Are you looking to refinance your student loans? Student loan debt can easily become overwhelming to think about, especially as it can loom in the tens of thousands of dollars, some well over $100,000.  

On average, a graduate of the class of 2015 has slightly over $35,000 in student loan debt.

And, if you have a law or medical degree, you may find yourself with an average of around $150,000 or $200,000 in student loan debt, respectively.

That’s a lot of money!

One thing I haven’t talked about much here on Making Sense of Cents is that there are many options for paying off your debt. One of these options is refinancing your student loans, which I’m going to explain further in this Credible review.

 

Refinancing Student Loans: Positives And Negatives

Student loan refinancing is when you apply for a new loan that is then used to pay off your other student loans.

This is usually a great option if your credit history or credit score is better now than when you originally took out your student loans.

By refinancing your student loans, you may qualify for better repayment terms, a lower interest rate, and more. This is great because it may help you pay off your student loans quicker.

The positives of refinancing student loans include:

• One monthly payment to simplify your finances
• Lower monthly payments
• Lower interest rates, and more

Companies, such as Credible (this is an affiliate link and I highly recommend them), allow you to refinance your student loans. With refinancing, the average person can save thousands of dollars on their loan, and that’s incredible! You can save a lot of money with student loan refinancing, such as with Credible, especially if you have high interest federal or private loans. Plus, Credible is giving Making Sense of Cents readers a $100 bonus when they refinance with Credible.

Before refinancing a federal student loan, though, you will want to think about different federal benefits that you may be giving up. You may give up income-based repayment plans, loan forgiveness for those who have certain public service jobs (including jobs at public schools, the military, Peace Corps, and more). By refinancing your federal student loans, you may be giving up any future options for these loan forgiveness programs.

However, keep in mind that by refinancing your student loans, you may receive lower monthly payments, lower interest rates, and more. This may help you pay off your debt much faster. For me, I didn't qualify for any loan forgiveness, so refinancing would have definitely helped me if I knew about it back then.

It’s important to take all of these things into consideration when thinking about how you will be paying off your students loan, and I will cover these even more in my Credible review below.

 

Credible Review

If you're looking to refinance your student loans or thinking about applying for new student loans, I recommend looking into Credible. Credible lets you compare personalized loan offers from many different lenders, and this allows you to choose the best one for your situation.

As the title of this Credible review says, the average user saves $18,668 when refinancing through Credible’s partner lenders.

And this is because Credible’s platform is similar to the way Expedia works for finding flights- with Credible, you simply search the available rates to find the best student loan rate for you.

If you are considering student loan refinancing, then I highly recommend Credible. You can significantly lower the interest rate on your student loans which may help you shave thousands off of your student loan bill over time. Plus, it’s free to apply, and because of this Credible review, they are giving Making Sense of Cents readers a $100 bonus when they refinance.

Related: How I Paid Off $40,000 In Student Loans In 7 Months

Plus, Credible doesn't have any fees for using their service, instead Credible gets paid by the partner lender at no cost to you, the user. Plus, Credible allows you to compare your options without impacting your credit score, and they also ensure that any information you share with them will be kept safe.

Here are a couple of examples of the many different options you may come across: Citizens Bank – Fixed rate of 3.74%, Earnest fixed rate of 3.37%.

There is no service fee, no origination fee, and no prepayment penalty if you end up paying off your student loans faster.

Credible has been featured on MarketWatch, Inc., TechCrunch, USA Today, and more.

Here’s how Credible works:

“Credible helps you find the best offer to refinance your student loans. By completing our brief one-page form and allowing us permission to perform a ‘soft’ credit inquiry, we are able to instantly provide you with a dashboard of prequalified rates from multiple lenders to compare side-by-side based on a number of important criteria, including total repayment amount, APR, and monthly payment.

This soft credit inquiry does not harm your credit score, and will allow us to compare your personal and financial history against criteria provided to us by our multiple partner lenders.

If you see a pre qualified rate you would like to proceed with, you can complete our more detailed form that will be sent to the lender so that they may consider you for an offer. From there, you then complete the final step of the refinancing process by verifying your information directly with the lender.

Our partner lenders will accept both federal and private loans used to finance an education, including Parent PLUS loans, provided that you are either the primary borrower or co-signer on each of the loans you are seeking to refinance. If you are refinancing federal loans, please be aware of the federal benefits that may not transfer to private lenders when you refinance. Please review our FAQ below that covers loss of federal benefits in greater detail.”

To use Credible, just follow these steps:

1. Fill out a quick simple form (2 mins) – It only takes one form to see the many different lender options.
2. Choose an option you like (2 mins) – On Credible, you can easily compare the different lenders all in one place.
3. Provide your loan details (3 mins) – After providing more information about yourself, it takes one business day to receive your finalized offer.

 

Things you should think about before you take your next step.

Before you take your next step, I wanted to recap this Credible review so that you are clear about what choices you have with handling your student loans.

• If you are able to take advantage of deferment, loan forgiveness, or some other sort of federal student loan program, you may want to think twice before refinancing your federal student loans. For more information, I recommend reading USA Today's article What careers can get you student loan forgiveness?
• Be careful with variable interest rates. While they may seem appealing at times, remember that your interest rate may fluctuate. If you currently have a variable rate, you may want to refinance into a fixed-rate, which can make refinancing a great decision for you.
• Refinancing your student loans may lead to increasing your loan term, which may lead to lower monthly payments. However, it can also lead to higher interest charges over the life of your loan.
• If your credit is better than it was when you first took out your student loans, you may be able to qualify for better terms and a better interest rate by refinancing your student loans. I recommend shopping around to see what you can get. Start out by checking out Credible!

Do you have student loans? What do you think of student loan refinancing? Any questions about my Credible review?

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