alternative consolidation loan student

First Marblehead sinks as B of A defection reported

NEW YORK (Reuters) - First Marblehead Corp. (FMD.N: Quote, Profile, Research) shares fell as much as 12.9 percent on Thursday after an analyst said Bank of America Corp. (BAC.N: Quote, Profile, Research), one of its largest customers, is outsourcing new private student loan products to a competitor.

Matt Snowling, an analyst at Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co., said the No. 2 U.S. bank is outsourcing the products to EduCap Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that has been facilitating Bank of America-branded loans since late May.

The analyst said the bank accounts for 27 percent of Boston-based First Marblehead's loans.

"While it is impossible to determine the impact to earnings, the fact that one of First Marblehead's longstanding partners chose a competitor raises issues regarding the company's vulnerability to competitors and pricing," Snowling wrote.

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College search center a big help to students

It is housed in a kiosk not much bigger than a walk-in closet, but the College Planning Center of Rhode Island, at the Warwick Mall, is overflowing with information that can help make the college-search process a lot less daunting.

Best of all, the information's free.

A division of the nonprofit Rhode Island Student Loan Authority, the center is staffed by former college-admissions and financial-aid officers who can walk students and their families through the process of applying for financial aid, developing a college list, writing college essays and more.

About 4,000 students stop by the center's mall location each year, with an additional couple of thousand seeking assistance either by phone or at one of the organization's three satellite outreach programs, according to director David DeBlois.

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