Refinancing student loans is one decision wearing two very different hats. Refinancing private loans is close to a free win: you swap one private lender for a cheaper private lender and give up nothing. Refinancing federal loans is permanent, and you give up a great deal.
SoFi puts it in capital letters on its own refinance page: refinance a federal loan and you forfeit eligibility for all federal loan benefits. That means Public Service Loan Forgiveness, income-driven repayment, and every deferment right you currently have. It cannot be undone.
Rates verified against each lender 25 August 2026. Where a lender publishes only a starting rate we have said so rather than inventing a ceiling.
Should you refinance at all?
Work out what kind of debt you have before you look at a single rate. This is the whole decision.
| What you hold | Should you refinance? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Private loans only | Usually yes | Nothing to lose. If the new rate is lower, you win. |
| Federal, stable high income | Maybe | Only if you will never need income-driven repayment and are not pursuing forgiveness. |
| Federal, pursuing PSLF | No | Refinancing ends PSLF eligibility permanently. Years of qualifying payments are lost. |
| Federal, unstable income | No | You lose income-driven repayment, where the payment can fall to $0. |
| Mixed federal and private | Refinance the private half only | Most lenders let you choose which loans to include. Leave the federal ones alone. |
If you are still deciding, we covered the trade-offs in more depth in should I refinance my student loans.
Compare student loan refinance lenders
| Lender | Fixed APR | Variable APR | Minimum | Fees |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Splash FinancialMarketplace | 3.99%–11.24% | 4.74%–11.24% | $5,000 | None |
| SoFiLarge balances | From 3.99% | Not published | $5,000 | None |
| EarnestCustom terms | From 4.45% | From 5.88% | Not stated | None |
| LendKeyCredit unions | Set by lender | Set by lender | Varies | Typically none |
Only Splash publishes both ends of its range. SoFi and Earnest advertise starting rates, which assume excellent credit, autopay and the shortest term.
The best student loan refinance lenders
A marketplace that shops your application across multiple lenders at once.
Splash is the sensible first stop because it is the only option here that publishes both ends of its range rather than a marketing floor. It shops your file to several lenders from one application, so you see real competing offers without filing four separate soft pulls.
- One application reaches several lenders
- No application, origination or prepayment fees
- Published full rate range, not just a floor
- Handles medical and dental refinancing too
- You do not know which lender you will end up with
- Best rate needs autopay and the shortest term
- $5,000 minimum
SoFi is the strongest option if you are refinancing a large professional balance, because there is no stated cap and no fees. Note it advertises a floor without publishing the ceiling, so treat 3.99% as the best case rather than the likely case.
- Lowest advertised fixed floor here at 3.99%
- No origination, application or prepayment fees
- No maximum balance, useful for medical and law debt
- Unemployment protection on eligible loans
- Does not publish its maximum APR on the refinance page
- Best pricing requires autopay plus a SoFi Plus discount
- $5,000 minimum
Earnest is the pick if the monthly payment matters more than the headline rate. Being able to set the term precisely, rather than choosing between five and ten years, is genuinely useful when you are budgeting against a known salary.
- Choose the exact term and payment that fits your budget
- No fees at all, including no late fees
- Nine month grace period
- Rates shown include the 0.25% autopay discount
- Variable rates unavailable in AK, IL, MN, MS, NH, OH, TN and TX
- Higher starting fixed rate than SoFi or Splash
- Advertised floor needs autopay and strong credit
LendKey is worth running alongside Splash because it reaches a different pool. Credit unions and community banks price independently of the national lenders, and their offers sometimes beat everything else, particularly for borrowers with solid but unspectacular credit. Since it is a marketplace, we have not quoted a rate range, as the eventual lender sets it.
- Access to credit union pricing without joining one first
- Credit unions often price below national lenders
- Single application reaches multiple institutions
- No origination fees at most partner lenders
- LendKey is not the lender, so terms vary by institution
- Membership may be required at funding
- Rates depend entirely on which partner picks you up
What you give up when you refinance federal loans
This is the section most refinance pages leave out, because there is no commission in talking you out of it.
| Benefit | Federal loan | After refinancing |
|---|---|---|
| Income-driven repayment | Payment scales to income, can reach $0 | Gone. Fixed payment regardless of income. |
| Public Service Loan Forgiveness | Balance forgiven after 120 qualifying payments | Gone, including payments already made. |
| Deferment and forbearance | Statutory right | At the lender's discretion, if offered at all. |
| Death or disability discharge | Automatic | Varies. Some lenders discharge, some pursue the estate. |
| Future federal relief | Eligible for any programme announced | Ineligible. Permanently outside the federal system. |
That last row matters more than people expect. Borrowers who refinanced federal loans in 2019 and 2020 were excluded from the payment pause and every relief measure that followed. Refinancing is a one-way door.
When refinancing genuinely makes sense
None of the above means refinancing is bad. It means it suits a specific person.
It works when your loans are private, when your credit or income has improved materially since you borrowed, when you have a stable job and no interest in forgiveness programmes, and when the rate you are offered is meaningfully below what you pay now. A quarter of a point is not worth the paperwork. Two points on a $60,000 balance is thousands of dollars.
It also works as a cosigner release route. If a parent cosigned your original loans, refinancing in your own name removes them, which is often the real reason people do it.
If your problem is that the payment is unaffordable rather than the rate being high, refinancing is the wrong tool. Read how to pay off student loans faster and the repayment plan options first.
More on student debt
If you are still borrowing rather than repaying, start with the best private student loans and student loans 101. If you are repaying and struggling, student loan forgiveness options covers what is still available, and budgeting in college helps if you are not out yet. Our reviews of SoFi refinancing and Earnest go deeper on those two lenders.
One note on lenders that are no longer options: CommonBond stopped lending in 2022 and its loans moved to Firstmark Services, so any comparison still listing it is out of date.
