When this site first reviewed SoFi back in 2014, readers wanted to know if SoFi was legitimate and how the student loan refinance process worked.
Over the years, refinancing has become far more common, and SoFi has grown into one of the biggest names in student loans and finance in general.
Despite all of these changes, the fundamental questions remain. Is SoFi student loan refinancing a good deal? What should consumers expect?
Meet SoFi in 2024
SoFi first started as a student loan refinance company, but they have significantly expanded.
SoFi now offers mortgages, personal loans, and investing services. The days of SoFi being the plucky underdog are over.
For borrowers focused on getting a lower rate on their student loans, this evolution has some advantages.
For SoFi to grow, they had to evolve from a lender that focused only on high earners to a lender willing to accept a wide range of borrowers. The good news for borrowers is that many of the perks that SoFi used to target the doctors and lawyers of the world still remain.
SoFi approved many borrowers with less than perfect credit in an attempt to expand. We have also seen borrowers with excellent credit shop around to compare rates and find that SoFi was the best option. As a result of SoFi’s ability to offer the best rate for a variety of borrowers, SoFi checks in at #3 in our student loan refinance lender rankings.
SoFi Refinance Rates and Options
SoFi offers a wide range of student loan refinancing options. As of April, 2024, the following rates and terms are available:
| SoFi Overview | |
|---|---|
| Loan Terms | 5, 7, 10, 15, and 20 Years |
| Variable Rate Loans | 6.24% - 9.99% |
| Fixed Rate Loans | 5.24% - 9.99% |
| Minimum Refinance Amount | $5,000 |
| New Borrower Bonus | NA |
The lowest listed rate includes a .25% autopay discount. All rates listed as an APR. See full SoFi disclosure for full details.
Borrowers can refinance federal student loans, private student loans, and Parent PLUS loans. SoFi, like most legit lenders, does not charge any application fee, origination fee, or prepayment penalties.
Looking at all of the SoFi possible rates and options, borrowers should be careful to tweak loan repayment lengths to find the sweet spot between getting the lowest rate and getting the best monthly payment.
For example, one strange aspect of the current SoFi options is the close rates offered for longer-length loans. The rate on a 10-year loan may be only a fraction of a percent less than the rate on a 15 or 20-year loan. Opting for a longer loan can result in an interest rate that is only slightly higher. The longer loan advantage is more flexibility.
Note: having a 20-year loan does not mean that a borrower must take 20 years to pay it off. Opting for the longer duration loan gives the borrower the flexibility of low minimum payments. Additionally, the loan can still be paid off aggressively by making extra or larger payments.
The SoFi Advantages
SoFi offers competitive interest rates and flexible repayment terms. However, the advantages associated with SoFi go beyond the numbers.
To handle a large volume of applications and borrowers, SoFi has a streamlined system. The application process and loan funding is fast and simple.
SoFi also runs its customer support out of a California call center. Having the customer support team here in the United States doesn’t necessarily guarantee better service. Still, we do like to see them spending the extra money to make sure customers get the best treatment possible.
Borrower Beware – The Danger of Refinancing Federal Student Loans
If you have the credit score and income to qualify for SoFi, it is a great option. However, there is one warning that all borrowers need to consider carefully…
SoFi, like most other refinance lenders, is willing to consolidate federal loans with private loans. Though combining federal loans with private loans is a mistake for some, in other instances it is a good idea. The classic example would be high-income earners with strong job security.
The important thing for borrowers to realize is that the repayment plans and forgiveness programs of federal loans are eliminated upon private loan consolidation. Because there is no way to undo a consolidation or refinance, it is critical to make a smart decision when weighing the federal perks vs. the lower interest rate on the private market.
Outside of the traditional concerns that go with student loan refinancing, we see no additional concerns associated with SoFi.
How does SoFi work?
First, borrowers specify the loans that they want refinanced. SoFi creates a new loan and uses the funds from that loan to pays off the old loan. The borrower then pays off their debt to SoFi according to the terms of the new loan.
Borrowers typically refinance to achieve one of two goals:
- Lower Payments – Selecting a longer loan or getting a lower interest rate means a smaller monthly bill.
- Reducing Interest – Some borrowers select a short loan with an ultra-low interest rate. Going this route eliminates the loans as quickly as possible and minimizes total spending.
SoFi’s seems to have a goal of becoming the finance company for millennials. This is evidenced by their aggressive expansion into areas like banking and life insurance.
Helping people pay off their student loans seems to be SoFi’s way of securing long-term customers who continue the business relationship in more profitable areas such as wealth management.
