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The Top Lenders To Refinance Student Loans
Updated On September 30, 2024
Editorial Note: This content is based solely on the author's opinions and is not provided, approved, endorsed or reviewed by any financial institution or partner.
When it comes to student loan refinancing, you may be wondering which companies are the top lenders to refinance student loans. We evaluated lenders based on multiple factors, including reputation, customer service, interest rates, fees, repayment options, flexibility, and other considerations.
With student loan refinancing, you can refinance federal student loans, private student loans or both. When you refinance student loans, you exchange your current student loans for a new, single student loan with a lower interest rate. The goal of student loan refinancing is to save money and pay off student loans faster.
What are the best student loan refinance options?
Top Picks For Student Loan Refinancing
December 2024
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Disclosures: SoFi | Earnest | NaviRefi | ELFI | Splash Financial | Citizens | Laurel Road | LendKey
Here are our picks for the top lenders to refinance student loans:
SoFi
SoFi is one of the top lenders to refinance student loans.
As one of the best student loan consolidation companies, SoFi has some of the lowest student loan refinance rates in the industry. As a member, you have access to several perks. This includes free career services, unemployment protection, customer support seven days a week, and free SoFi events.
SoFi student loan refinancing has no fees and allows you to refinance federal and private student loans. Moreover, you have access to unemployment protection. For example, SoFi will temporarily pause your payments for up to 12 months.
In addition, parents with Parent PLUS Loans can also refinance Parent PLUS Loans with SoFi.
Earnest
Earnest is one of the best companies to refinance student loans. As one of the best student loan consolidation companies, Earnest differentiates itself by allowing you to choose your own student loan interest rate and student loan repayment term. This lender also offers industry-leading repayment flexibility on your student loans. For example, you can skip a student loan payment and make it up later. With Earnest, you can choose your exact minimum monthly payment and increase your payment anytime to pay off student loans faster.
Earnest has no application fees or origination fees. You can refinance and consolidate multiple federal and private student loans into a new, single student loan.
Earnest looks beyond credit score to approve you for student loan refinancing, and will incorporate savings, education and earnings potential. Parents can also refinance Parent PLUS Loans with Earnest.
ISL
ISL is a non-profit lender and was formerly known as Iowa Student Loans. This lender refinances student loans, Parent PLUS Loans, medical student loans, dental student loans, and other undergraduate and graduate student loans. Founded in 1979, ISL also refinances student loans for medical residents and dental residents. ISL also refinances student loans while you’re in school.
Medical residents and dental residents can pay $75 a month if they refinance student loans during residency. Based in Iowa, ISL is also one of the few lenders that will refinance your student loans while you're in school. That means that you can get a lower interest rate while you're a student or if you left school and didn't earn a degree.
The good news is that ISL doesn't require you to be employed to qualify for student loan refinancing and there is no minimum income. With this lender, you can also get a cosigner release after 24 months as well as forbearance and deferment.
LendKey
LendKey compares offers from nearly 300 community banks and credit unions to find you the best student loan refinance rates. This lender has no fees and enables you to refinance both federal and private student loans, including both undergraduate and graduate student loans.
One benefit of LendKey is that the company offers one of the longest unemployment protection periods of all student loan refinance companies. LendKey enables you to pause payments for up to 18 months if you become unemployed.
Here’s another benefit when you refinance with LendKey. If you repay 10% of your student loan by the time your loan enters the full repayment period, LendKey will drop 1.0% APR from your current interest rate.
Laurel Road
Laurel Road is a bank that offers student loan refinancing and Parent PLUS Loan refinancing, including for both undergraduate and graduate school loans.
The benefit of Laurel Road is no fees and the opportunity to refinance both federal and private student loans. If you are a parent and want to refinance student loans that you borrowed for your child’s college, this lender permits parents to refinance Parent PLUS Loans in their child’s name.
With this lender, you may be able to pause their student loan payments for one or more three-month periods (up to 12 months) through a forbearance if they face economic hardship.
