Refinancing student loans with Earnest may benefit borrowers who don’t necessarily have high credit scores but are otherwise in good financial standing. A subsidiary of Navient, Earnest uses an algorithmic model to approve borrower rates and terms.
Loan Limits | $5,000 – $500,000 |
Fixed Rates | 5.19%* – 9.99% |
Variable Rates | 5.99% – 9.99% (11.95% Cap†) |
Terms | 60 – 240 months |
Min. Credit Score | 650 |
Apply | Link |
*Lowest rates always include the 0.25% interest reduction for enrolling in auto-pay.
†The highest variable rate cap is for loans with terms exceeding 15 years. The rate cap for 11- to 15-year loans is 9.95%, while loan terms of 10 years or less are capped at 8.95%.
Skip to: Rates & Fees | Eligibility Requirements | Repayment Options | Consumer Reviews & Complaints | FAQ
Private student loans | ✓ |
Private parent loans | ✓ (in parent’s name only) |
Federal student loans | ✓ |
Federal Parent PLUS loans | ✓ (in parent’s name only) |
Earnest Refinance Rates & Fees
Earnest Operations LLC offers fixed and variable rates for student loan refinancing. Note that lowest rates always include a 0.25% interest rate reduction for enrollment in automatic payments.
Term | Fixed Rate | Variable Rate |
---|---|---|
60 – 240 Months | 5.19% – 9.99% | 5.99% – 9.99% |
Additional information about Earnest refinance rates:
- Checking your rate with Earnest will not affect your credit score. They will conduct a soft, not hard, credit inquiry (learn the difference).
- Earnest does offer a discount for setting up auto-pay: 0.25% interest rate reduction.
- Variable rates are based on the 30-day SOFR (5.35% as of this writing) as published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on the twenty-fifth day, or the next business day, of the preceding calendar month.
- Variable rates are capped at 11.95% for loans with terms exceeding 15 years. The rate cap for 11- to 15-year loans is 9.95%, while loan terms of 10 years or less are capped at 8.95%.
- Variable rates are unavailable in Alaska, Illinois, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Ohio, Tennessee, and Texas.
- Applicants may set their term limit for any period between 5 and 20 years down to the month.
Earnest refinance rate recent history
In 2023, Earnest raised its lowest available fixed rate for new loans 22.4% (from 4.24% APR) while its highest available fixed rate is up 8.1% (from 9.24% APR). The lowest variable rate is 71.6% higher (from 3.49% APR) than it was at the end of last year, and the highest variable rate is up 21.2% (from 8.24% APR).
In 2022, Earnest raised its lowest and highest available fixed rates 79.9% and 53.0%, respectively; its lowest and highest variable rates increased 112.2% and 45.0%.
Student Loan Refinancing Calculator
Based on advertised rates, use the calculator below to determine what your new monthly payment and potential savings may be if you refinance with Earnest.
Additional Fees
Beyond interest rates, there are a number of fees a refinance lender may charge up-front or during the loan servicing period. Below is a list of these fees that Earnest does or does not charge.
Fee Type | Amount Charged |
---|---|
Application Fee | Undisclosed |
Loan Origination Fee | None |
Disbursement Fee | Undisclosed |
Prepayment Penalty | None |
Late Payment Fee | None |
Returned Payment Fee | Up to $8 |
Collection Fee | Undisclosed |
- Application fee – fee to apply for rates & approval.
- Loan origination fee – fee to create the new loan.
- Disbursement fee – fee for distributing funds to lenders to pay off loans that have been refinanced.
- Prepayment penalty – fee for making extra payments to reduce a refinance loan balance or pay it off early.
- Late payment fee – fee for making a late payment.
- Returned payment fee – fee for failed payments due to insufficient funds, also known as a “bounced check”.
- Collection fee – fee for collection activity on a defaulted debt.
Current Promotions & Offers
Earnest offers a 0.25% interest rate reduction with enrollment in automatic payments.
Through Earnest’s referral program, referring and referred borrowers always receive a $200 bonus each for every new referral who refinances their student loans with Earnest.
Earnest Refinance Eligibility Requirements
To qualify for refinancing with Earnest, all borrowers must meet the criteria below.
