Student Loan Refinancing
AOA Members get a 0.25% rate discount.1
Discover your personalized rate options online in only a few minutes—with no impact to your credit score!2
Check My RatesQuestions come up, and we have answers.
Frequently Asked Questions
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ABOUT
Can I still take advantage of federal benefits after I refinance my federal loans with Laurel Road?
If you are refinancing any federal student loans with Laurel Road, you will no longer be able to take advantage of federal income driven repayment programs or student loan forgiveness, including but not limited to: Income Based Repayment (IBR), Pay As You Earn (PAYE) or Revised Pay As You Earn (REPAYE), and Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). For more information about the benefits of these federal programs and other federal student loan programs, please visit https://studentloans.gov.
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ABOUT
Why should I refinance my student loan?
Refinancing student loans may add up to significant savings. For example, if you refinance multiple loans into one loan with a lower rate, and keep the loan term the same, you will accrue less interest over the life of the loan, saving you money on a monthly basis and over the course of the loan.
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APPLICATION
How does the student loan refinancing process work?
It’s actually pretty simple – the entire application is completed online, and you can receive preliminary rate in as little as 5 minutes.
- Fill out a short application with basic information about your loan, education, and employment. Once you authorize a soft credit pull and assuming you have provided enough information, we will provide you with preliminary rates, which are conditional upon further underwriting review and authorize a hard credit pull.
- Upload your supporting documents to Laurel Road’s secure dashboard and authorize a hard credit pull to complete your online application. Once we have received your application, we will underwrite your loan and provide you with your final rates and loan terms if approved.
- Select your loan type and term, and e-sign all necessary disclosures and your promissory note in the Laurel Road dashboard.
Laurel Road will pay off your student loans to your current lenders and provide you with instructions to set up the servicing of your new loan. Your first payment to Laurel Road will be due one month from your disbursement date.
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STUDENT LOAN
Who is eligible to refinance their student loan with Laurel Road?
U.S. citizens or permanent residents with a valid I-551 form (“permanent green card”) are eligible to refinance student debts with Laurel Road.
Laurel Road refinances student loans for working professionals with four-year undergraduate and/or graduate degrees from Title IV accredited institutions, as well as for professionals who have an associate degree* in designated professions. Graduate students and undergraduates in the healthcare industry can refinance student loans as early as their final semester of school, so long as they have a signed contract or letter of employment. Undergraduates with non-Healthcare related degrees can refinance student loans after 12 months of employment following graduation. We also refinance student loans for parents who took out debt to finance their child’s education. To be eligible for the Parent Student Loan Refinancing Program, the child must have attended a Title IV School but does not need to have graduated. Loan eligibility depends on lending criteria, such as your credit profile, monthly income, and monthly debt payments.
* Additional eligibility requirements for Associate degree applicants:
The applicant must either be currently enrolled and in the final term of the associate degree program at a Title IV eligible school with an offer of employment in the same field in which they will receive the associate degree OR have graduated from a school that is Title IV eligible with an associate degree in the following eligible programs. The graduate must be employed, for a minimum of 12 months, in the same field of study of the associate degree earned:
- Cardiovascular Technologist (CVT)
- Dental Hygiene
- Diagnostic Medical Sonography
- EMT/Paramedics
- Nuclear Technician
- Nursing
- Occupational Therapy Assistant
- Pharmacy Technician
- Physical Therapy Assistant
- Radiation Therapy
- Radiologic/MRI Technologist
- Respiratory Therapy
- Surgical Technologist
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RESIDENTS
Does Laurel Road refinance student loans for medical or dental residents?
Yes, Laurel Road refinances student debt for doctors (MD or DO) and dentists (DDS or DMD) while they are in residency and before they begin practicing as attending physicians. Residents can defer making full payments on their loan up to 6 months after their residency and fellowships. Total loan term including residency, fellowship and grace period must not exceed 20 years. The deferment period for residency, fellowship, and grace period must be approved and disclosed at the time of application – you will not be able to extend the term of the loan after it is disbursed. If fellowship is determined after your loan is closed, you may be able to refinance with Laurel Road to take advantage of reduced payments during fellowship.
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ABOUT
Does Laurel Road refinance/consolidate both federal and private student loans?
Yes, Laurel Road refinances/consolidates both federal and private student loans, even if you have already refinanced/consolidated your student loans with another lender.
Disclaimers
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The 0.25% American Optometric Association (AOA) member interest rate discount is offered for student loan applications from active AOA members. The rate discount will end if AOA notifies Laurel Road that borrower is no longer in good standing. An additional 0.25% interest rate discount is available for making automatic payments from a bank account by electronic fund transfer (EFT) (the AutoPay/EFT Discount). Neither discount reduces the monthly payment, instead the discounts are applied to the principal to help pay the loan down faster. The {Partner Name} member interest rate discount cannot be combined with other offers, except any discount for making automatic payments.
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Checking your rate with Laurel Road only requires a soft credit pull, which will not affect your credit score. To proceed with an application, a hard credit pull will be required, which may affect your credit score.
