We offer deferment for up to 36 months for clients who return to an accredited undergraduate or graduate school with an enrollment status of at least half-time or more. We currently do not offer deferment for the Peace Corps, fellowships, or other similar programs. For private student loans, please check out this article for program specifics.
To process a deferment request, we require a completed, signed, and dated request form. The form is available to download at the bottom of this article. We encourage you to read the additional disclosures outlined on the request form. To ensure your request is processed in a timely manner, please upload the deferment request form.
For Earnest clients: You can upload the completed form to your online dashboard using the following directions:
- Sign in to your Earnest account.
- Click “Documents” from the left-side navigation menu.
- Select “Upload.”
- Drop your file into the box and click "Save Changes" at the bottom. Please note that the maximum file capacity is 10MB.
Since we are not automatically notified when documents are uploaded, please click the “Get In Touch” button at the bottom of this article to send us a quick email to let us know you've uploaded the document.
For NaviRefi clients: Please email your document(s) to NaviRefi_Documents@earnest.com.
When emailing us a document, please password-protect it to increase its security. You can do this via Adobe Acrobat, Preview, or other programs. Once you have password-protected the document and emailed it to us, give us a call at (888) 601-2801 from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. PT, Monday through Friday, excluding holidays, to provide the password to a member of our team. If you have any questions about how to password-protect your document, please feel free to call the Client Happiness team during business hours.
All deferment requests must be received by Earnest at least five business days before the date you are requesting the deferment begins. Requests received on or before the fifth business day prior to a payment due date will be implemented for your current payment. Starting on the fourth business day before, we'll file the request right away, but the change may or may not go into effect for your current payment. If filing the request at that point, please be prepared for the possibility that your auto payment will be withdrawn or your manual payment will remain due.
Once we receive your request, our team will email you within five to eight business days. If you do not hear back from us by then, please reach out to us for an update by clicking the "Get In Touch" button found at the bottom of this article.