Refinancing, Are You For Real? How to Know if Student Loan Refinancing is Legit

Refinancing, Are You For Real? How to Know if Student Loan Refinancing is Legit

by | Sep 18, 2017 | Refinancing

Photo credit: Ben White

Read this article if you’ve heard about refinancing but you think it’s too good to be true. Estimated read time ~4 min.

So you’ve heard about refinancing and you’re pretty sure it’s a super scam. Either you’re going to get your identity stolen Haha suckers, you can have my negative net worth! or you’re pretty sure you’ll lose some major federal benefit you need and get effed bad! Like c’mon what if someone like Bernie Sanders comes in and wipes the slate clean… then what?! Although I can’t be sure about a glorious white knight saving our country from student debt I can guide you to legitimate companies and help you avoid a scam and make sure you only refinance if it’s the right choice for you.

Red Flags

Any company that charges a fee for applying to refinance or actually refinancing your loan. There is never a fee for refinancing your student loans. If you see one it’s a scam.

Get What You Need

Make sure you get what you want out of the deal, that’s why you’re refinancing in the first place, for your own benefit! I have a full post on this topic you can read here. But here’s the quick list.

  • If you’re counting on loan forgiveness then refinancing is not for you. It will make you ineligible for most types of loan forgiveness.
  • Do you need loan forgiveness if you die or do you have enough life insurance to cover your debt? Some refinancing companies offer forgiveness some don’t.
  • Do you need flexible monthly payments? If so refinancing may not be your best choice. The federal government has the most flexible payment options.
  • Do you need periods of forbearance (i.e. paused payments but interest still accumulates)? Some refinancing companies offer forbearance and some don’t.

Legit Companies

Here’s a list of vetted companies. Some of the links are referral links which means I’ll get paid and you will too if you use that link and end up refinancing your loans.

Earnest Perks: $200 for you and $200 for me.

RISLA Perks: none

Laurel Road Perks: $250 for you and $250 for me.

SoFi Perks: $100 for you and $300 for me.

CommonBond Perks: $0 for you and $250 for me.

Elfi Perks: $100 for you and $400 for me.

 

So what’s holding you back from refinancing? What keeps you wondering if it’s the right choice for you? Leave a comment below or post on the Repayable Facebook Page. I’m here to help you make the smartest choice for your financial situation.

Additional Resources

How to Choose the Student Loan Benefits You Need

Sign-up for to get the Refinancing Master List as soon as it’s ready!

Get it Together: The Information You Need to Refinance Your Student Loans

Get it Together: The Information You Need to Refinance Your Student Loans

by | Sep 11, 2017 | Money Matters, Refinancing

 Image by: Mari Helin-Tuominen

Read this if you’re getting ready to refinance your student loans and want the process to go as quickly as possible. Estimated read time ~5 minutes.

Once you’ve figured out the benefits you need for refinancing, picked out the companies that offer those benefits, and chosen the three companies with the lowest interest rate estimates it’s time to submit formal applications.

Loan applications can be time consuming because they require a reasonable amount of supporting information. Here’s what you’ll need to get together for most refinancing companies. Prepping ahead means  you can simply upload the documents and hit submit when you’re ready to apply!

1. Official identification

  • This is typically a driver’s license, passport, or birth certificate
  • Time-saving tip is to snap a pic of it with your cellphone for quick upload

2. Supporting income documents

  • Recent pay stubs, often the last two paychecks or 30 days worth
  • W2
  • Time-saving tip is to go straight to the pay information on your employers website if they give you electronic access to your paystubs etc.

3. Documentation of assets

  • 401k/IRA statements
  • Bank statements
  • Time-saving tip is to link your account information online if the refinancing company offers that option so you don’t have to provide statements

4. Documentation of other debts

  • Loan balances and monthly payments for any other outstanding debt you may have like car loans, mortgage, and credit card debt
  • Time-saving tip is to link up these online accounts to the refinancing company website to save time

5. Student Loan statements

  • Most recent monthly statement that contains your name, account number, payoff amount, and payment mailing address
  • 30 day payoff statement that contains your name, account number, payoff amount, and payment mailing address

6. A license to practice

  • If you’re a licensed professional you may have to provide a copy of that license (i.e. pharmacist, physician, dentist, etc.) to the refinancing company to show that you’re eligible to practice in your state of employment

To Save Time Organize

  • Put all this documentation in a folder you can quickly and easily access.

