Auto Pay is a feature offered by Earnest that allows clients to automatically manage their monthly payments from a select bank account on their due date each billing cycle. We offer a 0.25% interest rate discount to our clients that opt into, and maintain, automatic payments for their student loans. Making adjustments to your monthly payment amount will have no impact on your Auto Pay or your eligibility for the rate discount. While clients may only have one payment account set up for Auto Pay, they do have the ability to change which account is used. For more information on adding a payment account, check out this article.
What will happen to my Auto Pay if I make an extra or manual payment?
Any time you make an extra or manual payment, it will first be applied to the interest that has accrued since your last payment and then goes towards your principal balance. It’s important to note that making an extra payment or scheduling an early payment will have no impact on your Auto Pay or your interest discount. This means if you are enrolled in Auto Pay, your payment will still debit from your linked payment account on your due date regardless of any scheduled payments. For more information on making a principal-only payment, check out this article.
Auto Pay Discount
You can take advantage of the Auto Pay interest rate reduction by setting up and maintaining active and automatic ACH withdrawal of your loan payment. The interest rate reduction for Auto Pay will be available only while your loan is enrolled in Auto Pay. Interest rate incentives for utilizing Auto Pay may not be combined with certain private student loan repayment programs that also offer an interest rate reduction. For multi-party loans, only one party may enroll in Auto Pay.