To make the most out of our student loan calculator, you will want to first put in your current loan information. You can generally find this out by going to the loan processors website and signing in to find out your remaining balance as well as other critial information such as APR, Payoff date, and other loan information. Once you have added this information to the student loan calculator, you will now want to add the new rates you are looking at. One this information has been added to the calculator, you should be able to see the overall savings that you may qualify for should you decide to refinance your student loans.

The average American graduate earns about $50,556 yearly. It certainly really isn’t much when compared to their outstanding student loan debt of about $37,172. This debt drags them on for years. And they are mandated to make a monthly payment of about $450 to recompense funds, which takes most of the income earned.

The Income Contingent Repayment plan – Devised by the U.S department of education developed to assist graduates who have relatively low earnings clear their loan debts after graduating, allowing them to make monthly fixed payments over a period of 25 years after which any remaining payments would be cleared. However, the current law affirms that the remaining payments will be treated as taxable income and will be required to pay income taxes on the discharged amount.

The amount of time it will take in order to pay off a student loan will vary from student to student. As much as we would like to see a one-size-fits-all approach to repaying your student loans, this just is not feasible. Depending on the type of loan you take out you will have the set time frame in which you will be required to repay the loan.

For example, Federal student loans put the borrower on a 10-year plan to repay their student loans, however, you can request an extension on this up to 25 years in total to repay the loan. In doing this to your student loan you will see a decrease in monthly payment but a rise in the amount of interest you will pay over the term of the loan.

With Private student loans the borrower can take between 5 – 15 years generally to pay off his or her student loans. There are many other factors that are taken into account with private student loans, however, your default terms are 5 – 15 years.

The amount that you will pay for college is going to vary from student to student. If you decide to go to a community college for the first 2 years of your academic career you will end up paying considerably less than someone who went to a 4-year university right out of high school. Do you plan on living on campus, or will you live at home? Are you going to be working while in school or just doing school? Do you plan on going to a instate school which is cheaper or an out of state school which will end up being more expensive?

All of these questions and many, many others will come into question when you are applying for student loans. When looking at the data for the 2015 – 2016 school year, the average cost of tuition is estimated at $32,405 is you were to attend a private college. For students staying local and going to a instate public university, you are looking at a payment of around $9,400. And finally for the students who are planning on going to an out of state public university you are looking at around $24,000 per year in tuition and fees.

Through refinancing your student loans, you have the potential to save tens of thousands over the life of the loan. Along with this, there are three main benefits that you get when choosing to refinance:

• Lower monthly payment (this can provide you with more cash for other expenses)
• Pay off the loan faster (in doing this you save money on interest)
• With a lower monthly payment, you may be able to lower your debt-to-income ratio. This is a positive if you are trying to qualify for an apartment or mortgage.

One of the big benefits of refinancing student loans is unlike loans such as personal or mortgages, they do not cost any money in order to refinance. All of the lenders highlighted on our site have no prepayment penalties, no origination fees, and no application fees.

Make sure to follow up with your lender in order to find out the full terms and loan details. One thing in particular that you will want to look into is the late fees in case you may find your self in a pinch. If you are ready to take the next step in saving money on your student loans, head over to our refinancing student loans page in order to compare our student loan lending partners. You can also check out our student loan calculator to get a better idea of how much you may be able to save.

Let’s face it. Many of us are overpaying on our student loans and either do not know it or don’t know what to do in order to change our situation. Luckily through refinancing or consolidation, you can easily lower your interest rates to help you pay less over the term of your student loans. With this lower monthly payment, you can put that money towards other things like owning a home, other debt, finances or day to day needs. The one question that remains is do I qualify to refinance my student loans? Here is what you will want to consider when looking to see if you qualify:

• Good Credit Score. One of the biggest factors in qualifying for refinancing your student loans comes down to your credit score. Most lenders require at least a 660 (generally higher) if you are applying for yourself. Most of the lenders we work with do require a FICO of at least 700 but check our refinancing page to see current lender terms. You may have better luck with a co-signer which we will get to later.
• Have a very stable income. We will refer to this more in a point below, however many lenders consider your debt-to-income ration as well as total income. Debt to income refers to your the amount of money you have to pay out or owe in relationt to your income. If this is a concern of yours, you may want to consider using a co-signer to help you not only get a better rate but may help you based on their income. Another thing to consider is that if you have a high earning potential in the upcoming future, you may have an easier time than those who have less earning potential. A few examples of these careers include dentists, pharmacists, lawyers, doctors, MBA Graduates, and other high paying careers.
• You MUST attend an eligible university. With almost all of the lending partners that we currently work with on the Student Loan Calculator, you are required to go to a Title IV-accredited school. Check with the lender you would like to work with for official details or head over to our refinancing page.

In the event that you don’t meet the income or credit score requirements for refinancing, don’t give up just yet. You may still be able to qualify if you can find an applicable cosigner. If you are looking into additional options due to an application rejection, reach out to the lender and see why your funding was declined. In the event that is was rejected to the income or credit score you may be in luck with a cosigner. If you don’t have the ability to work with a cosigner, you may want to look into ways to lower your debt-to-income ratio or ways to build your credit. Another thing you can do is try and find ways of making additional income such as Uber or Lyft.

Given this information, plug in your current rates into our student loan calculator and see how the slighest change in your interest rate could mean huge savings for you.

To find out more head over to our refinance student loans page.

One of the biggest things that is considered when looking into the option to refinance your student loans is your income. Many of the lending partners that we work with will require extensive financial documentation which is all considered when being considered for refinancing your student loans. This could include but is not limited to debt-to-income ratio, loans, monthly expenses and other miscellaneous financial information. With this in mind, there are a few things to consider when it comes to finding out if your income is stable enough to refinance your student loans. Things to consider:

• In the event that you are struggling to pay federal student loans, refinancing might not be the best choice for you. If you fall into this category, you may want to consider looking into federal student loan consolidation or the possibility of working with an income-driven repayment plan. As a thing to note, these will not necessarily save you any money, however, they may be able to lower your monthly payment to something more manageable.
• In the event that you currently have private student loans, you should look into refinancing as you really do have nothing to lose. The reason behind this is that private student loans are not eligible for any of the perks that federal student loans are able to receive such as student loan forgiveness.