If you're having difficulty making payments, you can take a look at your 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.
We know that unexpected life events can affect your budget, so we offer clients with an Earnest Private Student Loan or Earnest Student Loan Refinance the ability to skip a payment through a single, one-month forbearance. Please note, that Skip-A-Payment is processed as a 1-month forbearance and counts against 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, we require a completed, signed, and dated request form.
- For Earnest clients: You can obtain a request form from our team by clicking the "Get In Touch" button found at the bottom of this article
- For NaviRefi clients: You can obtain a request form from our team by giving us a call at 888-601-2801, Monday-Friday, 5:00 AM - 5:00 PM PT
We encourage you to read the additional disclosures outlined on the request form, including the information regarding simple daily interest that 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) only.
Once we receive your inquiry, our team will provide you with instructions on how to upload or share the form. All Skip-A-Payment requests must be received no less than five (5) business days prior to the beginning 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 providing your completed form, feel free to contact us at 888-601-2801, Monday through Friday, 5 AM to 5 PM PT, excluding holidays.