Note that many student loan lenders and servicers are offering relief options during the coronavirus outbreak, so be sure to also check out our Student Loan Hero Coronavirus Information Center for additional news and details.
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Today, almost 45 million Americans hold more than $1.64 trillion student loan debt — yes, trillion with a “T.” As student loan debt has turned into a full-fledged crisis, student loan refinancing companies have emerged to provide relief to student loan borrowers. Through one of these private lenders, you could refinance federal student loans or private ones for better rates and terms.
With a better interest rate, you could not only save money, but you could also use those savings to make extra payments on your loans and get out of debt faster. Or, if your payments are too burdensome, you could select a longer term to obtain a lower monthly payment on your student loans.
- How much money can you save by refinancing federal student loans?
- Do you plan on using any federal repayment options?
- What are the potential new repayment terms from refinancing?
- Student Loan Hero’s recommendation
3 questions to determine if you should refinance federal student loans
While refinancing can be a major financial improvement to those who qualify, there’s one (big) caveat.
When you refinance your federal student loans with a private lender, you forfeit most federal student loan protections. Student loan refinance companies can refinance both federal and private student loans, but given this one potential issue, many borrowers often ask us: Should I refinance my federal student loans?
Read on for tips and tricks to help you decide.
1. How much money can you save by refinancing federal student loans?
When you refinance federal student loans, you give up benefits such as income-driven repayment plans and loan forgiveness, so it’s important to analyze if the risk/reward of refinancing makes sense.
Refinancing your federal student loans may get you a better interest rate if you qualify, and save you money, but how much could you save by refinancing? Be sure to run the numbers with our student loan refinancing calculator.
Student loans most likely to benefit from refinancing include Grad PLUS and Parent PLUS loans, which bear relatively high interest rates ranging all the way into the double digits, depending on the year you obtained them.
Most student loan refinancing companies allow you to check your prospective rate before filling out a full application. Checking your interest rate will typically result in a “soft” credit pull and won’t affect your credit score. Prequalifying lets you shop for your best terms and calculate how much you could save without hurting your credit.
2. Do you plan on using any federal repayment options?
The federal government has created several income-driven repayment plans, which lower monthly payments, to make repayment more manageable for federal student loan borrowers. These programs include Income-Based Repayment (IBR), Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR), Pay As You Earn (PAYE), and the Revised Pay As You Earn (REPAYE) plan.
Some of these plans are need-based and only available to certain eligible borrowers. Others are available to most federal student loan borrowers. While there are definite downsides to an income-driven plan (such as paying more in interest or getting hit with a tax bill after loan forgiveness), these plans can be a lifesaver if you lose your job, experience economic hardship, or simply need the lowest possible payment.
Also, if you work as a federal employee or for a specific not-for-profit employer, you may be eligible for student loan forgiveness after making consistent payments over a set period. Consider these three examples:
By opting to refinance your federal loans, you are no longer eligible for any of these repayment plans or loan forgiveness programs through the federal government.
If you have a high debt load, it is usually a safer bet to keep your federal loans, along with the option to apply for alternative repayment plans if needed.
If you are confident in your ability to repay your loans over your given repayment term and are seeking to maximize savings, and you also have a good credit score and healthy income, refinancing your federal loans could be a wise option.
3. What are the potential new repayment terms from refinancing?
If you’re thinking of refinancing your federal student loans, it’s crucial to compare your repayment terms. Be sure to look at your:
- Repayment period (or how long you will be paying your loans)
- Interest rate
- Monthly payment
For federal student loans, you can have anywhere from 10 to 30 years (for consolidated loans) to repay your loans. Refinancing companies typically offer repayment terms ranging from five to 20 years.
Also note that federal loans are fixed-rate loans and guaranteed to maintain the same interest rate during repayment.
Private lenders, on the other hand, offer both fixed and variable interest rates. These options can either hurt you or help you, depending on current and future interest rate market conditions. It is typically a safer bet to choose a fixed-rate loan, but you can also realize additional interest savings with a variable rate loan in a low-interest rate market.
