A cosigner is a creditworthy parent, grandparent, guardian, or other adult who’s willing to assume legal responsibility for the loan liabilities along with you. A cosigner must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.

Your potential savings depend on many factors, including your current interest rate(s), the amount of outstanding federal and private student loan debt, your repayment term, and your credit history. Once you begin the application process, we’ll provide you with payment estimates to check your potential savings.

Check your last statement — most lenders and servicers specify which loans are federal and which are private. If you’re still unsure, please contact your lender for help.

Yes, you can! Please be aware that you may lose certain benefits (e.g., favorable repayment options, loan forgiveness options, extended loan terms, etc.) associated with your federal student loans by refinancing with a private loan. We strongly advise you to review and understand your options and the potential benefits and drawbacks of refinancing your federal loans before applying.

Although these terms are often used interchangeably, they actually describe two specific benefits of our loans. “Consolidating” combines multiple loans into a single loan and monthly payment, and “refinancing” creates a new loan with new terms, which may or may not reduce the interest rate. While you can generally consolidate and refinance, some people with just one student loan apply because they’re simply interested in refinancing and potentially obtaining a better interest rate that may result in lower monthly payments. Likewise, some people are interested in consolidating multiple loans, even if their interest rate doesn’t change, because they want the ease of one payment.