Thanks for thr info LLM 09-10 and lastlear...LLM 09-10 , are you sure sallymae does not require a co-signer?thanks again

As far as I know, Sallie Mae asks for social security number... which I don`t have...

Hi BABC,
What I meant was sallymae is the ONLY option for international students to obtain any loan amount for study purposes. And it does require a US cosigner. Banks and private funders all canceled their international student loan line due to the economic crisis. At this point, even if you have a US cosigner, you will not be able to obtain any loan anywhere else besides sallymae given that you are an international applicant. As to the social security number, sallymae does not require one. As long as your cosigner has a good credit record, you are eligible to get a loan. They will assign you a temporarily, administrative social security number at the time your loan gets approved.

I have read that Harvard is offering loans to foreign students without the co-signer requirement ...I hope the other schools follow the example...

Yes, BABC..I am 100% sure Sallie Mae only gives educational loans to foreign students through a US based cosigner (Citizen or PR). There is no other way to obtain these loans. They need some sort of colateral or guarantee in order to facilitate these disbursements to foreign candidates. I suggest you to visit their webpage, gather the informations and if possible speak to them on toll free number. You can get pretty good idea whats their current policy is these days.But I know for sure, they have this requirement in order because if they don't ask for this, whats the guarantee that a foreigner will pay back if he does not get a job and leaves country after a year of study. And if that happens then atleast they have a US guarantor to recover it from.
A foreign students gets a Social Security Number within a month of enterning in United States on student visa The school will guide you through the process and ask you to sumbit the required form and one can recieve the card withing couple of weeks.