Student Loan Refinancing

• What is student loan refinancing?
• What factors should be considered before opting for student loan refinancing?
• How does student loan refinancing reduce loan payments?
• Which institutions offer student loan refinancing?

What is Student Loan Refinancing?

After graduation, having many debts can be a little overwhelming. It does not have to be. There are various options that can help eliminate debt, including your student loan. Student loan refinancing may be a very good alternative when trying to get rid of college debt. The whole idea of refinancing may be intimidating, but with some research, you will get familiar with the details of student loan refinancing. The aim of student loan refinancing is often to lower your monthly student loan payments. If you have two or more student loans, refinancing may be especially useful to you.

Different student loans come with varying rates of interest. Student loan refinancing combines a college student loan with other student loans which you are carrying. This leads to one low monthly rate of interest. A favorable interest rate as a result of student loan refinancing will reduce your monthly repayment and also lower the total balance that needs to be repaid over the college student loan’s life.

Factors to Consider

When contemplating student loan refinancing, there are some things that you should be aware of. First, you should know what kinds of student loans you have; private or federal loans. If you have both, student loan refinancing should be done separately. The structure of federal loans allows you to get a considerably lower interest rate on them as compared to private student loans. Private loans are basically personal loans offered with the assumption that the student’s income will increase with education. If you mix the two different student loans together when opting for student loan refinancing, you will pay a higher rate of interest on the combined principal amount than you would if the two loans were financed separately. It may seem counter-productive to refinance two student loans separately. However, remember that the main aim of student loan refinancing is to reduce your monthly loan payments, as opposed to student loan consolidation which results in a single monthly student loan payment.

The second thing to bear in mind when contemplating student loan refinancing is student loan rates differ by your credit history and by lender. Before you consider student loan refinancing, ensure that your credit history is in order. Once you have sorted out any credit report issues, compare rates from various lenders of student loan refinance. Rates for federal student loan refinancing change once a year. Repayment of a student loan which has been refinanced is much easier as one only needs to worry about one student loan as opposed to several differing interest rates and schedules of repayment to keep track of. An additional benefit is, even if you have previously participated in student loan refinancing or are already consolidated, you still have the choice of student loan refinance.

How Student Loan Refinancing Reduces Loan Payments

When you choose student loan refinancing, you will have two ways of reducing your student loan payments. First, you can lower your monthly payments by obtaining a lower interest rate. Secondly, you can extend your loan’s duration. Between these two options, obtaining a lower interest rate is more preferable since you will also be lowering your long term student loan debt. But if you realize your monthly payments are very high, extending your loan’s duration can help significantly. Basically, when you extend the period for loan repayment, each payment becomes smaller. But long term loans usually imply higher interest rates, and also more interest payments. In the long run, though payments become more manageable, you end up paying much more money.

Student Loan Refinancing Institutions

Institutions which offer student loan refinancing are many. You can get student loan refinancing from conventional banks and credit unions, or even online lenders. Though they can’t be physically visited, online lenders usually offer rates that credit unions and banks can’t match for student loan refinancing.