How to Refinance Student Loans in 4 Steps

Gather documents and information.

Once you decide to refinance your student loans, have the following information ready to submit with your application:

• Name, date of birth and Social Security Number
• Permanent address, phone number and email address
• Basic info about your school and degree
• The type of student loan you're refinancing (Private, Federal or both)
• Annual income, if applicable
• Loan amount you’re requesting

Tip: Keep your bank account info handy as well. If you set up automatic payments for your student loan, you’ll receive a 0.25% reduction in your rate.^{Footnote 1}

Add a co-signer, if needed.

If you don’t have an income of at least $24,000 a year or if you have a limited credit history (typically less than 36 months), adding a creditworthy co-signer may be a good idea. Having a co-signer on your loan can:

• increase the chance of loan approval
• help lower the interest rate on the loan

Provide final documentation and select the terms of your loan.

Before you’re done, you’ll need to submit a few more documents to:

• show proof of graduation
• provide proof of income

You’ll also need to select the type of loan you want (5-, 10-, 15-year fixed or variable),^{Footnote 2} choose the loans you want to refinance and set up payment options.

Complete final steps following approval.

Once approved, you’ll need to sign your loan agreement and accept your disclosures. We’ll then send the funds to your current lender. This process could take up to 30 days, so continue to make on-time payments toward your current loan until we’ve confirmed the refinance is complete.

Ready to get started? It only takes minutes to apply.

Student Refi  Parent Refi