You Can Refinance Sallie Mae Student Loans — Here’s How

If you have Sallie Mae student loans, you can't refinance them with the company. However, if you're interested in lowering your interest rate, changing your repayment term, or switching from a variable to a fixed rate, refinancing with another lender is possible if you qualify.

Here's what you need to know about refinancing Sallie Mae loans, including how the process works and some lenders to consider.

What are Sallie Mae loans?

Sallie Mae loans are private student loans available to students pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees, as well as career training and certificate programs. Sallie Mae used to service federal student loans in addition to originating private student loans, but in 2014, it separated into two companies — Navient and Sallie Mae.

Navient now services federal student loans while Sallie Mae provides private student loans. If you took out a student loan from Sallie Mae prior to 2014, you might have a federal student loan. If you're interested in refinancing your Sallie Mae loans, check with your loan servicer if it's federal or private, as refinancing federal student loans will cause you to lose access to federal benefits and protections.

Can I refinance my Sallie Mae loans?

Refinancing Sallie Mae loans is possible, but you'll have to go through a different private lender. Sallie Mae stopped offering student loan refinancing in 2008.

Most private lenders, such as SoFi, Earnest, and ELFI, allow you to refinance Sallie Mae loans. You'll need to meet the lender's credit and income requirements to qualify. If you're eligible for a lower interest rate, refinancing could help you save on interest or lower your monthly payments.

Benefits of refinancing Sallie Mae loans

Refinancing your Sallie Mae loans has several advantages, including:

• Potentially lower your interest rate: If your credit has improved since you took out your Sallie Mae student loan, you might qualify for a lower interest rate, which can lead to significant savings over the life of your loan.
• Change your repayment term: When you refinance, you can shorten or extend your loan term. If you select a longer repayment period, you can lower your monthly payments (though you'll likely pay more in total interest). Meanwhile, a shorter term will generally give you higher monthly payments but save you money on interest charges.
• Remove a cosigner: If you have a cosigner on your Sallie Mae loan, refinancing in your own name will allow you to remove that person from your loan.
• Enjoy new loan features: Refinancing with a different lender can give you access to new features, like discounts or repayment plans that Sallie Mae doesn't offer.

Should I refinance my Sallie Mae student loans?

Whether or not refinancing your Sallie Mae student loans is a good idea will ultimately depend on your individual circumstances. A student loan refinancing calculator can help you compare costs on your new and old loans.

Here are a few scenarios when refinancing could be a wise choice:

• You can get a lower interest rate: If you can secure a lower rate, you'll likely save money on interest charges over time. This could also help you pay off your loan faster. Applying with a cosigner who has strong credit can help you get approved for a refinance loan at a lower rate. Around one-third of borrowers who refinanced their student loans in 2024 did so with a cosigner, according to Credible marketplace data. If you choose to refinance, you'll need to decide between a fixed- or variable-rate student loan. A fixed-rate will never change, while a variable rate could fluctuate over time — and possibly go up in the future.
• You want a lower monthly payment: If you're struggling with high payments, refinancing to a longer term could reduce how much you owe each month. Refinancing for a lower monthly payment could also help reduce your debt-to-income ratio (DTI). Just keep in mind that a longer repayment term likely means paying more in interest over the life of your loan.
• You want to combine multiple loans into one: If you're like most borrowers, you'll probably have several loans to manage by the time you leave school. Refinancing can help you simplify your repayment by combining all of your debt into a single loan with only one monthly payment to worry about.

How to refinance Sallie Mae loans

If you want to refinance your Sallie Mae loans, you'll need to consider another lender that offers refinancing. Here's how to refinance student loans with a different lender:

1. Shop around and compare lenders

Be sure to do your research and compare as many refinancing lenders as possible. Because each lender will offer you different rates, terms, fees, and repayment plans, shopping around can help you find the best loan for your specific situation.

Many lenders also allow you to prequalify without affecting your credit score. Simply input a few pieces of personal information on the lender's site to see estimated rates and terms that you might qualify for. While these are just estimates, it can give you a better sense of what each lender has to offer.

2. Submit an application

After comparing lenders, you've hopefully found the loan option that best fits your needs.

When you're ready, complete a formal application on the lender's site. At this point, most lenders will perform a hard credit check. You'll also submit any required documentation, such as recent pay stubs and information about the loans you're refinancing.

3. Manage your payments

If you're approved, your new lender will pay off your old Sallie Mae loans directly. But make sure to keep making payments on your old loans until everything is processed with your new lender. Once you receive notice that your old loans are paid off, you can begin making payments to your new lender.

You might also consider signing up for autopay — this will help you keep track of your payments and might even qualify you for a rate discount, depending on the lender.

Best lenders to refinance Sallie Mae loans

Why you can trust our Credible experts

The Credible editorial team is independent and unbiased. Partners do not influence our editorial content. To help you find the best student loan for your situation, we conduct thorough research and analyze thousands of lender data points. Using data-driven methodologies, we score criteria that are important to you. This allows us to objectively rank student loan lenders and products. To learn more, read our methodology below.

Methodology

To determine the best student loan refinance lenders, Credible collected more than 1,000 points of data on two dozen companies and evaluated them on several different categories: repayment options, eligibility, interest rates, loan terms, and customer support. We assigned a score out of five stars to each lender based on our findings. Below are the weightings assigned to the general categories for the best student loan companies — which comprise individual criteria that are also weighted.

• Repayment options: 30%
• Eligibility: 25%
• Interest rates: 20%
• Loan terms: 15%
• Customer support: 10%

While the best lender for you will depend on your unique needs and financial circumstances, these findings should help answer your questions and assist you in your search for the best student loan.

Learn more about our methodology.

Sallie Mae no longer offers student loan consolidation

Sallie Mae used to offer student loan consolidation for its federal student loan borrowers, making it easier for borrowers to manage their loans. However, Sallie Mae ended this program in 2008. Sallie Mae also doesn't offer private student loan refinancing.

However, keep in mind that if you had federal student loans with Sallie Mae that were later transferred to Navient or elsewhere, you still have the option of consolidating through a federal Direct Consolidation Loan.

What's the difference between consolidating and refinancing loans? While consolidation and refinancing are both ways to combine your student loans, they mean something different for federal and private student loans. Here's how it breaks down:

• Federal student loan consolidation: The only option for combining federal student loans is through a Direct Consolidation Loan. Doing so won't save you money, as the interest rate on a Direct Consolidation Loan is the weighted average of your original loans. But depending on your circumstances, this process can extend your repayment term up to 30 years as well as qualify you for certain repayment plans.
• Private student loan refinancing: When it comes to private student loans, consolidation is simply another word for refinancing. If you refinance private student loans, you might get a lower interest rate or choose to shorten or extend your repayment term. Remember that you can refinance federal student loans, too, but this means you'll give up your federal benefits and protections.