 

Here’s to a stress-free application process because you’ve got it together! When you refinance let me know how it goes. What did you do to expedite each application? Comment below or on the Repayable Facebook Page. Here’s to a better interest rate and feeling like a student loan refinancing champ!

How to Find the Best Student Loan Refinancing Rates Fast

by | Jul 30, 2017 | Refinancing

 

Read this if you’re ready to refinance your student loans and looking for the lowest interest rate.

Estimated read time < 5 minutes.

You’ve decided refinancing is right for you, congrats on taking back your financial power! With that new found dominion it’s time to start making the executive decisions needed to get the most out of your refinance.

First you’ll want to choose the borrower benefits you need so you’re only trusting your money with companies that give you the goods. Go back and read How to Choose the Refi Benefits You Need if you haven’t done this already.

The next step is to shop around for the best deal. You’re entering the world of competition for your loans. That means companies have to offer you the best to get your loan. Doesn’t it feel so good to be in control? So how do you start shopping around for the lowest interest rate without having a million credit checks? You use the rate estimators on the refinancing company website.

1. Go to the websites for all the refinancing companies you’re considering.

Here’s a handy list to get you started. Please note that some of these links are referral links which means we both get paid if you end up refinancing through the link.

2. Plug in your information.

  • How much debt you’re looking to refinance (most companies have a minimum of $15,000).
  • Your current monthly payment
  • Your estimated credit score or sometimes your social security number for a soft credit check
  • Your repayment term (5-20 years)
  • Your income and assets (savings, checking, and investments)
  • Other debts
  • Your email address and or phone number

3. Take a look at your rates.

  • You will get both variable and fixed interest rate estimates
  • You can also compare different interest rates across different loan terms

4.  Pick 2-3 companies with the best rate estimates and submit applications.

  • Once you’ve got rate estimates you can eliminate companies that aren’t offering competitive interest rates
  • Get ready to submit applications to the two or three companies with the lowest rate estimates

 

So how did it go? Did you find wildly varying rate estimates across companies? Who offered you the lowest rates? Comment below!

Five Benefits of Refinancing Your Student Loans

by | Jul 17, 2017 | Refinancing

 

Read this if you’re considering refinancing your student loan debt.

Estimated read time ~5 minutes.

Student loan refinancing is all I’ve been talking about lately. Why? Refinancing your student loans is the easiest way to make your student loan payments go farther and it doesn’t require any sacrifice, other than a little time to explore your rates and submit applications. So why don’t more borrowers do it? Maybe people are afraid it’s a scam, maybe they’re worried about the impact on their credit score, maybe they’re worried about losing important federal benefits. Whatever the reasons for avoiding it, today’s review of the benefits of refinancing your student loans should give you a reason to consider refinancing.

 

You can save a ton of money

Depending on your current interest rate and your remaining loan balance you can save major money, we’re talking thousands to tens of thousands of dollars. Interest rates are starting to creep up right now but they’re still good for borrowers with good credit. The best rates go to those with good credit scores, generally >750 but the higher the better. The minimum required credit scores are generally around 680. You can potentially leverage the excellent credit of someone else by having them co-sign your loan to get a better rate, however this can detract from your personal sense of financial freedom.

By lowering your interest rate, refinancing enables you to get out of debt faster without having to sacrifice to make a higher payment.

 

You can get better customer service

The customer service of many federal loan servicers is terrible. Sometimes the customer service is not only terrible but potentially unethical. Such is the case with Navient who is being sued by the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) with allegations of mishandling payments and failing to direct borrowers to the best repayment plans. Most refinancing companies have far better customer service and are readily accessible via email or a quick phone call.

 

You can choose a more aggressive repayment term and monthly payment

Many refinancing companies offer terms as short as 5 years. If your goal is to aggressively repay your student loan debt and you can afford a 5 year term you can get better interest rates. Some borrowers like the shorter term and higher required monthly payment because it holds them accountable to an aggressive repayment schedule. However other borrowers prefer a longer term so they have lower required montly payments and more cushion in their budget. This gives them flexibility to allocate extra funds to student loans when able. Whichever approach you choose some companies, such as Earnest, offer flexible terms based on the specific monthly payment you select.

