We completely understand your desire to take advantage of lower rates. Unfortunately, the Fed’s interest rate isn’t the only factor in how our interest rates are set. We are committed to offering you the most competitive rates we can, based on the market conditions. We understand that volatility in the market can bring uncertainty, and we do our absolute best to provide as much information and support as we can during those times. We want Earnest clients to explore all their options before applying to refinance their federal student loans.
Refinancing a federal student loan with a private lender means you will no longer have access to the benefits of your federal loans, including the temporary 0% interest rate on federally held loans, suspension of payments (payments will start 60 days after June 30th, 2023, unless the litigation is resolved), federal loan forgiveness, or any other relief measures implemented for federal loans to address the COVID-19 crisis.
Please carefully review your current and potential benefits with a federal loan servicer before refinancing.
If you want to consider what your options are with Earnest at this time, take a look below:
Prospective:
- We recommend visiting our Rate Check tool to see the potential rate estimates we may be able to provide. You can also check what our current headline rates are here under the “Today’s Rate” section.
Application in review:
- Your application will be reviewed against the current rates at the time you submitted the application. If approved, you’ll have up to 30 days to consider our offer to make sure we’re a good fit for you.
Approved and have NOT signed your offer:
- You have 30 days from the date you received your loan offer to decide if our offer is right for you.
Accepted your loan offer:
- You have 3 business days to contact us and rescind your signed loan offer from the date that you signed. If you are 4 business days or more past signing your loan agreement, we will have already begun processing payoff to your former servicer(s) and are unable to void or rescind the offer at that time.
Active client:
- Your base rate will remain the same as outlined in your loan agreement and final disclosure. If you agreed to a fixed-rate loan, your APR will not change. For those with variable rate loans, your loan’s APR will continue to fluctuate based on the 30-Day Average Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) interest rate rounded up. We’ll then add SOFR to your base rate to set your effective rate for the next month on the 1st. For more information on which standard is used for your loan, please refer to your loan agreement.