- Citizenship Requirement: U.S. citizenship or permanent residence.
- Income Requirement: income required, no minimum specified.
- Credit Score Requirement: 650 minimum FICO score.
- Graduation Requirement: associate’s degree or higher -OR- a completed degree by the end of the current semester -OR- student loans in repayment while enrolled less than half-time.
- Location Requirement: District of Columbia or one of 48 U.S. states (excluding Kentucky and Nevada).
Additional restrictions apply for specific individuals and loans.
- Earnest stipulates that borrowers must be current on rent or mortgage payments.
- Refinancing requires no history of bankruptcy or accounts recently in collection.
- Earnest discloses the following factors for financial approval:
- Enough savings to cover at least two months of normal expenses, including housing.
- Increasing bank account balances.
- No large amounts of non-student, non-mortgage debt (e.g. credit cards, personal loans).
- History of history of making payments on time.
- No history of regular charges for late, overdraft, or insufficient funds fees.
Earnest Student Loan Repayment Options
Lenders vary greatly on the benefits and options provided to borrowers during the loan servicing period. Additionally, benefits may only be available on a case-by-case basis. Earnest offers some relief options.
Deferment & Forbearance
Earnest does have some options for deferring payments. Note that refinance loans in deferment always continue to accrue interest. See Earnest’s conditions for deferment and forbearance below.
Condition | Coverage |
---|---|
Returning to grad school (more than half-time) | Deferment, up to 36 months |
Disability rehabilitation | Unspecified |
Active military duty | Deferment, duration of active duty plus 180 days after demobilization |
Involuntary unemployment | Forbearance, up to 12 months |
Economic hardship | Forbearance, up to 12 months |
Natural Disaster | Unspecified |
Temporary Hardship | Forbearance, up to 12 months |
Additional Options
Earnest may offer other opportunities for relief or contract modification.
- Unpaid maternity/paternity leave is considered a temporary hardship for the purposes of forbearance.
- Borrowers may apply to skip one payment every 12 months.
- Death / disability discharge is available in the unfortunate circumstance that a borrower passes away or suffers total permanent disability.
- Co-signer release is unavailable.
Earnest Reviews, Complaints & Lawsuits
Beyond our own findings, our team also collected the most genuinely insightful customer experiences we could find, including any instances of legal action against the company in which the details became public.
Earnest Online Reviews
Below are 3 samples of Earnest customer reviews we found on public forums, included here for their value as unedited, uncensored, and unsolicited user experiences. Note that these reviews are unverified, may include inaccuracies, and may provide outdated information (about rates, bonus offers, etc.).
“About one year ago I refinanced multiple student loans with Earnest and got a consolidated loan at a rate over 35% lower than the average of my prior loans. I’ve made aggressive payments towards the loan monthly, and have been nothing but happy and satisfied with my choice to use the company.
Other than the website, nothing else has changed in my opinion since Navient came along. Earnest maintains its own brand. Customer service is exactly the same – responsive and quick.” – RPG_are_my_initials on reddit, 9/22/2019
“I have Earnest, who cares if their customer service is not as excellent as it used to be? Get the best rate, set auto-pay, forget it. I haven’t had any issue before or after the Navient takeover.” – Dreamgiver on White Coat Investor, 6/14/2019
“I used Earnest a year ago to refinance. I chose variable instead of fixed, but had smaller loans. Earnest at the time offered the chance to change from variable to fixed at any time during repayment. The process was a breeze, and an Earnest employee sent me a text with his personal contact info in case I had any questions. I’ve seen the rate tick up from low 2’s to mid/upper 2’s (about .5% total, in line with short term rate rises). I was and am still very satisfied with them.” – tanstaafl on Bogleheads.org, 4/26/2017
More (unfiltered) customer reviews of Earnest are available at TrustPilot.com (4.7 out of 5). Earnest has a profile on ConsumersAdvocate.org (4.7 out of 5).
Earnest Consumer Complaints
As consumer finance companies, student loan refinancing lenders fall under the jurisdiction of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a federal agency. As part of its mission, the CFPB allows consumers to log official complaints. These complaints are publicly available on the CFPB official website.