From a student loan borrower perspective, this is probably a slight advantage because it means SoFi has an incentive to keep customers happy even after they have refinanced their loans. These long-term goals would also explain why SoFi can keep its rates lower than most of the other lenders in the marketplace.
SoFi Refinance Reviews from Actual Customers
When this article was originally published, we could only base our opinion on the black and white terms of the SoFi loans. Since that time, dozens of customers and would-be customers have taken the time to leave their thoughts in the comment section.
What we have learned is that SoFi customer satisfaction seems to revolve around whether or not the application was approved. Because of the originally tough underwriting criteria, many people have stopped by to share their disappointment with their denial. As one user summed it up, “people with high FICOs and high incomes sail right through while people with more moderate FICOs and incomes don’t seem to have the same experience.”
SoFi Complaints and Reviews from the BBB, Reddit, and Others
Most of the SoFi reviews from other experts have reached similar conclusions.
The Better Business Bureau gave SoFi an A+ rating, but there were numerous user complaints about SoFi. Some of the complaints dealt with SoFi’s mortgage and personal finance loans. The customer rating was 1.59/5 from a total of 311 reviews.
Reddit users generally have positive things to say about SoFi. However, when doing head-to-head rate checks with other lenders, SoFi at times did not offer the best interest rates.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau complaint database has about 50 complaints related to SoFi student loans. The issues were varied in the complaints. In terms of the volume of borrower issues, SoFi is comparable to other lenders, perhaps a bit better than average.
In short, the SoFi reviews are mixed, which is to be expected with any financial company.
SoFi Compared to Other Lenders
 |  |  | |
| Pros: | SoFi is the biggest name in student loan refinancing for a simple reason – their rates are reliably among the best on the market. | LendKey works with a large network of smaller credit unions and banks. As a result, many applicants get the best offer from LendKey. | Splash has the best new customer bonus right now, and they have excellent rates and term opitons. |
| Cons: | SoFi has grown into a large company offering mortgages, personal loans, and investment services. They no longer focus entirely on student loan refinancing. | Going the LendKey route does require working with a local bank or credit union. For many, this is a plus, but it is an extra step. | Splash is a newer lender and getting approval may be more difficult for some borrowers. |
| Bonus: |
Should I apply for a SoFi loan?
SoFi is an excellent option for student loan refinancing, but SoFi is far from the only option.
Borrowers looking for the best deal would be wise to check their rate with SoFi. However, checking rates with other lenders is also essential as many companies advertise rates as low or lower than SoFi. Each lender uses different underwriting criteria. Thus, it is impossible to say which of the top student loan refinance companies will actually offer the best rate.
Me too, i loved it!! Sure, I had to try different products, but hey, they are cutting my interest rate in half, I don’t mind phone calls and a few weeks to get through the process. I had to try three different times before I was approved. They worked with me though! They were awesome. I had to go with a longer term than I wanted, but the interest rate was half what I was previously paying. I eventually got a loan for $187,000 bringing our interest rate down to 3.8% from 7.5%, reducing our monthly payments from $2,300 to $1,600! I highly recommend this company for refinancing – not to mention their incredible career and professional benefits for members, PLUS they just sent us a chocolate pecan pie for joining! They work with you to make it happen–trust me, if we can get refinanced, ANYONE can!
I just got approved for 4.625% fixed interest for 5 years to refinance my student loan of $17900. I have an excellent credit score of 810 so I was disappointed that I didn’t get a rate below 4%. I accepted it anyways since it is still lower than my current rate of 5.25-6%. The application was pretty easy as everything is online. After 2 weeks, I was able to sign my acceptance letter and now I am just waiting for disbursement.
I filled out the paperwork online a month ago. It was easy to do and whenever I called with a question, I was directed to a person who could help me.It took 2 weeks for me to get an answer about approval. I was excited at the prospect of lowering my student loans but in the end I walked away very disappointed. I have credit scores over 800, and my loan was for $55K. I make a little more than $50K. I’ve never missed a mortgage, car or student loan payment; I owe nothing on any credit cards and I just paid off my car. My application was accepted but at a higher interest rate (6.74%) than what I currently have on my loans. I called SOFI to ask why the higher interest rate because I always qualify for the lowest rate on my past loans. I was told that they look at income and years of employment. I told them that I’ve been working in my field for over 20 years and I have 14 years at my current employer! I was very angry that I didn’t qualify for their lowest rate so I have not signed the final paperwork to allow them to refinance my loan. I’ve gotten 2 phone calls from them to remind me to sign my loans but I will not sign with them. I will look for some other financial institution to help me with my loans. Do not use SOFI!