 

You can consolidate federal and private student loans

Having multiple individual student loans can be a lot to keep track of, all the different interest rates, multiple loan balances, making payments on different websites for federal vs private loans.. agh! If that seems chaotic, inefficient, or just plain annoying refinancing can eliminate it. When you refinance, all your refinanced loans become one single private loan with one interest rate and one loan servicer. A side note here, you may not want to refinance all your individual loans if some of your loans have a lower interest rate than the rate you will get when you refinance.

 

You can take charge of your debt by putting it on your terms

Have you noticed how much decision making power you get when you refinance? You choose your company, you choose your term, you choose your monthly payment. All of this contributes to a sense of power and ownership of your student loans. Rather than feeling like a helpless victim you get to feel like a financially savvy freedom fighter for your debt free dream. Your student loan debt is yours to tackle and refinancing is one the tools that puts some power back in your hands.

 

Refinancing has a lot of benefits for the right borrowers. If you’re not sure if refinancing is right for you check out Is Refinancing Right for You? to get started. Prefer to watch? Check out Repayable on YouTube.

Additional Resources

The Top Four Refinancing Companies

How to Choose the Refinancing Benefits You Need

Get The Refinancing Master List a complete resource of refinancing companies as soon as it’s available.

The Top Student Loan Refinancing Companies

by | Jul 10, 2017 | Refinancing

rawpixel.com

Read this article if you’re considering refinancing your student loans and aren’t sure which company to choose.

Estimated read time ~ 15 minutes.

Student loan refinancing, it’s something to consider if you’re looking to repay your loans quickly while minimizing interest. But there are so many questions to be answered. So I asked the questions for you and came up with my top four re-fi companies.

If you want the complete list sign-up here and I will email you the Refinancing Master List as soon as it’s ready. The Master List gives you the details for eleven of the most popular companies so you can find the best refinancing company for you. Fair warning this is an e-mail opt-in. I need your email address so I can get you the Master List when it’s finished and I won’t spam you to death or push for you to buy anything. I think if you’re careful enough to look at all the available options then we’re on the same wavelength and we should keep in touch!

How did I choose the top four refinancing companies from the eleven I contacted?

First I took into account their response time and quality of response to my questions. This is a direct marker of customer service. If you want crappy customer service you can stay with your current loan servicer and get the runaround all day long. A refinancing company should have excellent customer service. If they don’t, there’s always another company offering a good rate with better service.

Next, I looked at the benefits offered to borrowers including whether or not loan amounts were forgiven if borrowers died. Loan forgiveness upon death is important if you don’t have enough life insurance to cover your end of life expenses and your student loan debt. Federal loans carry significant benefits for borrowers so it’s important to know what you’re losing if you refinance. With the best companies you don’t lose much.

The last thing I considered was payment flexibility. I wanted to know what a borrower could expect if their income situation changed and they needed to alter their monthly payment. Federal loans offer incredible flexibility in monthly payments and the best refinancing companies can offer similar flexibility.

What questions did I ask of all the refinancing companies and how did they do?

I asked each company the exact same set of twelve questions. Below you’ll find their paraphrased responses and my summary of the three most important considerations, customer service, borrower benefits, and payment flexibility.

4. Laurel Road (Formerly DRB)

 

Will your company sell my loan to another company?

Laurel Road uses MOHELA as their loan servicer, however the loan is still owned by DRB.

How does your company protect my financial information and identity?

Laurel Road maintains physical, electronic and procedural safeguards that comply with federal standards to protect customer information, and continually evaluate new technology to improve those safeguards.

What borrower benefits does your company offer?

A 0.25% interest reduction is offered for automatic payments.

What happens to my loan if I die?

Laurel Road will forgive all of the amounts owed under the loan if the borrower dies, and some or all of the amounts owed under the loan if the borrower demonstrates to Laurel Road’s satisfaction a significant unanticipated permanent reduction in the borrower’s income due to permanent disability. Laurel Road began offering this forgiveness benefit in the spring of 2015 and only loans originated after that point are eligible for it. If you are a current Laurel Road borrower and are not sure if you are eligible for this benefit, please refer to your promissory note or contact Laurel Road.

