The Pros and Cons of Refinancing Student Loans

If you’re currently making monthly payments on student loan debt, you might be looking for ways to reduce those payments or save money over the long term. Fortunately, refinancing with a private lender can be a viable option to potentially lower your interest rate and simplify your payments.

To help you understand if refinancing is the right decision for you, this guide will cover the benefits and drawbacks of refinancing student loans. You can also explore tools like refinancing calculators to estimate your potential savings and even check your rate without a hard credit pull, giving you a clear picture of what kind of interest rate you might qualify for.

What is Student Loan Refinancing?

When you refinance loans, you are essentially taking out a new loan, typically with a potentially lower interest rate, to pay off your existing student loans.¹ Over time, this can lead to significant savings as interest accrues more slowly over the new loan term, allowing you to pay down your principal balance faster.²

Student Loan Refinancing vs. Government-Backed Student Loan Consolidation

For individuals with government-backed student loans (such as those from the Student Loans Company in the UK), there are distinct approaches to managing payments:

Government Loan Consolidation (UK Context): In the UK, student loans from the Student Loans Company (SLC) are already effectively “consolidated” in that you typically make one payment to the SLC, even if you have multiple loans from different academic years. Your repayment plan (e.g., Plan 1, Plan 2, Plan 4, Plan 5, or Postgraduate Loan plan) dictates your repayment threshold and the percentage of income you repay.³ This is an income-contingent system, meaning your payments adjust with your earnings, and the loans are eventually written off after a set period. This process doesn’t involve applying for a “new” consolidated loan in the same way a US federal consolidation loan works, and it doesn’t aim to lower your interest rate but rather manages repayments based on income.
Refinancing with a Private Lender: This involves obtaining a new loan from a private financial institution to pay off either private student loans, or even to pay off your government-backed student loans.⁴ Refinancing for a lower interest rate can potentially save you a substantial amount of money over the life of your loan by decreasing the total interest paid.⁵

For example, imagine you have £50,000 of remaining student loan debt with an interest rate of 7%, a monthly payment of £580, and 10 years left on your loan term. If you refinance for a 5.83% interest rate without changing your repayment term, you could decrease your payment by £29 per month and save £3,593 over the life of your loan.

The Advantages of Refinancing Student Loans

Refinancing your student loans can potentially save you thousands of pounds in interest over the loan’s lifetime.⁶ However, it’s a decision that cannot be easily reversed, so it’s crucial to weigh both the benefits and risks. Here are some of the key benefits:

Potential for Significant Interest Savings: By securing a lower interest rate, you can save a considerable amount of money over the life of your loan.⁷ Interest will accumulate more slowly, enabling you to pay down the principal balance more quickly.⁸
Greater Flexibility in Loan Repayment Terms: When you refinance with a private lender, you’ll often have the flexibility to choose between a variable interest rate loan (where the rate fluctuates) or a fixed interest rate loan (where the rate remains constant). Some lenders, like Earnest (a US-based lender), even allow qualifying borrowers to reevaluate their interest rate later in their repayment process, potentially accessing even better rates.⁹
Choice of Loan Servicing Company: Unlike government-backed loans where you don’t choose the servicer, refinancing with a private lender allows you to select a company that offers the best rates and services tailored to your needs.
Opportunity to Release a Co-signer: If you initially needed a co-signer for private student loans and have since built a strong credit history, refinancing on your own can release your co-signer from their responsibility.¹⁰ This can alleviate financial stress for both parties.
Access to Lower Interest Rates with a Co-signer: If you struggle to qualify for a lower interest rate on your own, enlisting the help of a co-signer with excellent credit (such as a spouse, parent, or guardian) can significantly improve your chances and secure more favourable rates.¹¹ While co-signing is a serious commitment, the long-term interest savings can be substantial. If your financial situation improves later, you may be able to refinance again to release your co-signer.
Consolidate Both Government-Backed and Private Student Loans: Unlike government-specific consolidation programmes (like Direct Consolidation Loans in the US, which only work for federal aid), refinancing with a private lender can roll all your eligible private and government-backed student loans into a single new loan.
Potential for Faster Debt Repayment: If you refinance for a lower interest rate and do not significantly extend your repayment term, you may be able to pay off your debt much faster. Some lenders offer flexible payment options, such as bi-weekly payments, which can result in more of each payment going towards the principal, accelerating your debt-free journey.¹²
Lower Monthly Payments through Longer Terms: Refinancing allows you to choose new loan repayment terms that fit your budget.¹³ Opting for a longer loan period will spread out your repayment over more time, resulting in lower monthly payments.¹⁴ However, be aware that longer terms typically mean paying more interest overall.
Perks and Repayment Options from Private Lenders: Private lenders often offer competitive interest rates and features designed to assist borrowers.¹⁵ While they cannot replicate government-specific income-based repayment or loan forgiveness schemes, many offer their own perks, such as the ability to skip a payment once a year (for eligible borrowers) or interest rate discounts for setting up automatic payments.¹⁶

