If you’ve looked into student loan refinancing, you’ve probably heard of Earnest, one of the nation’s largest student loan refinancing companies. Earnest, which was acquired by student loan servicer Navient in 2017, refinanced $2.8 billion in student loans in 2018.
Earnest student loan refinancing key facts
Fair credit
Earnest
4.8
Credible Rating
Min. Credit Score
665
Fixed APR
-
Variable APR
-
Loan Amount
$5,000 to 500,000
Term
5, 7, 10, 15, 20
Pros and cons
More details
Earnest lets you refinance federal and private loans, federal PLUS loans, and parent PLUS loans — but only if they’re in your own name. You can’t refinance parent PLUS loans that your parents took out on your behalf.
How to qualify
To qualify for Earnest student loan refinancing, you’ll need:
- Minimum credit score: 665
- Employment: You should be working and have a steady income, or have a written job offer for a position that starts within six months
- Finances: Your savings should cover at least two months of expenses
- Education: You can only refinance loans taken out for a degree you completed
- Current on bills: You need to be current on your rent or mortgage, and you can’t have a bankruptcy or any accounts in collection on your credit report
Repayment
One of the most unique features of Earnest is the ability to choose a custom repayment term. There are 180 options ranging from 5 to 20 years, which gives you the flexibility to choose a loan with a monthly payment that’s the best fit for your budget.
The shorter the repayment term, the higher the monthly payment and the lower the interest rate you’ll be offered. If you’d like to repay your loan in 8.5 years instead of 10, for example, that could help you save money in interest.
Earnest student loan refinancing pros and cons
Pros
- Low minimum credit score requirement
- Flexible options for structuring your loan payments
- Option to skip a payment every six months
- No origination or late payment fees
Cons
- Cosigners are not accepted
- Loans aren’t available to Nevada residents
Compare current student loan rates
How Earnest can improve
By serving borrowers with less than excellent credit, and offering unique features like customizable repayment terms, Earnest has carved out a niche for itself in the crowded field of lenders who offer student loan refinancing.
Earnest might be a good choice for even more borrowers if it:
- Offered the option to refinance with a cosigner
- Let you refinance your Parent PLUS loans in your own name
- Offered refinancing to residents of Nevada
Why you should trust us
The Credible editorial team is independent and unbiased. Partners do not influence our editorial content. To help you find the best student loan refinance lender 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 refinance lenders and products. To learn more, read our methodology below.
Methodology
We evaluated student loan refinance lenders based on 18 data points in the categories of eligibility, repayment options, interest rates, loan terms, and customer support. We ranked the best lenders based on the weightings assigned to each category:
- Eligibility: 25%
- Repayment options: 25%
- Interest rates: 20%
- Loan terms: 20%
- Customer support: 10%
Within the categories, we considered characteristics including APR ranges, whether borrowers can prequalify before they apply, available loan amounts, origination fees, discounts, whether cosigners are accepted, and more. Credible's team of experts gathered information from each lender's website, customer service department, directly from our partners, and via email support. We verified each data point to make sure it was accurate and up to date.
To find out more about how Credible rates student loan refinance lenders, check out our student loan refinancing lender methodology.
