We know that unexpected life events can affect your budget, so we offer clients with an Earnest Private Student Loan, Earnest Student Loan Refinance, or Earnest Personal Loan the ability to skip a payment. If you have an Earnest Student Loan, you can take a look at other possible options here for Student Loan Refinancing or here for Private Student Loans. Please ensure you thoroughly review all options prior to considering Skip-A-Payment. Please note that Skip-A-Payment for student loans is processed as a 1-month forbearance and counts toward the total 12-month forbearance allowance over the life of the loan.
To be eligible to request your first Skip-A-Payment, you need to have made at least 6 months’ worth of consecutive, on-time scheduled Monthly Payments of contractual principal and interest. After exercising the first Skip-A-Payment, you must make another 12 months' worth of consecutive, on-time scheduled Monthly Payments of contractual principal and interest to qualify.
To skip a month's payment, please call our Client Happiness team to complete the application over the phone.
- For Earnest Private Student Loans or Student Loan Refinance: You can call our team at (888) 601-2801, Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. PT, excluding holidays.
- For Earnest Personal Loans: You can call our team at (888) 744-0767, Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. PT, excluding holidays
Please note that the simple daily interest will continue to accrue on your loan while skipping a payment. Unpaid Interest on Earnest Private Student Loans, also known as In-School Student Loans, may be capitalized (added to the Unpaid Principal) at the end of each skipped payment, as permitted by law and your loan agreement. Interest will not be capitalized for refinanced student loans (Earnest Private Student Loan Refinance and NaviRefi Loans) or Earnest Personal Loans.
All Skip-A-Payment requests must be received no less than five (5) business days prior to the beginning of the skipped payment date. Requests received less than five (5) business days before the desired date will be reviewed and processed for the subsequent billing cycle. Payments remain due until approval is granted. If you do not hear back from our team within five (5) to eight (8) business days of your request, feel free to contact us at (888) 601-2801, Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. PT, excluding holidays. You can also reach out by email at hello@earnest.com or by clicking the "Get In Touch" button at the bottom of this article.