Refinance student loans today!

Save your hard-earned money by comparing student loan refinance options now.

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How Does LendingTree Get Paid?
How Does LendingTree Get Paid?
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5-20 years
2.99% - 7.99%
1.74% - 7.99%
$5,000 - No Max
850
What's my score?

Qualifications

  • You are a U.S. citizen or possess a 10-year (non-conditional) Permanent Resident Card
  • You are at least 18 years old
  • You have a minimum credit score of 660
  • The debt is from paying for a Title IV-accredited school
  • You are employed, have a written job offer for a position that starts within 6 months, or possess consistent income

Lender review

Not available at this time

Who are they?

Earnest is a technology-enabled lender using data science and automation to reinvent financial services. Earnest’s lending products are built for a new generation seeking high-quality services and offers financially-responsible individuals competitive rates for student loan refinancing.

What can they offer?

  • Lower rates based on your future potential and full financial profile, not just your credit score (however, need minimum 660 credit score for approval)
  • Flexible terms that let you pick your exact monthly payment, prepay with no penalty, or pay bi‐weekly
  • Lifetime service provided in‐house
  • No fees for origination, prepayment, or loan disbursement
  • Forbearance offered to clients experiencing a documented and verifiable hardship
  • Student or Parent PLUS Loan Refinancing available
  • Two‐minute rate check with no obligation or impact to your credit score
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5, 7, 10, 15, 20 years
3.49% - 7.99%
2.24% - 7.99%
$5,000 - No Max
Good & Excellent Credit Needed
What's my score?

Qualifications

  • Must be a U.S. citizen/permanent resident
  • Must be at least 18 years old
  • Must reside in one of SoFi’s eligible states
  • Must have graduated from a Title IV accredited university
  • Eligibility also dependent on responsible financial history, employment status, and debt to income ratio

Lender review

SoFi Student Loan Refinancing Review

Who are they?

Founded by a group of Stanford business students, SoFi was created to help their fellow classmates manage their debt by providing lower interest rate student loan refinancing options. SoFi assists student borrowers all across the U.S. by providing refinance and consolidation services.

What can they offer?

  • Zero application fees, origination fees, or pre-payment fees
  • Unemployment protection: If you lose your job, they will pause loan payments and help you find a new job
  • No minimum income requirement
  • Parent PLUS refinancing
  • Autopay option (w/ discount)
  • Career Coaches: To help you build your brand and further you in your professional success
  • Wealth Advisors: To guide you through your finances and investments
  • Available for private, federal, undergrad, and graduate school student loans
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5, 7, 10, 15, 20 years¹
3.49% - 6.30%¹
1.89% - 6.20%¹
$5,000 - No Max¹
850
What's my score?

Qualifications

  • Must be a U.S. citizen/permanent resident with a valid I-551 (Green Card)
  • Residents of all 50 US states and the District of Columbia are eligible for refinancing
  • You must have graduated from a Title IV accredited eligible program
  • You hold a private or federal student loan(s) that are not delinquent or in default
  • You maintain a responsible credit history

Lender review

Not available at this time

Who are they?

Founded in 2006, Laurel Road is an FDIC-insured bank providing carefully crafted loans with low rates, personalized service, and proprietary technology, to make the journey to financial independence just a bit easier.

What can they offer?

  • Easy, entirely online application process
  • Get a personalized rate offer with no impact on your credit within 2 minutes
  • No origination or application fees
  • No prepayment penalties
  • Receive a 0.25% rate discount when making automatic payments from a checking account
  • Up to 12 months of forbearance is available at Laurel Road’s discretion
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5, 7, 8, 10, 12, 15, 20, 25 years
2.29% - 8.63%
1.74% - 9.51%
$5,000 - No Max
850
What's my score?

Qualifications

  • Must be a U.S. citizen/permanent resident
  • Must be at least 18 years old
  • You hold a private or federal student loan(s) that are not delinquent or in default
  • Eligibility also dependent on responsible financial history, employment status, and debt to income ratio

Lender review

Not available at this time

Who are they?

Splash Financial is a leader in student loan refinancing. Their mission is to help young professionals pursue both career and life goals without the constant worry of student loan debt, thereby allowing people to make their splash in the world. They pride themselves on their low rates and customer care team.

What can they offer?

