Credible’s Student Loan Lender Methodology

Credible’s process in rating student loan lenders

We collected over 1,000 points of data on two dozen student loan lenders to determine which are the best overall, and which are the best for specific needs. Here’s how the process works:

1. Establish lenders: Credible senior editors research which lenders to evaluate based on lender size, online search traffic and rankings, lender type (bank, credit union, online lender), and whether lenders are Credible partners. Editors do not give preference to partners.
2. Determine criteria: Senior editors then determine which criteria to evaluate across lenders. Criteria include key loan terms such as APRs, repayment periods, and eligibility requirements, plus loan features like whether cosigners are allowed and available discounts.
3. Collect and verify data: Senior editors and editorial staff collect data from lender sites, lender representatives, and internal intake forms from Credible partners. Data is verified by a third party against its source to ensure that data is accurate, and the source is reliable and current. 
4. Clean up and score data: Once data collection and verification are complete, senior editors clean up the data and evaluate it numerically. Scores are assigned for individual criteria based on how that lender compares in that category to its competitors. 
5. Assign weightings: Once individual criteria are scored, senior editors weight each one according to their importance for each user set. For example, a list of the best lenders for bad credit would heavily weight the minimum credit score that each lender requires, while a list of the best lenders for excellent credit would not.
6. Determine star ratings: Once the scores for each set of criteria are weighted appropriately, senior editors sum each lender’s weighted scores to arrive at an overall star rating, on a scale of 0 to 5. 

Below are the weightings assigned to each general category for the best student loan lenders — which is made up of individual criteria in that category.