ELFI
ELFI is one of the top lenders to refinance student loans, and it’s backed by the SouthEast Bank. Based in Tennessee, ELFI has no fees and enables you to refinance and consolidate both federal and private student loans, including both undergraduate graduate student loans. If you are a parent and want to refinance student loans that you borrowed for your child’s college, ELFI offers Parent PLUS Loan refinancing and refinancing for private loans.
ELFI allows you to pause your loan payments for up to 12 months if you face financial hardship or permanent disability. ELFI is a transparent lender who lists all rates, terms and monthly payments prominently on its website so you know exactly what you would pay with ELFI student loan refinancing.
Splash
Splash is a new lender that works with banks and credit unions to refinance student loans. This lender has competitive rates and offers free student loan refinancing for federal and private student loans, including both undergraduate and graduate student loans. Parents with Parent PLUS Loans can also refinance Parent PLUS Loans with Splash.
Student loan refinancing is the process of lowering the interest rate on your student loans. You can exchange your existing federal student loans, private student loans or both to receive a new student loan with a lower interest rate. There are many potential benefits when you refinance student loans, including saving money by having a lower interest rate. With student loan refinancing, you have flexibility to decide your student loan repayment term. You can pay off student loans in a shorter time period with a higher monthly payment, or you can choose a lower monthly payment and pay off student loans over a longer time period.
Student loan refinancing is empowering because it helps you take control of your student loans and decide your financial future. You can choose a new lender, choose a repayment term, select a fixed or variable interest rate, consolidate your federal student loans and private loan debt into one monthly payment, and simplify your student loan repayment with only one student loan servicer.
This student loan refinancing calculator can help calculate how much money you can save when you refinance student loans.
How do you get approved for student loan refinancing? Lenders prefer borrowers with a strong credit score (at least in the mid 600’s and preferably in the 700’s), stable and recurring income and a low debt-to-income ratio. If you don’t meet these requirements, you can always apply with a qualified co-signer, who can help you get approved and even get a lower interest rate.
One benefit of student loan refinancing is the ability to check your interest rate for free within minutes before you apply. This is called a soft credit check. You can do this with multiple lenders to determine which lender offers the lowest interest rate. The lender will do a soft credit check to determine your interest rate, and this has no impact on your credit score.
Remember, when you refinance student loans, your new student loan will be a private student loan. This means that you no longer will have federal student loan if you choose to refinance federal student loans. When you refinance student loans, you won’t have access to income-driven repayment plans or federal programs such as public service loan forgiveness or teacher loan forgiveness.
If you think these programs are beneficial to you, you could refinance private student loan debt and keep your federal student loans outstanding. You could consolidate federal student loans into a Direct Consolidation Loan. The benefit is to organize all your federal student loans into a single student loan. The downside is that a Direct Consolidation does not lower your interest rate, so you won’t save any money. The choice is yours, but if you want to lower your interest rate and save money, then student loan refinancing may be your best option.
Student Loan Refinancing: FAQ
What is student loan refinancing?
Student loan refinancing is the process of receiving a lower interest rate on a new student loan and using your new loan to pay off your existing student loans. When you refinance student loans, a lender will both refinance and consolidate your student loans into a new, single student loan. This new loan will have one monthly payment, one student loan servicer and one interest rate. Not only can you save money with student loan refinancing, but also student loan refinancing helps you manage your debt with one monthly payment.
Student loan refinancing has many advantages:
- Lower your interest rate
- Save money
- Pay off student loans faster
- Change your loan terms
- Combine multiple student loans into a single student loan
- Change lenders and student loan servicers for better customer service
- Remove a co-signer from your student loans
You can check and compare the latest student loan refinancing rates to determine how much money you can save.
When should I refinance my student loans?
When to refinance student loans depends on several factors. For example, you should refinance whenever you can get a lower interest rate compared to your current interest rate.
Here’s an example of how student loan refinancing can help save you money. For example, let’s assume you have $50,000 of student loans at an 8% interest rate and a 10-year repayment term. If you can refinance your student loans and receive a 3% interest rate and a 10-year repayment term, you would save $124 per month and $14,860 total.
This student loan refinancing calculator shows you how much money you can save when you refinance student loans.
