See if you save on student loans
Why Earnest?
Refinancing with serious benefits
Radical flexibility
Pick your payment and loan term, remove a cosigner, and consolidate multiple loans.
People-first service
No robocalls. Just helpful and compassionate customer service.
Low interest rates
Lower rates could mean big savings and much faster loan payoff on student loans.
Your happiness is our job
Did you know Earnest has a whole team dedicated to client happiness? If you have any questions about your application or a current student loan, you can talk to us.
Call us at (855) 657 – 0899
Hours: 8 AM – 5 PM PST, Monday – Friday
We are here to help you
It’s important to recognize that a student loan refinancing calculator is not a replacement for financial advice from a financial aid professional. It’s a tool that allows you to enter your loan details and run refinancing scenarios. Also, this calculator does not indicate whether you would qualify for an Earnest loan. See “What credit score do I need to refinance my student loans?” for our loan underwriting criteria.
Please also note that the accuracy of the calculated results is not guaranteed; your loan agreement terms, your actual savings over time, or both may be different from what’s shown by this calculator due to several factors, including your repayment schedule, the interest rate we approve for you, whether you choose a fixed or variable interest rate loan, or the timing for sending a payoff to former servicers. In addition, if you choose a variable interest rate loan, your actual savings over time may be less than shown by this calculator, and may even be negative, if your variable interest rate increases. However, if you know your payment history and credit score, it can help you estimate your new payment amount, loan balance, and interest rate.
You can visit Experian to check your credit report and FICO credit score.
While this calculator doesn’t work with multiple loans yet, you can still use it to see if refinancing is a good option for you.
If you have multiple loans, add up the total amount you owe on each loan into a single sum and use that in the “I currently owe” field. Combine all of your monthly payments and use that number in the “My monthly payment” field. Calculate the average annual percentage rate of your loans and enter in the “My interest rate” field. Note that the average annual interest rate you enter should be weighted based on the size of each loan. So if you currently owe $90,000 on a loan with a 3% interest rate, and $10,000 on a loan with a 5% interest rate, your weighted average interest rate would be around 3.2%.
Of course. The interest rates you see in this calculator can help you run scenarios. You can select from different interest rate options to see how an Earnest interest rate could potentially impact your student loan payments. If you would like to have more control, there’s a custom option that allows you to enter your preferred interest rate. Please note that the interest rate options presented in the calculator are intended for illustrative purposes only. The actual interest rate we approve for you will be based on a variety of factors, including your credit score and credit history, and may be higher than the options shown in the calculator.
Here is how we came up with interest rate options:
The Low Interest Rate option comes from the low range of our current variable interest rate, and it includes the Auto Pay discount
The Average Interest Rate option is a bit more complex. We looked at the average profile of an Earnest customer who chose the same loan term as you did with a fixed interest rate. That’s how we calculated this option.
The Custom Interest Rate option is for people who want to enter a specific number and run a more customized scenario. If you input a Custom Interest Rate, the calculator will reflect a fixed interest rate.
Please note that the accuracy of the calculator will be impacted by the interest rate we approve for you, as well as your choice of a fixed or variable interest rate upon approval. For example, if you choose the Low Interest Rate option but we do not approve you for that low rate, and/or if you choose a fixed interest rate instead of the variable interest rate used by the calculator for the Low Interest Rate option, your loan agreement terms and actual savings may be different from what is shown by the calculator. To understand the difference between fixed interest rates and variable interest rates, and the impact that difference may have on your loan, please see “How do I decide between a fixed interest rate and a variable interest rate loan?” below.
Student loan consolidation is a process that combines multiple student loans with different rates and term lengths into a single loan.
There are two main ways to consolidate your education loans:
One is a Direct Consolidation loan from the U.S. Department of Education. This option is only available to those with federal student loans, and with Direct Consolidation, your interest rate will be a weighted average of all of your federal loan interest rates. You won’t always save money on interest rates, but it can make life easier by reducing the amount of time you spend managing payments.
