Refinancing Options for Student Loans

Refinancing Options for Student Loans

by Jack Green

Students often need loans to finance their educational tuition expenses. Refinancing student loans not only reduces monthly loan payments, it also helps the students manage their debt load and stay on track with repayment. Let's examine the several ways to refinance student loans.

There are several considerations to think of when refinancing the student loans. To begin with, refinancing is most often available for federal government loans. If refinancing for both government and private loans is available, it should be done separately, without mixing the two types together. If the government student loan refinancing is mixed with the refinancing of a private student loan, this mixing can result in higher interest due to the combined principal rates.

The second thing a student must consider before refinancing is to ensure that his credit is in good shape, as the refinanced loan rates depend upon the student's credit history. The student must review his credit report, and take necessary action if he finds any issues. Next, he should compare the loan rates with different lenders, as the rates can vary significantly from one lender to another.

Different lenders have different requirements for refinancing. For example, some lenders require the student's current loan status should not be in repayment, while others have minimum balance requirements.

the most common reason to refinance to to attain a lower rate. Interest rates for student loans fluctuate, so it is often possible to refinance during low-rate years to reduce your payments long term.

Another reason to consider refinancing is to switch to a fixed rate form a variable rate. Again, this is a good option to use when interest rates are low.

If the monthly payments of your loan are too high, and you are unable to refinance at a lower interest rate, extending the loan duration is alternative for reducing your payments. Be careful, though - although long term payments reduce the load of monthly payments, the student ends up paying more interest in the long run.