I’ve heard that SoFi is very easy compared to Darian Rowayton.
It was super easy! I had initial reservations based on Cory’s response but I still decided to go through with it. I am glad I did.
About how long did it take for it to go through from the day you first applied?
It took about two weeks from start to finish. I checked my loans with Mohela and Wells Fargo and they were paid on 12May. I started the process on 30Apr.
I’ve heard of it taking as little as a couple weeks to as long as a month.
SoFi is terrible. They no longer provide student loans and now focus on refinance, and they have basically just given up on their student loan product. SoFi lost all record of my 15-yr student loan with them and refused to speak with me because they said I didn’t have an account with them. I had to file a formal complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in order for them to acknowledge that they lost my account.
SoFi represented to me that they had a standard in-school deferment option… but that was a lie. I submitted an in-school deferment request when I started grad school this fall and was told that not only do I have to continue paying interest on my loan while in school, but I also have to submit a new loan deferment request with the same information every 3 months. But that’s not even the issue because the max deferment period is CAPPED. This is nonsense.
I have a pretty good interest rate with SoFi, but I’m actively looking to refinance because I’d rather pay more with a more transparent and less predatory lender.
I just received a personal loan through SoFi. The entire process was smooth and moved along quickly. I applied on a Saturday and the money was deposited into my bank account on Thursday. I had to call twice and both times the individual who answered was professional and accommodating. I have been very happy with SoFi.
I’ve refinanced my medical school loans and my spouse’s grad school loans x2 with SoFi. For us, each time the process was smoother, faster, and with a better final rate than competitors. Did make this note: My debt to income ratio at time of second refinance (2 years after the initial): 1.36 to 1. My spouse’s: 1 to 5 (she makes 5x her debt). But I’m a relatively high earner, my wife is an average middle class earner, and her application required me to cosign. Both credit scores >800 and we have 1 car loan, no other debt.
can you have loan forgiveness applied with SOFI?
No. Loan forgiveness only applies to federal loans. If you consolidate your federal loans with SoFi, they become private loans and lose the federal perks including loan forgiveness. Going with SoFi means you commit to pay them off in full.
I couldn’t agree more with the other negative reviews about SoFi’s poor application process. Their customer service will say one thing but never do it, or it will take months for things to happen with no status updates. I would not recommend SoFi to anyone.
In December of 2015 SoFi approved my loan application, but I later ended up canceling due to so many mistakes made. First they couldn’t verify my identity and had to mail a paper application. Then SoFi sent the wrong fund amount to my original provider Navient – and at the wrong time. SoFi was waiting on Navient to reduce my payoff amount by $7,000 per a negotiated lump-sum payoff.
Prior to my SoFi application AND after SoFi told me they would wait to mail a check until Navient updated the final reduced payoff amount. SoFi told me this twice and even called me to check on the status. Well, SoFi’s “computer” automatically mailed a full amount fund anyway, before Navient applied the reduced payoff term. Obviously Navient kept the extra money and rejected my reduced payoff term, costing me $7k in savings.
SoFi apologized and said they would cancel my application and reverse the payment. That took three months. SoFi also said they would temporarily put my new loan on hold while they rectified the situation – that never happened. I had overlapping duplicate payments through both SoFi and Navient for the same loan. I called SoFi to get help and the SoFi rep basically said “too bad” and claimed the previous reps told me wrong information.
I requested escalation to a supervisor and was told exactly this: “Sounds like we’ve been telling you what you want to hear, but haven’t been delivering results” – which is spot on. That supervisor went on to say she would personally handle my application mix-up and call me right back – which never happened. I was never able to contact that supervisor again.
Another annoying thing – you can’t call service reps directly who are familiar with your situation. Every time you call their customer service you have to verify 10 contact information questions with whoever answers before they will transfer you. On a few other occasions the rep would ask me to explain my situation instead of transferring, staring the whole process all over again. Very frustrating.
SoFi’s internal communication is non-existent. I referenced their internal support ticket numbers, but many reps “couldn’t pull up that system” to read my notes.
I had to call SoFi’s loan provider Mohela directly in order to get any kind of decent customer service and results. Mohela was able to temporarily suspend my duplicate payments until SoFi reversed the funds. What’s the point of using SoFi if they just punt you to Mohela anyway?
I’d rather get a refinance loan through the DMV. Stay away from SoFi.