Student loan refinancing on the other hand can be done with multiple loans (federal or private student loans), and it can also be done with one loan. The goal with refinancing is to get a rate reduction, and it involves getting a new loan with a different (ideally lower) interest rate. The private lender will pay off your original loan(s) and give you a new loan that combines all of your previous student loans, usually at a better rate.
If approved with Earnest, you are automatically approved for the total eligible student loan amount listed on your credit report. Other lenders may have different approval rules, so make sure you check theirs.
Ideally, you will get a lower interest rate through refinancing. When you’re ready to accept your loan, you can choose to refinance less than the requested amount
During the agreement process for your Earnest loan, you will list the exact loans you would like Earnest to pay off. If there are any loans you wouldn’t like us to pay off, you will be able to indicate which ones to omit. Once you’ve done this, we will manage the payoff process with your loan servicer(s).
Different lenders have different credit requirements and qualifying factors. Earnest requires a minimum credit score of 650 for approval.
However, at Earnest, your credit history isn’t the only factor in your loan application. We look at data other lenders don’t, to offer our lowest rates that are customized to you.
Your credit history is a combination of debt-to-income ratio (student debt, credit card debt and any other loans) rent payments, and any other record of how you managed your credit lines. If your credit score is not as high as you’d like, don’t worry. Good credit is built over time, by managing your debt and making your monthly payments.
When getting your initial rate estimate, all that’s required is a ’soft credit inquiry,’ which doesn’t affect your credit score. Once you determine which lender has the best offer, you’ll complete a full application. If you’re not sure where to start, you can use a financial search site like NerdWallet to compare lenders.
This application does require a ‘hard credit inquiry,’ which can have a minor credit impact (typically a few points).
In the months and years after refinancing, your credit score should see steady improvement as you make on-time payments and pay down your student debt. You can set up an automatic payment through our Auto Pay loan program to ensure you don’t miss a loan payment.
When choosing between a fixed or variable interest rate loan, you should consider the length of the loan, how much you value predictability in your budget, and the current interest rate environment.
A fixed rate loan has the same interest rate throughout the life of the loan. One reason borrowers, especially those with long-term loans, like fixed rate loans is that they provide a kind of “interest rate insurance” — they cost a little more, but that premium protects you against price changes down the road.
A variable interest rate loan’s APR will fluctuate over time based on an interest rate index known as 1-Month SOFR. This means that your monthly payment can also change as interest rates change. Variable interest rates are typically lower than fixed interest rates at first, but they may increase over time, so if you are approved and you choose a variable interest rate loan, your variable interest rate may end up higher than the fixed interest rate you could lock in now. In addition, the savings reflected by using this calculator may be less over time, and may even be negative, if your variable interest rate increases. You can view historical 1-month SOFR rates here. Interest rates on variable rate loans are capped at 8.95%, 9.95%, or 11.95% depending on the term of your loan and state Regulations.
Absolutely. When considering refinancing your federal student loans, it is important to review the current protections and loan programs you are granted to help manage your student debt. You should have an understanding of which of those you may be giving up (such as student loan forgiveness and forbearance) when refinancing with a private lender like Earnest.
The short answer is, the sooner you refinance to a lower rate, the more you could save on interest payments. Note, however, that if you choose a longer repayment term in order to lower your monthly payment, you may end up paying more in interest over time than you do on your current loans.
The longer you hold your loan at a higher rate, the more interest you are accruing, even if you are in a grace period or deferment. Not only will we honor your existing grace period up to nine months, but, with no origination fee, there is no cost to refinancing with Earnest.
In addition to potentially lowering your interest payment, student loan refinancing allows you to remove a cosigner, possibly lower your payment amount, and make student loan debt more manageable and loan repayment more achievable, if the new repayment term and repayment plan are better than your current loan.
If you have loans accruing no interest until after graduation, then you would save money by waiting. Furthermore, if you do not yet have a job/job offer or income that supports payments for your loan, it is recommended that you do not apply yet. For more details, check out our Eligibility Guidelines.