If you do choose to refinance your federal student loans, understand what impact it may have on your monthly payment as well. You’ll want to make a side-by-side comparison of your repayment terms to understand if refinancing will truly benefit you in the end.
Student Loan Hero’s recommendation:
Deciding to refinance your federal student loans can be a big decision. There’s no doubt that refinancing can be helpful for private student loan borrowers, but given the repayment flexibility and loan forgiveness options the federal government provides, it’s a tougher decision to make regarding federal student loans.
So what do we recommend? If you recently graduated, are underemployed or thinking of changing jobs, we recommend keeping your existing federal loans due to the generous repayment options available until you stabilize your employment situation.
However, If you are in a comfortable and secure financial and employment position, have good credit and are seeking to eliminate your student loan debt as fast as possible, we recommend examining refinancing as a viable option.
Rebecca Safier contributed to this article.
Interested in refinancing student loans?
Here are the top 9 lenders of 2021!| Lender | Variable APR | Eligible Degrees | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | 1.88% – 6.15%1 | Undergrad & Graduate | |
 | 1.88% – 5.64%2 | Undergrad & Graduate | |
 | 2.50% – 6.85%3 | Undergrad & Graduate | |
 | 1.89% – 5.90%4 | Undergrad & Graduate | |
 | 2.25% – 6.39%5 | Undergrad & Graduate | |
 | 1.88% – 5.64%6 | Undergrad & Graduate | |
 | 1.90% – 5.25%7 | Undergrad & Graduate | |
 | 2.39% – 6.01% | Undergrad & Graduate | |
 | 2.13% – 5.25%8 | Undergrad & Graduate | |
| Check out the testimonials and our in-depth reviews! 1 Important Disclosures for Splash Financial. Splash Financial DisclosuresTerms and Conditions apply. Splash reserves the right to modify or discontinue products and benefits at any time without notice. Rates and terms are also subject to change at any time without notice. Offers are subject to credit approval. To qualify, a borrower must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident in an eligible state and meet applicable underwriting requirements. Not all borrowers receive the lowest rate. Lowest rates are reserved for the highest qualified borrowers. If approved, your actual rate will be within a range of rates and will depend on a variety of factors, including term of loan, a responsible financial history, income and other factors. Refinancing or consolidating private and federal student loans may not be the right decision for everyone. Federal loans carry special benefits not available for loans made through Splash Financial, for example, public service loan forgiveness and economic hardship programs, fee waivers and rebates on the principal, which may not be accessible to you after you refinance. The rates displayed may include a 0.25% autopay discount The information you provide to us is an inquiry to determine whether we or our lenders can make a loan offer that meets your needs. If we or any of our lending partners has an available loan offer for you, you will be invited to submit a loan application to the lender for its review. We do not guarantee that you will receive any loan offers or that your loan application will be approved. Offers are subject to credit approval and are available only to U.S. citizens or permanent residents who meet applicable underwriting requirements. Not all borrowers will receive the lowest rates, which are available to the most qualified borrowers. Participating lenders, rates and terms are subject to change at any time without notice. To check the rates and terms you qualify for, Splash Financial conducts a soft credit pull that will not affect your credit score. However, if you choose a product and continue your application, the lender will request your full credit report from one or more consumer reporting agencies, which is considered a hard credit pull and may affect your credit. Splash Financial and our lending partners reserve the right to modify or discontinue products and benefits at any time without notice. To qualify, a borrower must be a U.S. citizen and meet our lending partner’s underwriting requirements. Lowest rates are reserved for the highest qualified borrowers. This information is current as of June 1, 2021. 