This company may work for some but not for someone like me. I currently make 70K in salary have a 700 or so Credit score but still over 40K in student loans at 6.5% with federal government. I looked into possibly refinancing with Sofi and they did approve me. At nearly 7.5%! Which is higher than I’m paying on my federal! Plus all or most of the protections that come with federal loans (I’ve been laid off twice in 5 years. Being able to go on a deferment/ forebearance helped immensley. I will never assume I’ll have a job ever again!) are gone when you refinance with a private bank, which Sofi is. Don’t fall for the “we’re just some young hip dudes trying to help!”. That may have been true at one time but they’ve become a gigantic bank looking to make alot of money.
Sofi caters mainly to high earners with little or no other debt other than student loans. If you are someone like that (a doctor, lawyer, engineer, etc) then Sofi is maybe a good option for you. Someone like me? Not so much.
My hope is that the government will pass a bill that allows student loan borrowers past and present to refinance through them. I hihgly doubt that happens anytime soon unfortunately.
I really don’t think private bank refinancing is something I’m interested in as i think it’s a pig in a
TERRIBLE AND A WASTE OF TIME!! Spent weeks retrieving my cosigners birth certificate to upload and W2s and after a two month process they deny me because they cannot include my cosigners current job because it is on top of earning a pension. On top of a great credit score I pay $981 a month now in student loans and I pay on time every month and uploaded documents to prove it, my payments with Sofi would have been $700 and something, yet they still wouldn’t approve me. This company is a WASTE OF TIME. DO NOT REFINANCE WITH THEM!!
I was approved for a SoFi loan 17 days ago and they have yet to fund the loan. I have had email conversations with everyone including the CEO of the company regarding the delay and all I get is “it will be funded in a couple days” then I noticed on nerd wallet that “SoFi is reporting technical delays in funding their loans.” So my issue isn’t with the approval or non approval. As I said I was approved within 3 days of applying. But what good is that if SoFi doesn’t have the funds to actual hand over the cash!
I left frustrated, because despite a FICO Score of 790, I apparently don’t earn a high enough income. I feel like this is a service catering to people who don’t really need the service in the first place. Trimming a couple percent off my loans and getting them under one roof would be really helpful to me, but alas, they kicked me right out. I wrote in and asked what the average debt to income looks like of approved customers, and received a cagey response saying they take into consideration a number of factors. Disappointed.
Agreed. The low interest rates are given to high income earners with very little other debt.
SoFi- Was approved in 48 hours- great customer service, etc….but now they are experiencing a delay in their funding. My loan was supposed to fund within 10 business days but now states 30 days!! SoFi is growing too quickly and is unable to manage the growth.
I started off with over $30,000 in student loan debt with an 8.5 interest rate. With roughly an upper 600s credit score. Sofi refinanced my loan to be 6.5% for ten years saving me around $15,000. I refinanced the same loan with them again to get a lower rate and now I am at 5.99% for 7 years which shaves off another $3,000. My credit scores wasn’t any better when I applied for the second refinance but sofi looks at various factors in order to give you the best rates possible. Applying with sofi was the best decision I ever made in 2015. Plus the customer service is awesome.
Totally agree!
Don’t waste a hard hit to your credit score. You will NOT get the low rates they advertise, even with good income and credit score. I think a lot of people just get talked in to a variable rate and think they’re getting a good deal (but, of course, interest rates are poised to be raised any day now).
I just refinanced my student loans with SOFI and it has been a great experience. After reading some of the reviews here I expected to be denied due to my fairly modest income (although I do have excellent credit), but I was immediately pre-approved. It took a while to get through the document review phase since I initially didn’t have all the documents they requested, and they were pretty specific about what they would accept, but customer service was helpful throughout. My interest rate has been cut in half, and I couldn’t be happier. Actually, I’m so pleased with SOFI that I’m thinking of applying for a personal loan to pay off some credit card debt.
They are so awesome!
Great Refi – Saves Me $$$!
I was initially hesitant to refi my student loans with SOFI given some of the bad reviews I saw at the time, but I took a chance and am very glad I did. I did my refi in May 2015 and the process was seamless. I had 6+ seperate loans ranging from 2.5% to 7% and I was able to refinance them all together for a 1.9% rate and much lower term with a slightly lower monthly payment. The process was easy – uploaded my docs online and the loan funded and my lenders were paid off quickly. The servicing has been great and its much nicer to have one loan and see the balance go down faster due to the lower rate and shorter term. To give some perspective I had over $100k in student loans between undergrad and grad school. I’ve paid them down to $50k and now with the refi I can finish them off much sooner. Its a great feeling.
