Student Loan Refinancing?

[belle032]

Has anyone ever done this? I don't have a large amount of loans, but it seems like it would be nice to consolidate. Any experiences?

 

[afan]

Has anyone ever done this? I don't have a large amount of loans, but it seems like it would be nice to consolidate. Any experiences?

I did it in 2005. I graduated with my 2nd degree so had 2 loans. They are with Sallie Mae, which isn't where any of my loans originated. I would do it to make it easier or if the interest rate is better. If the rate won't be better I wouldn't do it.

 

[pirasha]

I did it two years ago...it was a process; like couple of months run around...CONSTANTLY on the phone with the refinance people and I'm paying like $10,000 more in the long run if I only pay the minimum BUT my monthly (min) payments are half what they were.

so overall I'm glad I did it

 

[heather913]

If you already have a job, look into SoFi to consolidate. They offer lower interest rates than traditional lenders, but it's harder to get approved. I am going to use them when I finish law school.

 

[klacey1]

If you already have a job, look into SoFi to consolidate. They offer lower interest rates than traditional lenders, but it's harder to get approved. I am going to use them when I finish law school.

Ugh SoFi! They CONSTANTLY send me direct mail and despite a high salary and perfect on-time bill paying history, they didn't approve me. Then they continued to send DM even after I reached out to them repeatedly to stop.

I've consolidated/refinanced my private student loans twice and both were totally easy processes. My original loans were with Sallie Mae, and now I'm with Citizens Bank. They've been super easy to work with and I got a great low rate with totally reasonable monthly payments.

 

[fifthdimensiondweller]

We refinanced through sofi. We went with a 15 year plan so our monthly is still pretty high, but it's 400 less a month than sallie mae wanted and we can still get it paid off before our oldest kid (trying to have a baby now) would hit his or her teenage years, and that was what was most important to us. We needed something that gave us a reasonable monthly payment but also allowed us to not be in debt for 25+ years. The rates with sofi are very reasonable too if you can get approved.

 

[erin1715]

This is interesting. My husband consolidated through FedLoan in order to hopefully get some of his loans forgiven after so many years (hes a teacher), however, it seems that there is a lot up in the air now about if that will even be possible, and i'm not sure how much can be forgiven anyway. His current interest rate is 6.25% which is high! We are paying over 5 grand just in interest per year! I don't even know if we can consolidate again after doing it once either....and i don't know what the best choice would be. I hate student loans!

ETA: I just checked what rate he could get through SoFi and its basically the same if not a little higher than what he's got now. So there's my answer.

 

[mmfox316]

Are these Federal Student loans from the US department of Ed? If so, BEFORE you consolidate please consider this carefully. You will lose benefits afforded to you by the Federal program. These benefits are available to you now and Congress could pass more benefit rules that you can use.

Here is one such benefit:

Certain Federal loans qualify for an interest subsidy. This means you do not pay any interest on the loan while you are in school or on a deferment. You will lose this benefit.

here is another:
Federal student loans offer a number of options, including Income-Based Repayment (IBR), if you are unable to afford your monthly payment.


If you are having any trouble making your payments please contact your loan holder and talk to them.

 

[StephMK]

I would make sure you double check if you plan to use the teacher loan forgiveness or community service job forgiveness. There are specific requirements and some consolidations will prevent those benefits from being eligible.

 

[jls886]

I recently refinanced through Citizens Bank. I applied to 4-5 lenders (including SoFi), and it was somewhat of a pain but worth it. I'm an attorney with great credit, and Citizens Bank offered me the lowest rate. I went from an average of about 7% through the government to 5.24%. I'm in private practice so really didn't lose much as far as the government benefits, but it was definitely a consideration.

 

[afan]

Are these Federal Student loans from the US department of Ed? If so, BEFORE you consolidate please consider this carefully. You will lose benefits afforded to you by the Federal program. These benefits are available to you now and Congress could pass more benefit rules that you can use.

Here is one such benefit:

Certain Federal loans qualify for an interest subsidy. This means you do not pay any interest on the loan while you are in school or on a deferment. You will lose this benefit.

here is another:
Federal student loans offer a number of options, including Income-Based Repayment (IBR), if you are unable to afford your monthly payment.


If you are having any trouble making your payments please contact your loan holder and talk to them.

