Pros And Cons Of Refinancing Student Loan
Refinancing student loans can help you save thousands of dollars, but it’s not right for everyone. To decide whether or not to refinance your student loans, consider the following pros and cons:
Refinancing student loans can help you save thousands of dollars, but it’s not right for everyone.
Refinancing student loans can help you save thousands of dollars, but it’s not right for everyone.
Refinancing student loans can help you save thousands of dollars, but it’s not right for everyone. Refinancing your student loans is a good option if:
- You have good credit and can afford the monthly payments on your refinanced loan. If these conditions aren’t met, you may end up paying more over time than if you had kept the original loan.
- You want to consolidate multiple federal student loans into one new private loan at lower interest rates (a process called “consolidation”). This means that your repayment term will be longer and monthly payments higher than before—the tradeoff being lower interest expense over time.* You’re looking for an alternative choice to federal repayment plans when those aren’t available or desirable to meet specific financial goals.* Your original lender isn’t willing to offer additional flexibility in terms of eligibility requirements or repayment plans they offer (e.g., income-driven options).
Pros of refinancing student loans
There are several advantages to refinancing student loans.
- Refinancing can lower your monthly payment. If you’re paying a high interest rate, refinancing could result in a lower payment for you. You might even be able to save money by accelerating the repayment of your loan or extending the length of it.
- It could reduce the amount of time it takes for you to pay off your student loans. If this is a concern for you, then refinance! The sooner that debt is paid off, the better!
- You may get other benefits from refinancing (like lower interest rates). For example, some lenders offer special perks like free personal finance management tools or automatic payments options that can make managing your new loan easier than before.
Cons of refinancing student loans
There are also a few drawbacks to refinancing your student loans. One significant drawback is that if you choose to refinance, you will lose access to income-driven repayment plans and loan forgiveness programs. These programs can help lower your monthly payments and even make them disappear after a certain period of time. So if these options are important to you, then refinancing might not be the best option for you.
Another big drawback is that many lenders have strict requirements for eligibility when it comes to refinancing federal student loans. In fact, some lenders only offer private alternatives while others will only offer one or the other (private loan or federal). If this is the case with your current lender then their refinance options may prove less than ideal because there aren’t many other companies willing or able to do what they do with your federal loans at all (or at least at an affordable price). Finally, there’s no guarantee that by refinancing now will save money overall; in fact there’s always a chance that things could end up costing more due to having paid off old debt but still having new higher monthly payments from new terms set by another institution.”
You might want to think twice before refinancing federal student loans.
If you have federal student loans, refinancing them is not always a good idea. Here are the main reasons why:
- If you are on income-driven repayment (IDR), it’s not possible to refinance your federal student loans unless you want to change from one IDR plan to another. This means that if your balance is fairly low and you are making payments at a manageable rate, it won’t make sense for you to refinance and pay higher monthly payments for the next ten or twenty years. Luckily, IDR plans can be changed after 20 years so there’s no need to rush into this decision unless something important changes in your life.
- If your student loan(s) are in default status, meaning that they’re past due for six months or more and/or haven’t been repaid within two consecutive payment periods (as agreed upon with your lender), then also refinancing may not be an option since having defaulted loans can have negative effects on credit scores
Before refinancing federal student loans, understand that by doing so, you will lose benefits and protections such as access to income-driven repayment plans and loan forgiveness programs.
Before refinancing federal student loans, understand that by doing so, you will lose benefits and protections such as access to income-driven repayment plans and loan forgiveness programs.
- Income-Driven Repayment Plans: The most common type of repayment plan is an income-driven repayment (IDR) plan. These plans base your monthly payments on how much money you make each month. If you have a high income or if your spouse has a high income and you file taxes jointly with your spouse, then it may be more advantageous for you to refinance into another type of loan instead of switching into an IDR plan because the interest rate on these loans can be higher than other types of loans.
- Loan Forgiveness Programs: Federal student loans offer two kinds of forgiveness programs: Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) and Disability Discharge (DD). PSLF requires working full time for 10 years in public service while DD requires being unable to work due to disability or illness as certified by a doctor who specializes in treating the condition causing this disability or illness
If you’re considering refinancing your student loans, it’s important to understand the benefits and drawbacks of doing so. Refinancing allows you to potentially lower your interest rate and monthly payments, but it also means giving up certain protections that come with federal student loans. If you’re not sure whether refinancing federal loans is right for you, we recommend speaking with a financial advisor who can help guide your decision by assessing factors such as income and credit score.