Are there any application fees or fees for early repayment?

There are no application fees and no penalties for pre-payment.

How are extra payments allocated? I.e. are they allocated to principal only or to principal and interest?

Payments are allocated first to any fees, then interest, then to principal.

How flexible is your company with payment adjustments? What happens if I need to adjust my monthly payment?

Payments are pre-determined on borrowers final documents and are not adjustable.

If market interest rates change or my income increases am I able to re-finance through your company again for a better rate? If so what are the requirements and how does that work? Is there a fee for re-refinancing?

There is no fee for refinancing, and borrowers can refinance a Laurel Road refinanced student loan at any time. The requirements for refinancing a current Laurel Road loan are the same as all applications. Any documents that are not expired or time sensitive can be used for the new application.

Repayable’s play-by-play.

Laurel Road (formerly DRB) has been offering student loan refinancing since 2006. The customer service at Laurel Road responded within the hour to my email (55 min). Both the speed of response and quality of response were excellent. Their customer service clearly answered 11/12 questions the first time with no additional follow-up needed.

Laurel Road forgives your loan amount in the event of borrower death and loan amounts can be forgiven in the event of permanent disability. This is nearly identical to the benefit offered to federal loan borrowers.

When it comes to payment flexibility Laurel Road functions more like a traditional bank loan. Borrowers monthly payments are set out in the loan terms and aren’t adjustable. If you’re in a stable job and confident in your ability to maintain your payments at or above the minimum monthly minimum payment this is not a significant drawback.

Repayable’s overall assessment.

Laurel Road is a good option for someone looking for company that has been established for awhile and should be in the running for your consideration unless you need maximum payment flexibility.

3. Rhode Island Student Loan Authority (RISLA)

 

Will your company sell my loan to another company?

Loans would only be transferred if your loan were to default and had to be send to a collection agency or lawyer.

How does your company protect my financial information and identity?

Information is not shared with any outside company.

What borrower benefits does your company offer?

A 0.25% interest reduction is offered for automatic payments.

What happens to my loan if I die?

There is death and permanent disability benefit on a refinanced loan.

Are there any application fees or fees for early repayment?

There are no application fees and no penalties for pre-payment.

How are extra payments allocated? I.e. are they allocated to principal only or to principal and interest?

Any amount you pay more than the minimum monthly payment goes to principal and pays the balance sooner.

How flexible is your company with payment adjustments? What happens if I need to adjust my monthly payment?

RISLA has an option for income-based repayment if your income (and that of your cosigner if you have one) drops significantly in the future.

If market interest rates change or my income increases am I able to re-finance through your company again for a better rate? If so what are the requirements and how does that work? Is there a fee for re-refinancing?

You can re-finance a refinanced loan for a better rate.  The application is the same as the previous loan and there is not a fee.

Repayable’s play-by-play.

RISLA is a non-profit that’s been offering student loan funding (in the form of student loans or re-financed loans) since 1981. The customer service at RISLA was the fastest with a response time of 20 minutes (woah!). While the speed of response is excellent the quality of response is quite good too. Their customer service clearly answered 10/12 questions the first time with no additional follow-up needed.

RISLA forgives your loan amount in the event of borrower death and loan amounts can be forgiven in the event of permanent disability. This is nearly identical to the benefit offered to federal loan borrowers.

When it comes to payment flexibility RISLA leaves a little to be desired compared to the top two companies. If you’re in a stable job and confident in your ability to maintain your payments at or above the minimum monthly minimum payment this is not a significant drawback. However, RISLA does offer the option of income-based payments if your income significantly changes so there is some flexibility for you.

Repayable’s overall assessment.

RISLA is a good option for someone looking for company that has been established for awhile and should be in the running for your consideration unless you need maximum payment flexibility.

2. SoFi

 

Will your company sell my loan to another company?

Loans refinanced through SoFi are labeled through SoFi.

How does your company protect my financial information and identity?

Everything done online is secure and protected.

What borrower benefits does your company offer?

SoFi members have access to career coaching, unemployment protection, member events, and an auto-pay discount of 0.25% if signed up for automatic payments.