2 Rate range above includes optional 0.25% Auto Pay discount. Important Disclosures for Earnest. Earnest DisclosuresInterest Rate Disclosure Actual rate and available repayment terms will vary based on your income. Fixed rates range from 2.59% APR to 5.79% APR (excludes 0.25% Auto Pay discount). Variable rates range from 1.88% APR to 5.64% APR (excludes 0.25% Auto Pay discount). For variable rate loans, although the interest rate will vary after you are approved, the interest rate will never exceed 36% (the maximum allowable for these loans). Earnest variable interest rate student loan refinance loans are based on a publicly available index, the one month London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). Your rate will be calculated each month by adding a margin between 2.04% and 5.8% to the one month LIBOR. Earnest rate ranges are current as of 6/8/2021, and are subject to change based on market conditions. Auto Pay Discount Disclosure You can take advantage of the Auto Pay interest rate reduction by setting up and maintaining active and automatic ACH withdrawal of your loan payment. The interest rate reduction for Auto Pay will be available only while your loan is enrolled in Auto Pay. Interest rate incentives for utilizing Auto Pay may not be combined with certain private student loan repayment programs that also offer an interest rate reduction. For multi-party loans, only one party may enroll in Auto Pay. Student Loan Refinancing Loan Cost Examples These examples provide estimates based on payments beginning immediately upon loan disbursement. Variable APR: A $10,000 loan with a 20-year term (240 monthly payments of $72) and a 5.89% APR would result in a total estimated payment amount of $17,042.39. For a variable loan, after your starting rate is set, your rate will then vary with the market. Fixed APR: A $10,000 loan with a 20-year term (240 monthly payments of $72) and a 6.04% APR would result in a total estimated payment amount of $17,249.77. Your actual repayment terms may vary.Terms and Conditions apply. Visit https://www.earnest. com/terms-of-service, e-mail us at [email protected], or call 888-601-2801 for more information on our student loan refinance product. Earnest Loans are made by Earnest Operations LLC or One American Bank, Member FDIC. Earnest Operations LLC, NMLS #1204917. 535 Mission St., Suite 1663, San Francisco, CA 94105. California Financing Law License 6054788. Visit earnest.com/licenses for a full list of licensed states. For California residents (Student Loan Refinance Only): Loans will be arranged or made pursuant to a California Financing Law License. One American Bank, 515 S. Minnesota Ave, Sioux Falls, SD 57104. Earnest loans are serviced by Earnest Operations LLC with support from Navient Solutions LLC (NMLS #212430). One American Bank and Earnest LLC and its subsidiaries are not sponsored by or agencies of the United States of America. © 2021 Earnest LLC. All rights reserved. 3 Important Disclosures for CommonBond. CommonBond DisclosuresOffered terms are subject to change and state law restriction. Loans are offered by CommonBond Lending, LLC (NMLS # 1175900), NMLS Consumer Access. If you are approved for a loan, the interest rate offered will depend on your credit profile, your application, the loan term selected and will be within the ranges of rates shown. All Annual Percentage Rates (APRs) displayed assume borrowers enroll in auto pay and account for the 0.25% reduction in interest rate. All variable rates are based on a 1-month LIBOR assumption of 0.15% effective Jan 1, 2021 and may increase after consummation. 4 Important Disclosures for Laurel Road. Laurel Road DisclosuresAll credit products are subject to credit approval. Laurel Road began originating student loans in 2013 and has since helped thousands of professionals with undergraduate and postgraduate degrees consolidate and refinance more than $4 billion in federal and private school loans. Laurel Road also offers a suite of online graduate school loan products and personal loans that help simplify lending through customized technology and personalized service. In April 2019, Laurel Road was acquired by KeyBank, one of the nation’s largest bank-based financial services companies. Laurel Road is a brand of KeyBank National Association offering online lending products in all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. All loans are provided by KeyBank National Association, a nationally chartered bank. Member FDIC. For more information, visit www.laurelroad.com. As used throughout these Terms & Conditions, the term “Lender” refers to KeyBank National Association and its affiliates, agents, guaranty insurers, investors, assigns, and successors in interest.
