Refinancing private student loans
If your loans are already private, none of this site's caution applies to you. This is a straightforward rate decision, so shop hard.
Estimates, not financial advice. Check anything that matters with your loan servicer before you act.
Nothing is at stake here, and that is the point
Refinancing federal loans is permanent and forfeits forgiveness, income-driven repayment, statutory deferment and discharge on death and disability. That is why the rest of this site is cautious.
None of it applies to a loan that is already private. There is no PSLF to lose, no income-driven plan to leave, no statutory deferment to give up. Run the tool and you will see the forfeiture ledger say so plainly, rather than manufacturing a concern that does not exist.
What is left is a rate comparison, and the right response to a rate comparison is to shop aggressively. Private lenders differ substantially, and the borrower who takes the first offer usually leaves money behind.
What to compare, in order
- APR, not headline rate, over the same term. A lower monthly payment achieved by stretching the term is not a saving. Compare total cost.
- Fixed against variable. Variable starts lower and can rise for the whole term.
- The autopay discount, usually around a quarter of a point, and whether the advertised rate already assumes it.
- Cosigner release. Whether it is offered at all, and after how many consecutive on-time payments. This varies widely and matters enormously if someone cosigned for you.
- Hardship forbearance. How many months, and whether there is a lifetime cap. This is lender policy rather than a right, and it is the closest private equivalent to federal deferment.
- Death and disability discharge. Some lenders offer it and some do not. Get the terms in writing, and check whether a cosigner remains liable.
The protections in items four to six vary far more between lenders than the rates do, and they are what you will care about if something goes wrong. Most rate comparison content ignores them entirely.
Why this site publishes no rate table
Almost every page in this niche leads with a table of lender rates. We do not publish one, for three reasons.
Advertised ranges are close to meaningless for an individual: the bottom of the range typically requires excellent credit, a strong income and autopay enrolment, and only a small share of applicants is offered it. We do not publish a figure for that share because we could not verify one against a lender's own disclosure. Rates also change frequently, so a table goes stale quickly and a stale rate table is worse than none.
Most importantly, we cannot verify what any particular person would be offered. So the calculator asks for the offer you have actually been quoted, which is the only rate that affects you.
If you hold federal loans too
Then the answer is not "refinance everything" and it is not "do nothing". The hybrid column, refinancing the private loans and leaving the federal loans alone, is frequently the lowest-cost of the four. It gets the better rate where there is nothing to lose and keep every protection where there is something to lose.
The calculator models this as a separate column, labelled as refinancing private loans only. It is frequently the best of the four paths for mixed portfolios, and it is the one lender calculators do not show.
Related: checking whether a lower payment is really a saving andwhat would be at stake if any of your loans were federal.
Common questions
Should I refinance private student loans?
The numbers usually favour it when a meaningfully lower rate is available over the same or a shorter term. Private loans carry none of the federal protections that make the decision complicated for federal borrowers, so refinancing one private loan into another is an ordinary rate comparison. Shop several lenders and compare on APR over the same term.
Can I refinance private loans without touching my federal loans?
Yes, and for most people holding both, the numbers favour exactly that. Refinancing is loan by loan, not all or nothing. You can refinance the private loans, get the better rate where nothing is at stake, and leave the federal loans untouched with every protection intact.
What should I compare between lenders?
APR rather than headline rate, over the same term. Then cosigner release terms and how many on-time payments it requires, hardship forbearance limits, whether the loan is discharged on death or disability, the autopay discount, and whether the rate is fixed or variable. The protections vary far more between private lenders than the rates do.
Is a variable rate worth taking?
Variable rates start lower and can rise for the whole remaining term, and you carry that risk. If a variable rate is the only thing that makes a refinance worthwhile, the refinance is not worthwhile. On a short remaining term the risk is smaller simply because there is less time for the rate to move.