We offer a 0.25% interest rate discount to our clients who opt into and maintain automatic payments for their student loans. Enrollment in Auto Pay can be completed from your online dashboard once your loan has entered full repayment and you have added your desired payment account. Please note that if you have selected the deferred repayment plan, you will be eligible for the discount once your loan enters full repayment. You can enroll in Auto Pay directly from your online dashboard by following these steps:
Adding a Payment Account
To add a payment account to your profile, you'll need to:
- Sign in to your Earnest account.
- Select “Payment Methods” from the left-side navigation menu.
- To add an account, click “Add New Account,” choose account type (checking or savings), enter the routing and account numbers, and select “Save.”
- You can now view this account as an option for future payments under “Your Accounts.”
Enrolling in Monthly Auto Pay
Once your desired payment account has been added, you may enroll the account in Auto Pay by following these steps:
- Sign in to your Earnest account.
- Click the "View Loan Details" from the loan card.
- Underneath the More Ways to Save banner, select “Enroll in Auto Pay.”
- Choose a bank for automatic withdrawals, then “Confirm & Save.”
- A confirmation will appear showing when your Auto Pay will begin (you'll also receive an email).
Enrolling in Biweekly Auto Pay
- Sign in to your Earnest account.
- Click the "View Loan Details" from the loan card.
- Underneath the More Ways to Save banner, select “Enroll in Biweekly Auto Pay.”
- Choose a bank account and frequency (every two weeks).
- Select the starting date for your Biweekly payments. Please note that whichever day of the week you select (Monday - Sunday) will become the day your payment is debited every two weeks.
- Once you have selected a day that works best for you, click "Review Changes."
- Finally, click “Confirm and Submit" to save your preferences.
Once you are enrolled in Auto Pay, you can easily switch between monthly and biweekly payments. To do so, locate the "Edit Frequency" button under the Change Auto Pay Settings option and save your changes.
Enrollment will appear online within one full billing cycle. Until then, please refer to your confirmation email for all your Auto Pay details. Enrolling in Auto Pay may take a full cycle to activate, during which time you'll need to make your payments manually. For information on payment processing times, please refer to this article.
As a reminder, the interest rate reduction for Auto Pay will be available only while your loan is enrolled in Auto Pay and will be removed if terminated. Your minimum payment amount may increase to account for the higher interest rate. Re-enrollment in auto pay allows the interest rate reduction to resume. It’s important to note that 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. This means that only one individual may enroll in Auto Pay for multi-party loans.