Assumptions: Repayment examples above assume a loan amount of $10,000 with repayment beginning immediately following disbursement. Repayment examples do not include the 0.25% AutoPay Discount. Annual Percentage Rate (“APR”): This term represents the actual cost of financing to the borrower over the life of the loan expressed as a yearly rate. Interest Rate: A simple annual rate that is applied to an unpaid balance. Variable Rates: The current index for variable rate loans is derived from the one-month London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) and changes in the LIBOR index may cause your monthly payment to increase. Borrowers who take out a term of 5, 7, or 10 years will have a maximum interest rate of 9%, those who take out a 15 or 20-year variable loan will have a maximum interest rate of 10%. KEYBANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION RESERVES THE RIGHT TO MODIFY OR DISCONTINUE PRODUCTS AND BENEFITS AT ANY TIME WITHOUT NOTICE. This information is current as of April 29, 2021. Information and rates are subject to change without notice. 5 Important Disclosures for SoFi. SoFi DisclosuresFixed rates from 2.74% APR to 6.74% APR (with autopay). Variable rates from 2.25% APR to 6.39% APR (with autopay). All variable rates are based on the 1-month LIBOR and may increase after consummation if LIBOR increases; see more at SoFi.com/legal/#1. If approved for a loan your rate will depend on a variety of factors such as your credit profile, your application and your selected loan terms. Your rate will be within the ranges of rates listed above. Lowest rates reserved for the most creditworthy borrowers. SoFi refinance loans are private loans and do not have the same repayment options that the federal loan program offers, or may become available, such as Income Based Repayment or Income Contingent Repayment or PAYE. SoFi loans are originated by SoFi Lending Corp. or an affiliate (dba SoFi), a lender licensed by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation under the California Financing Law, license #6054612; NMLS #1121636 (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org). Additional terms and conditions apply; see SoFi.com/eligibility for details. SOFI RESERVES THE RIGHT TO MODIFY OR DISCONTINUE PRODUCTS AND BENEFITS AT ANY TIME WITHOUT NOTICE. 6 Important Disclosures for Navient. 7 Important Disclosures for LendKey. LendKey DisclosuresRefinancing via LendKey.com is only available for applicants with qualified private education loans from an eligible institution. Loans that were used for exam preparation classes, including, but not limited to, loans for LSAT, MCAT, GMAT, and GRE preparation, are not eligible for refinancing with a lender via LendKey.com. If you currently have any of these exam preparation loans, you should not include them in an application to refinance your student loans on this website. Applicants must be either U.S. citizens or Permanent Residents in an eligible state to qualify for a loan. Certain membership requirements (including the opening of a share account and any applicable association fees in connection with membership) may apply in the event that an applicant wishes to accept a loan offer from a credit union lender. Lenders participating on LendKey.com reserve the right to modify or discontinue the products, terms, and benefits offered on this website at any time without notice. LendKey Technologies, Inc. is not affiliated with, nor does it endorse, any educational institution. Subject to floor rate and may require the automatic payments be made from a checking or savings account with the lender. The rate reduction will be removed and the rate will be increased by 0.25% upon any cancellation or failed collection attempt of the automatic payment and will be suspended during any period of deferment or forbearance. As a result, during the forbearance or suspension period, and/or if the automatic payment is canceled, any increase will take the form of higher payments. The lowest advertised variable APR is only available for loan terms of 5 years and is reserved for applicants with FICO scores of at least 810. As of 04/07/2021 student loan refinancing rates range from 1.90% APR – 5.25% Variable APR with AutoPay and 2.95% APR – 7.63% Fixed APR with AutoPay. 8 Important Disclosures for PenFed. PenFed DisclosuresAnnual Percentage Rate (APR) is the cost of credit calculating the interest rate, loan amount, repayment term and the timing of payments. Fixed Rates range from 2.89%-4.78% APR and Variable Rates range from 2.13%-5.25% APR. Both Fixed and Variable Rates will vary based on application terms, level of degree and presence of a co-signer. These rates are subject to additional terms and conditions and rates are subject to change at any time without notice. For Variable Rate student loans, the rate will never exceed 9.00% for 5 year and 8 year loans and 10.00% for 12 and 15 years loans (the maximum allowable for this loan). Minimum variable rate will be 2.00%. These rates are subject to additional terms and conditions, and rates are subject to change at any time without notice. Such changes will only apply to applications taken after the effective date of change. |
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