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After loan disbursement, if a borrower documents a qualifying economic hardship, we may agree in our discretion to allow for forbearance of payments for one or more 3-month time periods (however, a minimum of twelve (12) months are required between any two forbearance periods). Borrowers with a loan term of at least ten (10) years are eligible for up to twelve (12) months of forbearance over the life of the loan; borrowers with a loan term less than ten (10) years are eligible for one (1) month for every year of the loan term (e.g., if a borrower’s loan term is five (5) years they are eligible for up to five (5) months of forbearance over the life of the loan). Borrowers seeking an economic hardship forbearance due to unemployment must have made twelve (12) consecutive monthly payments prior to a forbearance request to be eligible. For any other forbearance due to economic hardship, borrowers must have made nine (9) consecutive monthly payments prior to a forbearance request to be eligible. All requests for forbearance are subject to review, including the review of acceptable documentation (including updating documentation) of the nature and expected duration of the borrower's economic hardship. During any period of forbearance, interest will continue to accrue. Unless otherwise noted, at the end of the forbearance period, any unpaid accrued interest will be capitalized and be added to the remaining principal amount of the loan.
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AutoPay/EFT Discount: if the borrower chooses to make monthly payments automatically by electronic fund transfer (EFT) from a bank account, the interest rate will decrease by 0.25% and will increase back if the borrower stops making (or we stop accepting) monthly payments automatically by EFT from the borrower’s bank account. The 0.25% AutoPay/EFT Discount will not reduce the monthly payment; instead, the discount is applied to the principal to help pay the loan down faster.
Payment Examples
| Fixed Rate Loans | |||||
| Term | Interest Rate | APR | No. of Payments | Monthly Payment | Total Payments |
| 5 Year | |||||
| 7 Year | |||||
| 10 Year | |||||
| 15 Year | |||||
| 20 Year | |||||
| Variable Rate Loans | |||||
| Term | Interest Rate | APR | No. of Payments | Monthly Payment | Total Payments |
| 5 Year | |||||
| 7 Year | |||||
| 10 Year | |||||
| 15 Year | |||||
| 20 Year | |||||
Assumptions: Repayment examples above assume a loan amount of $10,000 with repayment beginning immediately following disbursement. Repayment examples do not include the 0.25% AutoPay Discount.
Annual Percentage Rate (“APR”): This term represents the actual cost of financing to the borrower over the life of the loan expressed as a yearly rate.
Interest Rate: A simple annual rate that is applied to an unpaid balance.
Variable Rates: The current index for variable rate loans is derived from the one-month London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) and changes in the LIBOR index may cause your monthly payment to increase. Borrowers who take out a term of 5, 7, or 10 years will have a maximum interest rate of 9%, those who take out a 15 or 20-year variable loan will have a maximum interest rate of 10%.
KEYBANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION RESERVES THE RIGHT TO MODIFY OR DISCONTINUE PRODUCTS AND BENEFITS AT ANY TIME WITHOUT NOTICE.
This information is current as of December 1, 2020. Information and rates are subject to change without notice.
Terms and Conditions
ELIGIBILITY & ELIGIBLE LOANS
Borrower, and Co-signer if applicable, must be a U.S. Citizen or Permanent Resident with a valid I-551 card (which must show a minimum of 10 years between “Resident Since” date and “Card Expires” date or has no expiration date); state that they are of at least borrowing age in the state of residence at the time of application; and meet Lender underwriting criteria (including, for example, employment, debt-to-income, disposable income, and credit history requirements).
Borrowers may refinance any unsubsidized or subsidized Federal or private student loan that was used exclusively for qualified higher education expenses (as defined in 26 USC Section 221) at an accredited U.S. undergraduate or graduate school.
All loans must be in grace or repayment status and cannot be in default. Borrower must have graduated or be enrolled in good standing in the final term preceding graduation from an accredited Title IV U.S. school and must be employed, or have an eligible offer of employment. Parents looking to refinance loans taken out on behalf of a child should refer to https://www.laurelroad.com/refinance-student-loans/refinance-parent-plus-loans/ for more information.
For Associates Degrees: Only associates degrees earned in one of the following are eligible for refinancing: Cardiovascular Technologist (CVT); Dental Hygiene; Diagnostic Medical Sonography; EMT/Paramedics; Nuclear Technician; Nursing; Occupational Therapy Assistant; Pharmacy Technician; Physical Therapy Assistant; Radiation Therapy; Radiologic/MRI Technologist; Respiratory Therapy; or Surgical Technologist. To refinance an Associates degree, a borrower must also either be currently enrolled and in the final term of an associate degree program at a Title IV eligible school with an offer of employment in the same field in which they will receive an eligible associate degree OR have graduated from a school that is Title IV eligible with an eligible associate and have been employed, for a minimum of 12 months, in the same field of study of the associate degree earned.
LOAN AMOUNT
For bachelor’s degrees and higher, up to 100% of outstanding private and federal student loans (minimum $5,000) are eligible for refinancing. If you are refinancing greater than $300,000 in student loan debt, Lender may refinance the loans into 2 or more new loans.
For eligible Associates degrees in the healthcare field (see Eligibility & Eligible Loans section above), Lender will refinance up to $50,000 in loans for non-ParentPlus refinance loans. Note, parents who are refinancing loans taken out on behalf of a child who has obtained an associates degrees in an eligible healthcare field are not subject to the $50,000 loan maximum, refer to https://www.laurelroad.com/refinance-student-loans/refinance-parent-plus-loans/ for more information.
FEE INFORMATION
There are no origination fees or prepayment penalties associated with the loan. Lender may assess a late fee if any part of a payment is not received within 15 days of the payment due date. Any late fee assessed shall not exceed 5% of the late payment or $28, whichever is less. A borrower may be charged $20 for any payment (including a check or an electronic payment) that is returned unpaid due to non-sufficient funds (NSF) or a closed account.