Since August 7, 2015, consumers have submitted 132 complaints about Earnest, Inc. to the CFPB for an average of one (1) complaint every 23 days or so, which is more than twice as fast as the average daily complaint rate among reviewed lenders. Among the 86 complaints that include narratives, 27 (31.4%) specifically reference student loan refinancing.
In 2023, Earnest’s consumer complaint rate is 67.1% higher (as of this writing) than it is in an average year. Consumers file one (1) complaint for every $5.506 million of estimated corporate revenue or roughly two (2) complaints for every 20 employees.
The allegations made in these complaints are unverified, are not necessarily representative of all consumers’ experiences with Earnest, and may contain outdated information (about rates, bonus offers, etc.). Note that a lender with a large customer base is likely to have a higher number of complaints when compared with smaller lenders.
Below we’ve included 3 of the most recent complaints (as of this writing) in which the consumer consented to share their details and explicitly refer to refinancing.
Complaint 6884408
4/24/2023
Michigan
“XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX I was able to refinance it from a loan that I had from XXXX and XXXX XXXX into one loan now under earnest. Initially, the monthly cost of my student loan payments took up more than 50 % of my monthly income. I struggled for months to pay both rent, to get food, and pay off my student loan. The student loan bill is the largest out of all of these. I was never able to find a job with my XXXX XXXX XXXX that pays a comparable salary to what it cost to get the degree. I would have never gone to school for this degree if I knew that the job market had no jobs that would compensate me for my specific education. Now every single month, even since refinancing with Earnest I barely get by. Now I am about to have a baby and I have no idea what I am going to do in order to feed my family, this loan takes up an unreasonable amount of my income and they are not willing to work with me on lowering the payment without me being in debt for the rest of my life. Please, I need help. If something else doesn’t happen soon I fear for my family. I worry I am going to have to raise a child homeless and couch surfing because of the unreasonable price of my degree.”
Complaint 5916016
8/26/2022
Ohio
“On Thursday, XX/XX/2022 at XXXX XXXX, after President Biden announced debt relief for borrows of federal student loans, student-loan refinance company Earnest sent an e-mail with a headline that wrongly suggested that the relief had already been applied to accounts. The headline read, ” [ My name ], up to $ XXXX in fed loans is gone but what about the rest? ” At issue, someone seeing this headline may inadvertently refinance their student loan before their debt relief is applied. Also, the body of the e-mail says that ” the Fed [ is ] raising their interest rates, ” which may make potential borrowers wrongly think that the rates on their federal loans are being raised. The e-mail is attached. To be fair, a disclaimer is at the bottom, but the whole of the e-mail can be misleading. Furthermore, the disclaimer on Earnest ‘s website does not reflect the payment suspension through the end of the year, let alone through the most recent actions towards forgiveness. The screenshot is attached. Go to www.earnest.com -> Student Debt Refinance -> Check my rate, or, equivalently, www.earnest.com/_/slr-ui/rate-check/get-started I do not hold federal student loans, but the issue is serious enough for the CFPB to investigate and prevent harm to potential borrowers.”
Complaint 5912350
8/24/2022
Pennsylvania
“My lender is Earnest.com. My regular monthly statement should have been released on or about the XXXX ( XX/XX/XXXX should have been the most recent ). They have not sent it. I waited a few days and called in and they said it was a known issue, still no statement. A few days later I received an email from them saying to log in and review my statement, still nothing, so I called in the next day. They promised they were fixing the issue and the statement would be out by the end of the week ( XX/XX/XXXX ) – XXXX XXXX came and went still nothing. They don’t have customer services on the weekends so today- Monday Morning – I called in and they now say they have no ETA on when the statement will be available. I have a quote from another lender to refinance this student loan. It includes a {$500.00} incentive and a lower rate. All they are waiting for is a statement from my current lender Earnest and I can not get it. Whatever their problem is, this is not a reasonable amount of time to wait for my monthly statement.”
For a full list of complaints made against Earnest in the CFPB’s Consumer Complaint Database, click here.
Earnest Lawsuits
Earnest LLC and its sister company NaviRefi have not been implicated in ongoing lawsuits against their parent company, Navient Corporation, alleging violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.[1][2][3] Note that while this information is updated regularly, ongoing legal action is subject to change.
