Student Loan Refinancing Companies: Credible

The second post in our student loan refinancing companies series focuses on Credible, a student loan refinancing marketplace that gives you access to multiple lenders with just one application.

Credible doesn’t do any lending itself, but rather aggregates personalized offers from different lenders, including banks and online companies. Their student loan refinancing partner lenders include Citizens Bank, Earnest, College Ave, iHelp, EdVestinU, MEFA, and RISLA, each offering different loan terms, interest rates and benefits.

How Refinancing Through Credible Works

Credible’s simple application process makes it easy to compare offers from various lenders and choose the one that’s best for you.

The company has been compared to travel site Kayak because it aggregates information from a variety of sources to allow users to pick and choose based on different options, which saves users the time and hassle of filling out multiple student loan refinancing applications.

There are no minimum qualifications to use Credible. According to its website, many of Credible’s refinancing partner lenders will consider borrowers with less than perfect credit.

But as NerdWallet writes, most lenders on the platform look for a credit score in the mid-600s and borrowers who earn enough to cover their student loan payments and other expenses. Their typical borrower has a credit score from 700-750 and an income of $70,000. If you don’t have a long credit history or a higher income, you’ll likely need to apply with a co-signer.

According to NerdWallet, if you choose a lender to refinance with, you’ll be asked to import your loan information, and the lender will run a hard credit check before making you a firm offer. After you complete this process through Credible, the lender will contact you directly to finalize your new loan.

Credible Refinancing Rates

As of April 11, 2017, Credible’s variable student loan refinancing rates start from 2.59% APR (with autopay) and the lowest fixed rate available is 3.49% APR (with autopay). These are slightly higher than LendKey’s and SoFi’s starting interest rates.

LendKey’s rates start from 2.43% APR for variable rate loans and 3.25% APR for fixed rate loans with autopay as of April 11, 2017. SoFi’s variable student loan refinancing rates start from 2.565% APR and their fixed rates start at 3.375% APR with autopay.

According to Credible’s website, borrowers who refinance through one of their partner lenders save an average of $18,668.

You can get your Credible refinancing rate offers online in just a few minutes without affecting your credit.

Credible Refinancing Benefits

One benefit is that some of Credible’s lenders offer refinancing to well-qualified borrowers with unlimited loan balances. This is unique compared to other online lenders, which often have limits under $175,000.

Like LendKey and SoFi, Credible’s lenders do not have prepayment penalties on their refinancing loans and allow borrowers to refinance private and federal student loans together, including graduate school loans.

Like SoFi, Credible’s lenders also let parent borrowers refinance their federal Parent PLUS loans, which isn’t the case for all student loan refinancing lenders. This can potentially save borrowers with high-interest Parent PLUS loans money on repayment.

One other great thing about Credible is that even borrowers who did not graduate are eligible to refinance their student loans, a requirement that some other companies have.

Requirements, Fees and Loan Terms for Credible

Credible may be a good fit for student loan borrowers who:

• Want to compare a variety of offers all in one place with only one application. Credible makes it easy to view multiple offers at once with various loan terms and interest rates.
• Are newer to credit. There is no minimum requirement for years of credit history, but borrowers with limited credit should consider applying with a co-signer to get better rates.
• Have lower incomes. While some of their partner lenders require incomes of at least $75,000, others require only that borrowers have minimum income of $24,000, or $18,000 with a cosigner.

Credible’s lending terms and rates are as follows (as of April 11, 2017):

• Variable rate loans APR: Starting at 2.59% APR (with autopay)
• Fixed rate loans APR: Starting at 3.49% APR (with autopay)
• Minimum loan amount: $5,000
• Maximum loan amount: None (up to loan balance)
• Minimum loan duration: 5 years
• Maximum loan duration: 20 years

Here are Credible fees and penalties to keep in mind:

• Origination fee: None
• Prepayment fee: None
• Late fees: Depend on lender

Credible Reviews & Customer Experiences

Credible has very positive reviews from student loan borrowers and consumer-focused publications. They are rated 9/10 on Best Company and 10/10 on The College Investor. They have an A+ rating on the Better Business Bureau website and are rated 4.97 out of 5 stars based on their BBB rating and customer reviews.

Credible’s minimal negative reviews seem to revolve around the soft credit pull used during the process of obtaining interest rate offers from different companies. The website clearly states that this will happen, but it will not affect your credit score. Know that, however, if you decide to proceed with one of the offers, the lender may then do a “hard” credit pull, which can affect your credit score.

While we haven’t worked with clients who have used Credible for student loan refinancing, from our research it sounds like it can be a good option for borrowers who want to compare offers from a variety of lenders, have lower incomes, or who have high student loan balances.

While Credible gives you access to several different lenders, it’s a good idea to apply for refinancing through other companies as well so you can compare all of your options. You may find that LendKey, SoFi or one of the many other student loan refinancing companies is a better fit for your situation, or you’ll be able to rest easier knowing you found a great deal through Credible.

If you’re interested in working one-on-one with our experts to help repay your student loans, call us at 1-888-234-3907 or send us a message.