The Money Coach
  • About
    • Meet Lynnette
    • Media Kit
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
  • QR Code
  • Books
  • Categories
  • Coaching
  • Hire Lynnette
  • Money Coach University™
  • The Money Coach Recommends™
No Result
View All Result
The Money Coach
  • About
    • Meet Lynnette
    • Media Kit
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
  • QR Code
No Result
View All Result
The Money Coach
No Result
View All Result

4 Options to Refinance Student Loans and Save Money

Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, The Money Coach by Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, The Money Coach
in Student Loans
Reading Time: 2 mins read
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedIn

Hefty student loan repayments can leave you feeling cash-strapped and stressed. Fortunately, there are several options to refinance federal student loans and refinance private student loans too.

Here are four ways to refinance student loans, or save money on those bills, and more quickly repay your college debt.

The Federal Government

Technically, you can’t refinance federal loans with the federal government. But if you only have federal student loans, you can get a Direct Consolidation Loan, which consolidates all your federal college debt into just one loan, letting you make a single monthly payment.

This kind of loan consolidation can be helpful if you have multiple monthly payments and would like to streamline things.

Just realize that with federal loan consolidation, you’re taking out a new loan and the interest rate on that new loan will be a combination of all your current interest rates, rounded up to the nearest one-eighth of a percent. So while it’s possible that some of your loans will benefit from a lower rate, overall your new loan will actually be a weighted average of all your present loans, plus one-eighth of a percent.

Banks and Credit Unions

Banks like Citizens Bank, Darien Rowayton Bank, and Wells Fargo will let you combine federal and/or private student loans into a new refinanced loan. So will credit unions and community lenders such as Alliant, Lendkey and Navy Federal Credit Union. If you have high interest rates on your private loans, such consolidation can lead to big savings.

One drawback, however, is that when you refinance federal loans with a bank, credit union or any private lender, you lose the protections offered by the federal government, such as loan forbearance, deferment and potential loan forgiveness.

Alternative Lenders

In recent years, a new generation of online lenders has emerged in the student loan marketplace, bringing some serious competition to traditional banks.

SoFi, CommonBond and Earnest are three of the biggest alternative lenders that let you refinance both federal and private loans, typically saving $14,000 or more. Again, refinancing any federal loans means you’d lose federal protections.

Nevertheless, SoFi, CommonBond and Earnest have all been growing like gangbusters. Each has scored enormous sums of money from venture capitalists and investors in the past year, and they all have seen their loan volume skyrocket too.

One important note: these alternative lenders all require you to have a degree in order to approve your loan. So if you dropped out of school or didn’t receive your diploma for some reason, these options aren’t for you.

Your Existing Loan Servicer

If you choose to keep your federal or private loans where they are, instead of swapping them into a refinanced private loan with another bank or alternative lender, that doesn’t mean you can’t lower your interest rate.

Many student loan servicers will cut your rate if you set up automatic payments or if you make a set number of payments. So it’s worth a call to your current lender or loan servicing company to inquire about such deals.

As long as you aren’t in student loan default, the four options listed above to refinance student loans can help nearly anyone — from recent college grads and 30-something Millennials to Baby Boomers and retirees still struggling with student loan debt.

Previous Post

5 Money Tricks to Stop Feeling Broke

Next Post

When an Ex Won’t Pay a Bill that Hurts Your Credit

Related Articles

Adult Student Loans

Simple Reasons To Pay Your Adult Child’s Student Loans

by Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, The Money Coach

If you’re considering paying your adult child’s student loans here are 10 scenarios to consider saying YES, NO or MAYBE to repaying that college debt. 

Question About For-Profit Colleges and Student Loan Forgiveness

by Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, The Money Coach

After I posted 15 answers to Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan,  I received a lot of questions on my social media accounts about student loan forgiveness. I received the following question about the plan's impact on certain for-profit colleges.

Student Loan Forgiveness

Student Loan Forgiveness: The Biden Plan Explained

by Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, The Money Coach

Here's what is known so far about the new student loan cancellation program, how you can get student loan forgiveness, the surprising ways that past and future generations of college students will benefit, and what’s NOT included in the Biden plan.

CARES Act: Student Loan Relief

Get Your Employer to Pay $5,250 of Your Student Loans in 2020: FAQs About the CARES Act

by Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, The Money Coach

I recently posted a student loan tip on social media that went crazy viral! It racked up tons of traditional media coverage, plus many thousands of likes and shares (not to mention comments and questions!) across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram -- far more than any other single post I've shared. So what was the tip? The CARES Act offers a...

COVID-19 Private Student Loans

COVID-19: Getting Relief From Your Private Student Loans – VIDEO

by Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, The Money Coach

In this video Lynnette shares good news for people who need help paying their private student loans during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Economic Relief Bill

COVID 19: A Good News Surprise in the Coronavirus Economic Relief Bill – VIDEO

by Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, The Money Coach

In this video Lynnette dives deep into the CARES Act and shares a pleasant surprise in the economic relief bill.

Load More

All information on this blog is for educational purposes only. Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, The Money Coach, is not a certified financial planner, registered investment adviser, or attorney. If you need specialty financial, investment or legal advice, please consult the appropriate professional. Advertising Disclosure: This site may accept advertising, affiliate payments or other forms of compensation from companies mentioned in articles. This compensation may impact how and where products and companies appear on this site. AskTheMoneyCoach™ and Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, The Money Coach® are trademarks of TheMoneyCoach.net, LLC.

©2009-2023 TheMoneyCoach.net, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

RSS / Sitemap / Privacy Policy / LynnetteKhalfaniCox.com

No Result
View All Result
  • Books
  • Categories
  • Contact Lynnette
  • Get Coaching
  • Hire Lynnette
  • Money Coach University™
  • The Money Coach Recommends™
  • Home
  • Subscribe to Newsletter
  • QR Code

©2009-2021 TheMoneyCoach.net, LLC. All Rights Reserved.