Frequently Asked Questions
These are the most common questions consumers have about student loan refinancing with Earnest.
- Is Earnest good for refinancing student loans? Earnest’s student refinance loans may benefit student borrowers who don’t necessarily have high credit scores but are otherwise in good financial standing.
- Does Earnest have a minimum credit score requirement? With a completed degree, 650 is the minimum credit score required to qualify for student loan refinancing. Borrowers who did not complete the program they paid for using the student loans to be refinanced must have a credit score of at least 700 to qualify.
- Are Earnest loans federal? Earnest loans are not federal. Earnest has no affiliation with the federal government or the U.S. Department of Education.
- Does Earnest charge a prepayment penalty? There are no penalties for early payments or for repaying a loan in full before its term is over.
- Does checking your rates with Earnest hurt your credit score? For their prequalification process, Earnest performs a soft credit check, which will not hurt your credit score. If you proceed with an application, however, Earnest will perform a hard credit check that may affect your credit score.
- Is Earnest a bank? Earnest is not a bank nor is it affiliated with any bank. Earnest was founded as a fintech company and now operates as its own brand under the Navient Corporation.
- Can I refinance an Earnest loan? You can refinance an Earnest student loan or a student loan from another private lender. There is no limit to the number of times a borrower may refinance with Earnest. Note, however, that every new line of credit requires a hard credit check that may affect your FICO score.
- Can I refinance just some of my loans with Earnest? Yes, you can refinance some, all, or just one of your qualifying student loans with Earnest. You may choose to refinance your private loans only or refinance private and federal loans together.
- Can I refinance loans that have already been refinanced? Yes, you can refinance loans as many times as you want with Earnest. Note that each time you refinance, you will have to submit a new application; every application requires a hard credit check that may affect your credit score.
- Can my spouse and I refinance our loans together with Earnest? No, Earnest only refinances loans from the borrower’s own education.
- How long does it take to refinance with Earnest? Earnest does not disclose an average timeline for refinancing.
- Who services Earnest refinance loans? Earnest does not sell its loans to other financial institutions or servicers.
- Does Earnest offer a grace period? No, Earnest does not offer a grace period.
- How often do variable rates change? Earnest’s variable rates change no more than once per month based on the 30-day SOFR as published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on the 25th day, or the next business day, of the preceding calendar month.
- Can I get any special rates or discounts with Earnest? Earnest offers a standard 0.25% rate reduction to borrowers who set up auto-pay.
- What happens if I file for bankruptcy? If you file for bankruptcy, you may still be required to repay your Earnest student refinance loan.
- Does Earnest partner with any major student refinance lender marketplaces?
Earnest partners with Purefy as part of its multilender marketplace. Credible and SuperMoney also list Earnest as featured lenders.
Compare Student Loan Refinance Reviews
Lender | Rating |
---|---|
RISLA | A+ |
Brazos | A |
Credible | A |
Advantage | A- |
ELFI | A- |
Laurel Road | A- |
Mpower Financing | A- |
Splash Financial | A- |
Purefy | B+ |
UW Credit Union | B+ |
LendKey | B+ |
College Ave | B |
PenFed | B |
SoFi | B |
Earnest | B- |
EDvestinU | B- |
INvestEd | B- |
MEFA | B- |
Sparrow | B- |
Yrefy | B- |
Citizens Bank | C+ |
ISL | C+ |
Lend-Grow | C+ |
SELF Refi | C+ |
SuperMoney | C+ |
First Tech Federal | C |
BECU | C- |
Navy Federal | C- |
iHelp | D+ |
Discover | D |
Nelnet Bank | D |
PNC Bank | D- |
NaviRefi | F |
Sources
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, CFPB Sues Nation’s Largest Student Loan Company Navient for Failing Borrowers at Every Stage of Repayment
- Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School Project on Predatory Student Lending, VILLALBA V. NAVIENT
- NavientClassAction.com, Navient Class Action Information
- Earnest, Eligibility Guide
- Earnest, Earnest Operations LLC Refinance Education Loan Variable Rate Application & Solicitation Disclosure
- CFPB, Consumer Complaint Database
- Dun & Bradstreet, Business Directory: Earnest LLC
- Better Business Bureau, Search Businesses and Charities