  • Get a rate offer with no impact on your credit within minutes
  • No origination or application fees
  • No prepayment penalties
  • Parent PLUS refinancing
  • Available for private, federal, undergrad, and graduate school student loans
  • Co-signers may help you qualify and get better rates
  • Specialized product for medical residents/fellows with deferred payments
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5, 7, 10, 15, 20 years
4.49% - 7.74%
4.44% - 8.09%
$5,000 - $500,000
850
What's my score?

Qualifications

  • Must be at least 18-years old
  • Must be a U.S. citizen/permanent resident
  • Must have graduated from a Title IV eligible program
  • Must provide proof of employment & residence
  • Must provide a loan statement for each loan you wish to refinance

Lender review

CommonBond Student Loan Refinancing Review

Who are they?

CommonBond, an online student loan company, was founded in 2011 by three Wharton MBA students. They pride themselves on their top-notch customer service, a wide variety of low interest products, and a sense of social responsibility.

What can they offer?

  • No hidden application or origination fees
  • No prepayment penalties
  • Parent PLUS refinancing
  • Cosigner release available
  • Social Promise: for every loan that they fund, CommonBond also funds the education of a child in need
  • Access to a community network, member dinners, and networking events
  • They have your back; if you lose your job, they pause your payments and help you find work
  • Available for private, federal, undergrad, and graduate school student loans
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5, 7, 10, 15, 20 years
2.49% - 7.93%
2.05% - 5.25%
$5,000 - $250,000 (Undergraduate) $5,000 - $250,000 (Graduate)
850
What's my score?

Qualifications

Since LendKey is a collection of community banks and credit unions, eligibility depends on each individual lender.

  • Eligibility for most lenders will be based on:
  • Geographic location and employment status

Lender review

LendKey Student Loan Refinancing Review

Who are they?

LendKey is an online platform with a collection of 13,000 credit unions and community banks. They pride themselves on providing borrowers with a transparent low-interest lending experience.

What can they offer?

  • A friendly credit union experience
  • Flexible repayment terms
  • No hidden application or origination fees
  • No prepayment penalties
  • Cosigner release available
  • 2-minute rate check with no impact on credit score
  • Available for private, federal, undergrad, and graduate school student loans
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5, 7, 10, 15, 20 years
3.39% - 6.99%
1.86% - 7.98%
$10,000 - No Max
850
What's my score?

Qualifications

  • Must be at least 18 years or older
  • Must be a U.S. citizen/permanent resident
  • Minimum refinancing amount of $10,000
  • Must have earned a bachelors degree or higher from one of their approved post secondary institution
  • Must have a debt-to-income ratio that proved you will have the ability to repay the loan.

Lender review

Education Loan Finance Review

Who are they?

Education Loan Finance is a refinancing program offered through SouthEast Bank. They strive to provide manageable payments, affordable rates, and flexible terms for students looking to refinance their student loans.

What can they offer?

  • Offer some of the lowest interest rates in the refinancing market
  • No hidden application and origination fees
  • No prepayment penalties
  • Deferment & forbearance options available
  • Referral Program: $400 for every customer you refer
  • Available for private, federal, undergrad, and graduate school student loans
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5, 7, 10, 15, 20 years*
4.29% - 9.73%*
2.24% - 9.23%*
$10,000 - $500,000*
850
What's my score?

Qualifications

  • You’re no longer enrolled in school
  • You must have at least $10,000 in student loans to refinance
  • You have a history of paying your current student loans on time
  • No degree required

Lender review

Not available at this time

Who are they?

Citizens Bank, one of the nation’s oldest and largest financial institutions, provides an integrated experience that includes mobile, online banking and lending solutions, a 24/7 customer contact center and the convenience of approximately 3,200 ATMs and approximately 1,200 branches. Citizens Bank is a leader in Student Loan solutions, offering lending solutions for parents, students and former students. The Citizens Bank Education Refinance Loan is a leading solution helping graduates and former students to better manage their student debt. Citizens Bank helps its customers reach their potential by listening to them and by understanding their needs in order to offer tailored advice, ideas and solutions.

What can they offer?

