Frequently Asked Questions About Student Loans Refi

This is the current lowest rate that each lenders offer at the moment.   This entirely depends on the total loan balance, variable or fixed and the duration of your loan term (how quickly you want to pay off the loan), in addition to other factors such as income to debt, credit scores, etc.

In general, most OD refinancing their 20 years Federal loans at 6.8% will get the lowest offered rate at such as ~2.25%, if they have good credit score and sign up for a variable rate at 5 years. 

Some individuals will get the rates if they qualify, while some won’t.  With every lender we have had reports of colleagues getting the lowest rates as well as some that didn’t. Ultimately the decision is the lenders and not ours.  But great news, every single lender will work directly with you to see how you can improve your application.

When you refinancing your student loans with a private lender, it will change the existing terms with regards to interest rate and time to repay.

Consolidation basically converts multiple loans into one resulting in an average, single weighted interest rate. Often making it easier to track of. Consolidating is usually offered with your Federal Loan program. 

Fixed interest rates stay the same for the entire term of the loan. Your minimum monthly payment will always be the same.  Variable interest rates tend to be lower than fixed interest rates at least initially. They typically change based on federal interest rates. Therefore, your monthly payment could change over the course of the loan.

Just think of a fixed rate, as “insurance against increasing rates” and your “premium” is the higher interest rate. Fixed is usually better but it doesn’t make much of a significant difference mathematically if you are able to pay off your loans within 5 years.

Yes. There is no limit to how often you refinance your loans. But, you should only so if it makes sense since as saving 1% or greater interest rate. Other reasons to refinance your student loans would be to change the term or monthly payment (thus usually a lower interest rate), and to remove a co-signer.

If you are refinancing AGAIN with the same lender, certain banks such as First Republic will require you to have a certain bank deposit and/or certain number of referrals to waive a refinancing fee.  Please consult with your loan advisor.  

If you refinance again with a new bank, you are eligible for ANOTHER cash bonus. Usually the cash bonus is for new applicants only.  A lot of ODs do this as a form of "Refi Hack" 

No. You can pick and choose which loans you want to refinance. If your loans have multiple interest rates, we recommend only refinancing those that would result in a lower interest rate. 

ABSOLUTELY NOT. Once you refinance your student loans, you are no longer eligible for federal loan forgiveness programs including the 10 years Public Service Loan Forgiveness program and 20-25 Total forgiveness after making income-driven payments after 20-25 years. 

So if you are pursuing any of these programs, we do NOT recommend student refinancing. 

Only certain lenders will offer full loan forgiveness. This depends on the specific refinance company. For our partners, currently only Sofi, Earnest, Brazos, and Commonbond will forgive your loans if you die or become disabled.

For LendKey and Credible, it depends on the specific lender selected during your application, so they will let you know during the application process. Please check directly with each lenders.

First Republic will NOT forgive your loans if you die or become disabled.

Here is a updated List for Refi Lenders for Death/Disability (2021)

Generally no, but some income-based payments options are available during time of hardships for certain banks. The only one that we are aware of is First Republic, Earnest and Common-bond but it is usually for a few months. However, some companies may make accommodations on a case-by-case basis. 

Thus, If you require income-based payments or anticipate a need in the near future, you should not refinance your federal loans.

Generally in the past, it used to be no. But private lenders have made some significant changes some of its policies to accommodate recent borrowers. 

SoFi does offer loan deferment for borrowers who in school (graduate degree only), disability rehabilitation training, unemployment, economic hardship such as (but not limited to medical expenses, medical leave from work, relocation for employment purposes, damage expenses to your home or automobile -not regular wear and tear), and legal fees and/or Military (active duty/National Guard). Sofi also offer Forbearance for unemployment, economic hardship, military mobilization and/or Natural Disaster.

Earnest do offer deferment for borrowers pursuing graduate education, serving active military and/or Peace Corps duty. But interest will accrues during the deferment period. Forbearance is an also an additional protection that may be offered by Earnest for clients who are experiencing an inability to make their monthly payment due to a documented and verifiable hardship.

Brazos does offer loan deferment for borrowers who have economic hardship (3 months at time, up to 12 months) or Forbearance, along with active Military duty (up to 36 months) and Natural Disaster forbearance (up to 3 months).

Commonbond does offer forbearance for borrowers who have economic hardship or Natural Disaster forbearance (COVID-19).

First Republic currently does NOT offer forbearance during economic hardship.

Splash, Credible, Lendkey is dependent on individual lenders since they work with multiple banks.

LaurelRoad who is not our partner yet, do offer forbearance for up to 12 months

Remember that interest continues to accrue during periods of forbearance. At the end of the forbearance period, the accrued interest is added to the balance of your student loan and the loan is re-amortized to ensure the loan pays off in the applicable repayment term. This could change your monthly payments.

As always, please consult directly with each specific lender. 

Update 10/7/2021: 

(1) Current Student Refi Rates: Still fairly low at around 3-4% fixed, considering that inflation is 4-5%. The feds announced recently that it doesn't plan to increase rate though 2022, but will gradually have 3-4 spikes until 2024 but take that with a grain of salt since the economy can change. 

(2) Biden extends federal loan pause until 1/30/2022:  Since the CARES Student loan benefits are set to expire until end of January  30, 2022, with the likelihood no more extension, our advice is still the same, those optometrists with FedLoans, enjoy the 0% benefits, make extra payment (more will just go toward principal) and/or prioritize invest/retirement more. Then reassess when more news comes out at the end of 1/30/22.  We recommend gathering your financial documents by 12/1/2021 and start applying before the rush in 1/2022. There is a general consensus among refi lenders that after 1/2022, as there is a mad rush of demand, lenders can choose to be more selective in their approval process (lower DTI, higher credit score, work experience, etc) and increasing their overall rates.

(3) Those with private student refi loans: if you can get 1% better, now is the perfect time to refi. A majority of our refi traffic is from doctors doing a form of refi- hack (jumping from lender to lender to get the best $1000 bonus). As always, we will strive to keep up on the latest news so stay tuned!