What happens to my loan if I die?

If you die your power of attorney needs to upload a death certificate and the loan is forgiven.

Are there any application fees or fees for early repayment?

There are no application or origination fees, and no prepayment penalties.

How are extra payments allocated? I.e. are they allocated to principal only or to principal and interest?

Extra payments are applied to accrued interest first and then principal.

How flexible is your company with payment adjustments? What happens if I need to adjust my monthly payment?

If you experience unexpected unemployment SoFi offers a pause in monthly loan payments.

If market interest rates change or my income increases am I able to re-finance through your company again for a better rate? If so what are the requirements and how does that work? Is there a fee for re-refinancing?

You can re-finance your loan as many times as you would like to. You will need to fill out another application and there is no fee.

Repayable’s play-by-play.

SoFi is a refinancing company started by four Stanford graduates in 2011. The customer service at SoFi was the slowest to reply with a response time of around 24 hours. Unfortunately the customer service was also not the best quality. They answered 7/12 questions the first time and two of those answers needed additional follow-up on my part to clarify.

SoFi forgives your loan amount in the event of borrower death after a borrowers power of attorney uploads a death certificate. That means borrowers don’t need to carry enough life insurance to repay their outstanding loan balance.

SoFi has many options for payment flexibility. SoFi can pause payments if a borrower experiences unemployment. SoFi also offers up to six months of loan deferment for entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurial program is unique to SoFi. At the time of refinancing SoFi also offers multiple term and monthly payment options.

Repayable’s overall assessment.

SoFi is a good choice for any entrepreneur looking for a refinancing company and for anyone looking for a little payment flexibility. SoFi offers slightly more repayment flexibility than RISLA gaining them the number two spot. However, SoFi’s customer service took longer to respond and provided lower quality responses than the other top companies.

1. Earnest

 

Will your company sell my loan to another company?

Earnest will service your loan for the life of the loan.

How does your company protect my financial information and identity?

Earnest has extensive security and privacy systems in place. You can review the details of this system here.

What borrower benefits does your company offer?

Borrower benefits include the ability to tailor your exact minimum monthly payment, increase payment to pay off loan faster, save on interest with optional bi-weekly payments, make extra or early payments without fees,  skip a payment and make it up later, consolidate your private and federal loans, forbearance in certain circumstances (see more info here).

What happens to my loan if I die?

Earnest will forgive your loans fully.

Are there any application fees or fees for early repayment?

Earnest charges no fees of any kind.

How are extra payments allocated? I.e. are they allocated to principal only or to principal and interest?

In accordance with state law, all payments (including early and extra payments) are processed first to any interest that has accrued since the last payment. Earnest calculates interest at a simple daily rate. After the payment has been applied to the interest accrued, the remaining balance of the payment goes toward the principal balance of your loan.

How flexible is your company with payment adjustments? What happens if I need to adjust my monthly payment?

In case of financial hardship due to involuntary loss of employment, Earnest will work with you and provide either reduced monthly payment amount or suspend your monthly payment for a determined amount of time. Earnest has the most flexible payment selection of all the refinancing companies when you originally apply. They have a slider tool that calculates the interest rate and term as you adjust the amount of your monthly payment. They also give you the ability to increase your monthly payments or choose bi-weekly payments.

If market interest rates change or my income increases am I able to re-finance through your company again for a better rate? If so what are the requirements and how does that work? Is there a fee for re-refinancing?

Once you’ve made at least six months of on-time payments on your Earnest loan, you’ll be eligible to apply to refinance your Earnest student loan again. You will have to submit a new application. Your employment, income, assets and debt levels will be considered again before you receive a new loan offer. Market rates apply. No fees involved.

Repayable’s play-by-play.

Earnest is the new kid on the block and was founded in 2013.  Their customer service responded quickly at 50 minutes and also gave the best quality and most thorough responses. They answered 12/12 questions the first time and none of their responses required follow-up clarification.

Earnest forgives your loan amount fully in the event of borrower death. That means borrowers don’t need to carry enough life insurance to repay their outstanding loan balance.