  • One convenient monthly payment for your undergraduate and graduate, private and federal student loans*
  • Choose the repayment term that fits you best
  • No pre-payment penalty, and no application, origination, or disbursement fees
  • Get your personalized rate in under 2 minutes

Understanding student debt

Student loan debt in the U.S. is one of the hottest topics in the news today. Unfortunately, there are some pretty mind-boggling statistics:
  • In 2016, student loan debt surpassed credit card debt in the nation with borrowers owing over $1.3 trillion in educational loan debt.

  • 17 percent more borrowers have defaulted on their federal student loans in 2016 than in 2015.

  • And, an unfortunate and troubling side effect: this crushing student loan debt is limiting the housing recovery’s momentum by undermining an entire generation of potential buyers.

If you’re one of the 53 million borrowers looking for student loan debt solutions, you’re far from alone. However, there are options. Student loan refinancing is currently available to help ease the burden of repayment.

How does student loan refinancing work?

You can refinance both your federal student loans and your private student loans through a private lender, such as a bank or one of the lenders offered by LendingTree. Refinancing your loans will combine all of them into one loan with one monthly payment. Your interest rate will be based off of your credit score, so if it’s higher than when you first applied, you should score an incredibly low rate.

If you’re planning on taking advantage of federal loan forgiveness programs, you may not want to refinance your federal loans. Refinancing your federal student loans will disqualify you from any forgiveness programs. However, if you are ineligible for loan forgiveness, a refinance is the best way to lower your payments. To help determine if refinancing is right for you use our student loan refinancing calculator below.

Estimate your savings with our student loan refinance calculator.

Is refinancing right for you?

When to consider

  • If you are financially secure with stable employment
  • If you currently have a high interest rate (especially for private student loans)
  • If you can lower the amount of interest paid over the life of the loan
  • If you are looking to eliminate debt as soon as possible

When to avoid

  • If you have an unstable income and/or employment situation
  • If you plan to utilize an income-driven repayment plan in the future
  • If you intend to take advantage of federal loan forgiveness
  • If you are nearing the end of repayment

Why refinance student loans?

For one, student loan refinancing is a form of debt relief and can help ease the burden of your debt load and provide solutions to several issues that make it difficult to pay off your loans. If you feel bogged down by your student loan debt and finances are tight, there are several factors that might motivate you to refinance student loans.

If you have several student loans with different interest rates, you can consolidate everything into a single new loan with one interest rate. Juggling multiple loan payments can be difficult to keep up with, especially when you have multiple lenders. Not to mention, some student loan servicers buy and sell loans, so you could wind up paying different lenders than the original servicer that you used.

This will allow you to have all your student loans in one place so you can be more organized and track your progress better.

One of the best solutions refinancing can provide is a lower rate on your student loans. If you have good credit and a stable monthly income, you can apply to refinance in an attempt to get a much lower interest rate than the one you currently have. This is a wise option, especially if you have high-interest private student loans. With a lower interest rate, you can pay less on your loans overall since more of your payment will go toward the principal balance.

When you consider refinancing your student loans, it’s important to run the numbers beforehand and compare your options to make sure this solution will actually help you pay off your loans faster and/or save more money over the life of your term.

If your minimum student loan payment is too high, it could have a negative effect on your current lifestyle, making it difficult to pay your rent, pay for food, or cover other living expenses. Refinancing provides you with the opportunity to lower your interest rate, which in turn will lower your monthly payment.

You may also have the opportunity to extend your loan term and lower your monthly payments. However, with this option, you may be paying more interest over the life of the loan if you don’t pay it off early since you’ll have a longer term.

The sooner you are able to relieve yourself of student loan debt, the better, right? If you’re able to secure a lower interest rate by refinancing, you may be able to shorten your term and pay off your loans sooner. However, keep in mind that shortening your student loan term often means your monthly payments will increase.

Paying off your student loans faster saves you more money now and in the future because you can cut out thousands of dollars in interest payments that you would have paid for with a longer loan term.

Still wondering exactly how to refinance?

Ready to get started?

If you feel trapped to your student loan payments and your high monthly payments are preventing you from living your life, refinancing can be a great way to lower your interest rate and reduce your monthly payment.

Let us help! Our lenders offer a variety of options aimed at saving you most money they can.

Required Documents Checklist

  • A picture of your driver’s license
  • A pay stub
  • A screenshot of your current student loans

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Borrower Profile

If you have a Bachelors, Masters, or PhD, you are eligible to refinance student loans. Lenders generally work with individuals with good credit and who are currently employed.