That may not be true. I consolidated because I had two lenders for my fed loans, two bs at two schools. I either used Sallie Mae or whomever I used sold my loan to SM, I can't remember. Either way when I became unemployed I was able to defer my payments due to it through SM. I've also been able to adjust my loans.

I feel bad for your guys rates, mine are like 2.6%, but I also consolidated back in 2005. I still get offers from SoFi and laugh because I doubt anyone could give me better rates than I have and I'm comfortable with my payments.

 

[mmfox316]

That may not be true. I consolidated because I had two lenders for my fed loans, two bs at two schools. I either used Sallie Mae or whomever I used sold my loan to SM, I can't remember. Either way when I became unemployed I was able to defer my payments due to it through SM. I've also been able to adjust my loans.

I feel bad for your guys rates, mine are like 2.6%, but I also consolidated back in 2005. I still get offers from SoFi and laugh because I doubt anyone could give me better rates than I have and I'm comfortable with my payments.

Are you sure you didn't consolidate with a Federal Consolidation loan. I think they were still available in 2005. Those retained deferal benefits. Private concolidstions do not retain them unless it says so on the prom note.

 

[afan]

Are you sure you didn't consolidate with a Federal Consolidation loan. I think they were still available in 2005. Those retained deferal benefits. Private concolidstions do not retain them unless it says so on the prom note.

It's possible if that was an option then. I know I couldn't do it a certain way because one school did their loans through the feds but the other, while still the same money, you had to choose a bank to do the loan through. It was probably that bank that offered the consolidation once I had graduated. It got sold to Sallie Mae around the time there was all the ruckus about SM so I was a bit concerned about them getting it but they've been fine. When I pay my loan it still show's as two loans, that I pay x on one and y on the other each month for a total payment.

If that's all different now and the interest rate doesn't change, I wouldn't consolidate fed loans now. I wouldn't have back then but I only wanted to do one payment. My interest rates stayed the same.

 

[lynzi2004]

DH and I recently refinanced through Credible. They were great to work with an even gave us referral bonuses. They gave us options with 3-4 different banks and loan terms ranging from 5-20 years.

 

[Viking7641]

All my loans are federal. I consolidated them with FedLoan Servicing, interest is high, I am basically not denting the principal. But I work in the public sector so I am on track for forgiveness after 10 years (hopefully)

 

[dosekies]

I've been considering this a lot lately. I graduated in May 2015 so I still have a big chunk of loans to pay off. I'm engaged, still living at home, and would love to get a small apartment with my fiancé and dog soon, but it just isn't possible with my loans! My minimum between my two is around $600 a month, but I'm paying closer to $1,000 each month in the hopes of paying them down a bit quicker. My goal is to pay as much towards my private this year as I can and then at the end of the year depending on how much of that is left decide if refinancing would be right for me to bring my minimum payments way down each month.

 

[FredtheDuck]

I used SOFI for mine and had a great experience. My loans are older and interest rates were higher then than what they are now, and, in fairness, I was consolidating both private and Federal loans. SOFI does offer some of the "protections" you get with Navient/Sallie Mae in terms of deferment options. I can't sing their praises enough in terms of ease, speed, and for me, cost. Also, if you take out a mortgage or refi with them and you have student loans with them, you get a .125% interest rate reduction on the new loan. Great if you're buying a house.

BUT, we lost one big benefit: My DH works for the federal government and is therefore eligible for loan forgiveness after 10 years of service. In order to qualify for that program, you have to be on an income-based repayment plan. Typically, your spouse's Federal loans can count in the calculation they do to figure out your monthly payment. However, because mine are no longer Federal loans, they don't count towards our calculation. (To be clear, spouse loans aren't forgiven as part of the federal service loan forgiveness plan... they're just considered in what you can afford monthly when calculating IBR payments.)

We looked at refinancing DH's loans with SOFI, and while the payments would have been lower, there's something to be said for the benefit of loan forgiveness at the end of 10 years, so we left his alone.

 

[erin1715]

I consolidated my student loans before this loan forgiveness option was even implemented, so I chose a private company to consolidate because the interest rates were low. And while that is nice, I've been paying more than 10 years and work in the public sector and yet cannot get my loans forgiven. And just to add salt to the open wound, NYS just implemented free tuition for public universities! Talk about unfair....(and stupid).