学生ローン借り換え計算機

Student Loan Refinancing Calculator

Refinancing your student loans allows you to possibly lower your monthly payment and/or lower your interest rate. To lower your payment, typically you’ll have to extend your loan term. This means you’ll pay more in interest over the life of the loan. On the other hand, if you choose to shorten your term and you’re able to lower your interest rate, you could save thousands in interest over the course of the loan. SoFi’s student loan refinancing calculator allows you to see what your monthly payment would be and how much you could save in interest if you choose to refinance.

How to Decide If You Should Refinance Your Student Loans

Deciding whether or not you should refinance your student loans will depend on your goals and your personal financial situation. Reasons to refinance your student loans include lowering your monthly payment, lowering your interest rate, removing a cosigner, or switching from a fixed to a variable interest rate (or vice versa). The main reason not to refinance your student loans is if you’re currently using or plan to use federal benefits and protections. Federal student loan benefits include income-driven repayment plans, student loan forgiveness, deferment, and forbearance. If you refinance federal student loans with a private lender, you lose access to all federal protections.

Will I Qualify for Student Loan Refinancing?

To qualify for student loan refinancing, your lender will run a credit check and look at your current financial situation, including your debt-to-income ratio. A strong credit profile and low debt-to-income ratio will land you the best rates, but you may still qualify for a better rate than you currently have even if your credit or income aren’t quite where you want them.

You can also choose to refinance your student loans with a cosigner. Adding a cosigner with a strong credit history can get you a better interest rate than you’d qualify for on your own. If you default on your loan, though, your cosigner assumes responsibility for the payments. Keep this in mind when deciding whether or not you should refinance your student loans with a cosigner.

The Takeaway

SoFi’s student loan refinancing calculator helps you determine how much you could save by refinancing your student loans. If you’re looking to lower your monthly payment or save money in interest over the life of the loan, refinancing could be the right choice for you.

However, if you plan on using federal benefits, it is not recommended to refinance your student loans. Refinancing federal loans with a private lender makes them ineligible for federal forgiveness and protections.