No matter what happens in the future with potential student loan cancellation, millions of borrowers are going to be left with student debt. And for a large subset of these borrowers, it may make sense to refinance at some point in the present or future.
Student loan refinancing can be a great option for those looking to secure a lower interest rate, alter their repayment term, and lower their monthly payments (or raise them to get out of debt more quickly).
This article will focus on refinancing with Credible.
What is Credible?
Credible is an online student loan marketplace, similar to Splash Financial or LendKey, that offers student, home, and personal loans, as well as student loan refinancing services. As such, they are not a lender. Rather, they earn money through commissions from participating lenders.
By letting you shop multiple different lenders at one time, borrowers are able to expedite the rate shopping process. And while there is not a rate discount for shopping through Credible, the ease of the process may be discount enough for many borrowers across the country.
More: Explore student loan and refinancing with Juno
Credible student loan refinancing
Since Credible doesn’t underwrite their own loans and instead uses its' network of lender partners, you will be able to see a variety of different loan options when you fill out their online form.
At this time, there are many different participating lenders in the network, including Ascent, Citizens Bank, College Ave, Discover, ELFI, and many smaller lenders too. The rates and term options you are quoted have nothing to do with Credible and are instead set by those participating lenders.
That said, you will find a variety of terms, interest rate estimates, and differing eligibility requirements, including:
Credit score requirements
Minimum and maximum refinancing amounts
Cosigner requirements
Job/career criteria
Generally, though, lender partners typically carry the following loan amounts, terms, and rates:
Loan amounts as low as $5,000 and as high as $500,000
Flexible terms of 5, 7, 8, 10, 12, 15, and 20 years
Rates of both a fixed and variable rate nature
You can also browse all of your rate and term options by lender.
One other thing to note about refinancing with Credible is that there are no service fees, origination fees, and prepayment penalties. In other words, it will cost you $0 to get your new refinanced loan.
Credible refinancing eligibility
Like we started to mention, since Credible uses a network of lenders, there may not be completely consistent eligibility requirements from lender to lender. However, there are a few metrics in particular that you will want to pay close attention to.
1. Debt-to-income ratio
Generally, one of the most important metrics that any lender will look at when considering your candidacy to refinance your loans is your debt-to-income, or DTI, ratio. Your DTI ratio is calculated by taking your total amount of debt and dividing it by your total income. High DTIs signal that you have too much debt for your income, increasing your risk of default.
Most student loan refinancing lenders like to see DTI ratios below 40-55%, depending on the lender.
2. Your credit score
Another metric that any lender will look at before quoting you refinancing terms is your credit score. Again, Credible can not control what individual lenders have for acceptance criteria, but most set their minimum credit requirements somewhere between 650-700.
3. Other requirements
You'll likely also have to meet other requirements for certain lenders too. Among these are:
Graduation/minimum education standards
Be a United States citizen or legal resident
Needing a cosigner
Credible refinancing pros and cons
As with any lender or marketplace out there, there are some definite pros and cons to doing business with Credible. Let's start with the positives.
Pros:
1. Compare rates from different lenders
The biggest perk to using Credible is their status as a marketplace that can show you multiple different offers at one time. This way, you can be more sure that you're getting a good deal. In just 2-3 minutes, you could have up to ten competing quotes to analyze. Just make sure to compare the pros and cons of each lender you are considering.
2. Rate check without impacting your credit
We've already mentioned how the rate check process is quick and easy, but it also won't impact your credit score. Once you move forward with a specific lender, the resulting hard inquiry will. But for the time being, you are free to explore your options will all of Credible's participating lenders.
3. Credible is free to borrowers
What could be better than getting all of this comparison shopping done for free? Like we mentioned, there are no service fees assessed by the platform. Likewise, all of their participating lenders offer refinanced loans with no origination fees or prepayment penalties.
Cons:
1. No interest rate discount
Sometimes, marketplaces, to entice those on the fence to refinance, will offer perks such as interest rate discounts. For whatever reason, Credible does not. Regardless, you are likely to find an advantageous rate due to your competitive rate shopping.
2. Rate estimates could change
Most times, this won't be an issue. But it is possible that your prequalified rate, the one you are quoted, could change slightly after your selected lender runs a hard credit inquiry. Usually, this is caused by something in some additional piece of information you may be asked to provide.
3. Could be missing out on better deals elsewhere
Credible, and no other marketplace either, is able to compare rates across every lender out there. Rather, they turn to their participating network, all of which pay a fee to be on the platform.
Therefore, it is possible that you could miss out on securing a more advantageous rate from a completely different lender not on the platform.
Finally, while not unique to Credible, refinancing with a private lender will cause you to lose access to all federal rights and protections that your federal loans may have had, including forbearance and deferment.
Applying to refinance
Applying to refinance your student loans with Credible is a really easy process. In fact, you could prequalify to refinance with as many as ten lenders in less than five minutes. Here's how.
After navigating to the website, click on "See My Rate." That should bring up a page like the one below.
Next, you'll want to work through the prompts and questions asked of you. Then, you'll receive your prequalifications and projected rates. It is that easy!
Before you take Credible student loans
Whether you're looking at Credible to help finance your college education or because you're looking to refinance your existing federal or private loans, we've put together a checklist of tips and tricks to help you decide whether working with this lender makes sense or not.
Before you proceed, we recommend that you think through the following:
Why are you looking to take Credible loans? Refinancing to a lower interest rate or more advantageous term is a good reason. If you're looking to pay for college, you'll likely want to make sure that you've exhausted your federal loan options first.
Have you checked competitor interest rates and terms? We understand that Credible is a marketplace that will help you see multiple options with participating lenders, but there are still far more lenders to consider. For non participating lenders, we recommend you also look at Splash Financial, PNC, and others too.
Are you positive you are okay with private loans? You may find great rates that can save you a lot of money off your repayment. But you need to keep in mind that private student loan debt does not carry eligibility for most all federal forgiveness, deferment, and forbearance programs.
Get our student loan calculator
For those considering taking out Credible student loans or refinancing loan, we built a comprehensive and free student loan calculator.
This calculator will help you decide:
Your eligibility for nearly ten different student loan forgiveness and alternate repayment strategies
Whether strategies such as private refinancing or federal consolidation may make sense for you
Changing student loan strategies can save you thousands of dollars. cut years off your repayment, or potentially both. To get your own copy of this calculator, just follow this link or click the button below!
Summary
Refinancing with Credible can be a great option for those looking to get a good rate in a "one-stop shopping" experience.
With some of America's industry leaders, as well as respected regional lenders, you can be sure you are working with a reputable company.
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