Here are some examples when to refinance student loans. You should refinance student loans if you have:
- student loans have high interest rates
- good credit and recurring monthly income
- private student loans
- an interest in changing your student loan terms
- a need to change your lender or student loan servicer
- a variable interest rate
- the opportunity to save money
You may not want to refinance student loans if you:
- expect to apply for student loan forgiveness
- are unemployed or underemployed
- plan to enroll in an income-driven repayment plan
- defaulted on your student loans
How Do I Refinance My Student Loans?
You can refinancefederal stud ent loans, private student loans or both. There is no limit to the number of times that you can refinance student loans so you can refinance each time you find a lower rate.
You can apply online to refinance student loans with banks, online lenders and credit unions. You should compare the best rates for student loan refinancing, and you can check your interest rate for free with as many lenders as possible. The process takes about two minutes and there is no impact to credit score. When you are ready to apply, lenders will check your credit with a hard credit pull. The application takes about 10-15 minutes, and you can apply to multiple lenders at once to increase your chances of approval. The good news is that there are no fees to refinance student loans, and when you apply to multiple lenders in a short time period (such as a week), credit bureaus only count it as one credit inquiry.
How Do I Get Approved For Student Loan Refinancing?
When lenders refinance student loans, they want borrowers who have:
You can apply online to refinance student loans with banks, online lenders and credit unions. Make sure to compare the best rates for student loan refinancing. You can check your interest rate for free with as many lenders as possible. The process takes about two minutes and there is no impact to credit score.
- Good Credit: Lenders prefer to refinance student loans for borrowers who have at least a 650 credit score. Preferably, your credit score is in the 700's or higher.
- Good Income: Most lenders may require that you graduated and earned a degree before you refinance student loans. Most lenders expect that you are currently employed or have a written job offer. You will also need stable and recurring income.
- Low Debt-To-Income: Lenders want to ensure you can repay your refinanced student loan, living expenses and other debt payments.
If you have bad credit, lower income or don’t meet these qualifications, you can apply with a creditworthy cosigner.
What’s the Difference Between Student Loan Refinancing and Student Loan Consolidation?
Student loan refinancing. Student loan refinancing is done with a private lender, while federal student loan consolidation is done with the federal government. The federal government does not refinance student loans. So, the best choice for student loan refinancing is to refinance with a private lender.
Student loan refinancing is the process of receiving a new student loan with a lower interest rate. The goal is to save money, pay off student loans faster and get out of debt more quickly. You can refinance federal student loans, private student loans or both.
Federal student loan consolidation. Federal student loan consolidation is the process of combining all your federal student loans into a Direct Consolidation Loan. With student loan consolidation, you will have one federal student loan, one interest rate and a lower monthly payment. You can still refinance private student loans if you choose to consolidate federal student loans into a Direct Consolidation Loan. The downside of a Direct Consolidation Loan is that you won’t receive a lower interest rate. To receive a lower interest rate, student loan refinancing is your best option.
This consolidation vs. refinancing calculator shows you how much money you can save with student loan refinancing.
How Often Can You Refinance Student Loans?
There is no limit to how often you can refinance student loans. Student loans do not have any origination fees or a prepayment penalty. Why is this important? Without a prepayment penalty, you can pay off your student loans any time with no fees. Any time you find a lower interest rate, you could refinance student loans to save money without paying any fees.
There are many reasons why you should refinance student loans again:
- Get a lower interest rate
- Change your loan terms
- Change lenders and student loan servicers
- Release a co-signer
Why Should I Refinance My Student Loans?
The main reason to refinance student loans is to get a lower interest rate. A lower interest rate means you can save money on your student loans. Why? This means you can pay off student loans faster and get out of debt more quickly.
There are several reasons why you should refinance student loans:
- Get a lower interest rate
- Save money
- Pay off student loans faster
- Change loan terms
- Simplify student loan repayment
- Change lender or student loan servicer
How Much Does It Cost to Refinance Student Loans?
There are no fees to refinance student loans. That means that there are no application fees, origination fees or prepayment fees. Some lenders may charge late fees if you make a late student loan payment.
Compare top lenders to refinance student loans
Refinance With SoFi
