Student loan refinance experiences?

[DuckDogDr]

Has anyone ever used Sofi or other agencies?
I have talked to one co-worker who did and said they saved a ton of money.
But also not sure of her financial decisions

 

[yeti14]

I did sofi years ago and saved thousands in interest. Only wish I did it sooner. The only catch with going private is you (your family) is not necessarily off the hook in the case of your death, depending on the situation. I just had a bit extra life insurance to cover that circumstance. Overall, well worth it.

 

[bowhuntercoop]

We used them for my wife’s med school loans. I think it was for 7 years and we paid em off in alittle over 4. Sure don’t miss those 10k a month payments but glad it’s over!

They saved us 100s of thousands over the life of the loan compared to regular student loans,

Pay em off asap then continue the payments into your 401k, savings, Roth, back door Roth, hsa,etc

 

[DuckDogDr]

Right now they are offering 4.49% interest and current loans are @ 6.8%

 

[bowhuntercoop]

Right now they are offering 4.49% interest and current loans are @ 6.8%

Ya we paid her’s off around 2018-2019, she graduated med school in 14. If I remember right it was just under 4 percent total interest back then. The student loans we consolidated were like 5-9 percent, made huge difference getting everything at one set percentage then hammering out the payments.

I would encourage it, pay em off asap like I said then enjoy the freedom.

 

[DuckDogDr]

Ya we paid her’s off around 2018-2019, she graduated med school in 14. If I remember right it was just under 4 percent total interest back then. The student loans we consolidated were like 5-9 percent, made huge difference getting everything at one set percentage then hammering out the payments.

I would encourage it, pay em off asap like I said then enjoy the freedom.

Yea… I’m ready to get out from under them.
Been paying $700 / month the past 13 years

 

[Ucsdryder]

Yea… I’m ready to get out from under them.
Been paying $700 / month the past 13 years

First wife had student loans. We threw literally everything we had at them and lived in poverty until they were cleared out. Way faster than what the loan was for and saved gobs of money. Is 700 really the most you can pay? I listen to some Dave Ramsey podcasts and it seems like half the callers are trying to get out of student loans. His advice is always the same, live like you’re broke because if you’re in debt you are.

 

[Cedarsavage]

Follow Dave Ramsey and rip the band aid off

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

Yup refinanced mine right after law school using SoFi. Instead of having 3 different interests rates took it down to one that was much lower overall. A few things to consider…. if there is (there likely won’t be) any student loan forgiveness, you wouldn’t qualify. It will also wipe out the ability to do income based repayment and loan forgiveness for a certain amount of years in government work (might not be a thing anymore?). Overall, more pros than cons and pay those things down as quick as possible.

 

[DuckDogDr]

First wife had student loans. We threw literally everything we had at them and lived in poverty until they were cleared out. Way faster than what the loan was for and saved gobs of money. Is 700 really the most you can pay? I listen to some Dave Ramsey podcasts and it seems like half the callers are trying to get out of student loans. His advice is always the same, live like you’re broke because if you’re in debt you are.

Work situation is kind of a mess … currently
Hoping things level out in May

 

[DuckDogDr]

I was hoping things would drop down to 4% but I may just jump on 4.49

 

[waspocrew]

I’m definitely not an expert - but I generally recall the issue of refinancing being missing out on certain things like income based repayment, etc. I came out of med school with like $220k in loans in 2018. Did income based repayment during residency and fellowship. Since I had two young children at the time, my payments were very low, but interest was still there. I made sure to cover any interest before it would be added to the principle.

During COVID, federal student loans were placed on deferment. So no interest as well as no payments. Same thing happened close to a year ago, so again I have nothing due and no interest at the moment. Which would not be the case while refinancing with a private lender.

Whatever way you go - pay it off as quick as you can. I started my first job out of training in late 2023. I have about 50k of my 220k left to go and it’ll be nice to have them out of the way!

 

[willfrye027]

I refinanced my 400k of med school debt with SoFi at like 2.9% for 10 year repayment. It’s been pretty painless minus the 4k/month payment.

 

[DuckDogDr]

I refinanced my 400k of med school debt with SoFi at like 2.9% for 10 year repayment. It’s been pretty painless minus the 4k/month payment.

How did you get 2.9?

 

[DuckDogDr]

Is it worth the penalties etc to cash out part of retirement and pay off completely?

 

[willfrye027]

How did you get 2.9?

It was Covid era interest rates plus good credit and a few discounts for auto pay and stuff like that. Wish I would have done a 15 year in retrospect but probably better to just hammer it out fast.

 

[Mangata]

I would want qualified advice on the cost of penalties vs savings accrued with no further interest. Loss of that amount of retirement savings would have to be considered in the formula as well.

I would say that it is probably not worth it to go that route, but my skillset is fixing people not financial advice…

 

[DuckDogDr]

It was Covid era interest rates plus good credit and a few discounts for auto pay and stuff like that. Wish I would have done a 15 year in retrospect but probably better to just hammer it out fast.

Man you got lucky finding that rate . I had checked at that time once or twice but both times I only saw 6.5% offered
And while they were 0% and deferred I was hammering down and managed to pay 2 of them off and almost a third.
Only owe 3k on it

Right now I’m seeing 4.8% on my offers

? Anyone speculating if they will drop any lower before I bite the bullet?

 

[ztc92]

I’ve spent a lot of time considering this. Like many here I had student loans from medical school. I had planned to refinance but then covid happened and my loans were paused with no interest so I’ve been waiting to see what happens.

Here’s my general view of pros/cons:

Pros of refinancing:
- lower, single consolidated interest rate
- new terms for loan duration
- one company to pay and unlikely to change servicers

Cons of refinancing:
- no forgiveness if you die
- not eligible for loan forgiveness
- not eligible for emergency pauses such as the current one due to covid
- no ability to change monthly payment or go into forbearance if your financial situation changes.

As an aside, if you’re not familiar and in medicine, check out the following podcasts and affiliated websites::
- White coat investor (buy his book)
- Your financial residency

 

[30338]

Is it worth the penalties etc to cash out part of retirement and pay off completely?

I would say no. I'd stop all retirement savings though until you had it paid off. Then go back into heavy retirement saving and investing.