Earnest has the highest amount of payment flexibility of the refinancing companies. The unique slider function at the time of refinancing allows you to see the impact of different monthly payments on your interest rate and loan term. Earnest also offers reduced or temporarily suspended monthly payments if the borrower experiences job loss. Additionally Earnest offers the opportunity to make bi-weekly payments so you can minimize the amount of interest you pay.

Repayable’s overall assessment.

Earnest earned the top spot in all three of the major criteria used to assess refinancing companies. Earnest had the highest quality and prompt customer service, forgives student loans in the event of borrower death, and has the most payment flexibility. Earnest is a good choice for all borrowers considering refinancing.

Looking for More?

If you want the complete list sign-up here and I will email you the Refinancing Master List as soon as it’s ready. The Master List gives you the details for eleven of the most popular companies so you can find the best refinancing company for you. Fair warning this is an e-mail opt-in. I need your email address so I can get you the Master List when it’s finished. Don’t worry I won’t spam you to death or push a 5-step course on you. I think if you’re careful enough to look at all the available options then we’re on the same wavelength and we should keep in touch!

A Note about Referral Links

Some of the links in this article (right now Earnest and SoFi) are referral links. That means if you refinance with either of these companies we both get paid. With Earnest we both get $200 and with SoFi you get $100 and I get $300. I don’t rank any refinancing companies based on their referral fees or lack of them. I use the criteria described at the beginning of this post to provide you the transparent information used to rank these companies.

Is Student Loan Refinancing Right For You?

Is Student Loan Refinancing Right For You?

by | Jun 26, 2017 | Refinancing

Photo Credit: Rachael Gorjestani

Read this if you’re considering refinancing your student loans. Estimated read time ~5 minutes.

If you have student loan debt you may have heard whispers about refinancing for a lower interest rate. But you might be wondering if that’s legit, it definitely sounds like a scam. Essentially you give all your income and debt information to a company in the form of a loan application and they approve you and offer you a reduced interest rate. What’s in it for them? Interest on a $1.4 trillion market.

So how do you decide if refinancing your student loans is a smart financial move for you? Read on for straightforward questions and answers to help you decide.

How Predictable is Your Income?

Federal student loans have by far, the most flexible monthly payments. They’re designed to meet the needs of young borrowers inexperienced with debt and landing entry-level positions that may not pay incredibly well. While some refinancing companies offer monthly payment flexibility and the possibility for deferment, many refinancing companies don’t. Borrowers with predictable income are better suited to refinancing.

How Good is Your Credit?

Many student loan companies require minimum credit scores of 660-680. The better your credit score, the better your interest rate. Even if you use a company like Earnest who doesn’t have a minimum required score, a low score may not actually snag you a better interest rate than you currently have. Refinancing is best suite to borrowers with good to excellent credit scores but is worth looking into even if your score is lacking.

Do You Have Federal and Private Loans?

Student loan refinancing allows you to pick and choose the loans you refinance and consolidate them all into one loan. It’s important to note that if you have some loans at a better interest rate than your refinanced rate you can keep those with your current servicer and refinance only the higher interest rate loans. If you’re looking to simplify many loans with different interest rates into one loan with one interest rate, refinancing is a good fit.

How Quickly Do You Want to Repay?

Student loan refinancing shouldn’t be used to extend the term of your loan repayment. Many companies offer terms from 5-15 years. The goal of refinancing is to pay less interest. If you extend your loan term you could wind up paying more. The speed with which you intend to repay your loans can help you decide if a fixed or variable interest rate is right for you. Fixed rates tend to appeal more to those who plan to take awhile to repay and lower starting variable rates appeal to those who want to repay quickly.

What are Your Other Financial Goals?

Less interest = more bang for your buck. You’ll be out of student loan debt faster making the same monthly payment. Do you want to buy a home, max out your 401K contributions, max out your IRA, make additional investments, start a side hustle, drop down to part time at work, change careers, travel? Refinancing will help you get out of student loan debt faster so you can go all in on these goals guilt-free. However, some borrowers don’t want to delay these financial goals and may want more of their money right now. If that’s you, you may not be the right candidate for refinancing.

Will refinancing get you to your debt free dream? Is there a category that you struggle with? Let me know in the comments below or on the Repayable Facebook Page. You can always send me an email jeni@repayable.org with any questions you have about whether refinancing is right for you or not.