The Disadvantages of Refinancing Student Loans

While refinancing can offer significant financial advantages, it’s not the right choice for everyone. Here are some of the potential downsides of refinancing with a private lender:

Loss of Government-Backed Loan Protections: If you refinance government-backed student loans (such as those from the Student Loans Company in the UK) into a private loan, you will lose access to vital protections and flexibilities offered by the government.¹⁷ These include:
- Income-contingent repayment plans: Where your repayments are automatically adjusted based on your income, and stop if your income falls below a threshold.
- Automatic write-off: Government-backed loans are typically written off after a set number of years (e.g., 30 or 40 years in the UK), regardless of the amount repaid.
- Generous deferment and forbearance options: Government schemes often provide more extensive options to temporarily pause or reduce payments during financial hardship (e.g., unemployment, illness, or returning to study). Private lenders may offer some hardship assistance, but it’s typically less comprehensive.¹⁸
- Specific grace periods: Some government loan programs may offer grace periods where payments aren’t required immediately after disbursement, which private lenders generally do not replicate.¹⁹
Loss of Eligibility for Government Loan Forgiveness Programs: In countries like the US, specific “Public Service Loan Forgiveness” (PSLF) programs exist for certain public service careers. If you have (or plan to pursue) a career that would make you eligible for such a program, refinancing federal loans into a private loan will make you ineligible for that forgiveness. While the UK does not have a direct equivalent to PSLF, the automatic write-off of government-backed loans after a set period can be seen as a form of forgiveness for those who haven’t fully repaid. Refinancing removes this benefit.
Potential Need for a Co-signer: If you aim for lower interest rates but have a high debt-to-income ratio or a low credit score, you might find it challenging to refinance independently. While a co-signer can help, securing one can be difficult or uncomfortable if you don’t have easy access to someone willing and able to take on that responsibility.
Potentially Higher Monthly Payments: In some scenarios, a lender might only offer shorter repayment terms than your current loans.²⁰ This could result in higher monthly payments, even if the overall interest paid over the long term is reduced.

Is Refinancing Student Loans Worth It?

Here’s a summary to help you decide if refinancing is the right path for your student loans:

Refinancing may be worth it if…

You want to save money on interest rates and have a strong credit score.
You want to pay off your debt faster and have the financial capacity to make higher monthly payments.
You do not rely on or anticipate needing the specific repayment flexibilities, deferment, forbearance, or automatic write-off features of your government-backed student loans.
You have a good credit history and can access significantly lower interest rates than your current loans.
You want to remove a co-signer from your private loans.
You are not currently eligible, and do not plan to become eligible, for any government-specific loan forgiveness or write-off programs.
You have high-interest private loans you wish to consolidate or get a better rate on.

Refinancing may not be worth it if:

You have government-backed student loans (like those from the Student Loans Company in the UK) and value the income-contingent repayment, automatic write-off after a set period, or generous hardship provisions.
You are in a career path that might qualify for specific government loan forgiveness (if such a scheme existed in your country for private loans).
You are currently unable to make payments and need to defer your loans or seek forbearance, as private lenders may offer less extensive options.
You cannot secure a significantly better interest rate, or doing so would require a co-signer you cannot easily obtain.
Your lender only offers shorter repayment terms, leading to unmanageably high monthly payments.

Alternatives to Student Loan Refinancing

If student loan refinancing isn’t suitable for your situation, you may have other options to manage your student debt:

Review Government-Backed Loan Terms (UK Context): If you have loans from the Student Loans Company (SLC), you are already on an income-contingent repayment plan.²¹ Your payments are typically taken directly from your salary via the PAYE system once your income exceeds a certain threshold. If your income drops, your payments automatically stop. The loans are also written off after a set period (e.g., 30 or 40 years, depending on your plan). You can review details of your specific repayment plan and terms on the GOV.UK website.
Income-Driven Repayment (UK Context): The UK student loan system is inherently “income-driven.” Your repayments are a fixed percentage (9% for undergraduate loans, 6% for postgraduate loans) of your income above a specific threshold.²² This directly functions as an income-driven repayment plan, adjusting your payments to your earnings. While your interest rate typically stays the same, this mechanism provides significant financial flexibility.
Making Extra Payments (for any loan type): If your financial situation improves, making voluntary overpayments on your student loan (whether government-backed or private) can significantly reduce the total interest paid and help you become debt-free faster. Even small extra contributions can make a difference over time.

Before making any decision, it’s highly recommended to carefully compare your current loan terms with any potential new offers. Use available calculators and tools to understand the full financial impact.