I will not hesitate to consider SOFI for future loans. I know everyone’s situation is different, but SOFI was great for me. I also got a $100 bonus and welcome gift (Diptique candle) when my loan completed. I have also been invited to local events hosted by Sofi and attended a very posh, open bar free happy hour they hosted at a hot spot in my area. All the SOFI people I met there were very nice as well.
As so many of these reviews are about denials, I thought I’d share my review of being approved but still being disappointed. I have roughly $80k in student loans with about $70k at 6.5% and $10k at 7.5%, both 10 year loans. I make $50k with a 760 credit score and was hoping to lower my interest, as I’ll be able to pay it off in 10 years with ease. I was approved for a 20 year loan at 7.59%, 7.24% if I used auto-pay, which is evidently their maximum interest. I was frankly insulted at their proposal as they obviously have my current loan information and know their approved loan is worse than mine both in length of the loan and interest rate. I asked if I could include my husband’s income (which is twice mine) to improve my application and they said I could, although there is no guarantee it would help and they would have to re-process the request. I asked them how I can deny this loan so they would stop calling and emailing me daily and hope to hear back soon.
Bad decision to go with this company…Ive got fairly good credit and about 40k in debt and Ive been waiting for a month to get an actual approval…The mean time im drowning waiting to hear from them. Horrible decision to go with this company. GO ELSEWHERE
Really surprised by the negative comments on this article. I refinanced with SoFi in 2013 and I have loved every minute of it. I know what you’re thinking: “She’s a billionaire with barely any debt and a perfect credit score.” Well that couldn’t be further from the truth.
I responded directly to someone who was unsure whether or not they should even try to apply with SoFi but I felt like I should add my commentary to the general comments section so everyone could benefit from my experience.
My financial summary:
Decent, not perfect credit score (650-700; I don’t remember exactly as it was two years ago)
Modest income ($52,000)
Healthy debt (roughly $75,000)
My experience:
I heard about SoFi from a friend and decided to check it out. At the time, I had 6 different loan servicers, and multiple loans (between two and 15 small/medium loans) with each of them. My interest rates varied from 6.8% to 9.75%. Some of my loans had just been sold (out of my control) and my payment date and direct debit got all messed up. I tried calling to change it and each representative said it would be taken care of and it never was. I was frustrated to say the least.
I checked out SoFi and I was impressed by their use of technology over paperwork. The application process was easy; I didn’t have to fax or mail anything, I simply emailed myself a photo of my driver’s license, took a screen shot of my online bank statement and a screenshot of my pay stub and uploaded it all to the SoFi website.
A representative called me a few days later, asked me to provide another document (I omitted something by mistake) and a few days after that I had an agreement waiting for me to review and sign. I took my time reviewing it to make sure I could make early payments without penalty (I can) and that I had a fixed interest rate (i do) and I signed – electronically, i think.
The Result:
I cut my interest rate almost in half
I reduced my monthly payments without lengthening my loan
I removed a cosigner and improved their credit
I get the perks of having SoFi career services and awesome customer service
In Summary:
Even those of us with credit blemishes and modest incomes can get approved by SoFi, and the benefit to doing so is WORTH IT, so just try – it really can’t hurt.
Me too, they were awesome!
I recently applied because they sent me lots of mail which said I was pre-approved or pre-screened for a lower interest rate. This ended up being a lie, but regardless, I applied and after uploading some documents got approved to refinance my student loans. Their website is very nice and the whole application process was easy. Even talking with the customer service representative was very simple because you can chat live on their website. However, their representatives need to actually have some expertise about how their own loans work. I initially got a quote for an interest rate which was higher than what my current rate is for my direct loans. This did not appeal to me at all, so I used the chat window to talk with a representative, hoping that So-Fi could offer something that looked similar to their advertised rates. I have very good credit and am a teacher so my income is modest, but I have never missed a payment on my student loans, which, by the way, is higher than the payment plan they offered me. Anyways, the representative explained that the rate they offered was based on a soft pull. He made it seem like a very preliminary number, and then explained that a hard pull of my credit would provide them with more options for offering me rates. I agreed to let them do a hard pull, which approved me for the unwanted loan, but no other rate was ever offered to me. I asked another representative later on (Sarah) if So-Fi ever gives a new rate after the hard pull, and she said it is possible, but very unlikely. Although I was upset, I was glad that she at least told some truth. I felt that this whole process from the letter in my mailbox to the bad advice about a hard pull was quite misleading. I feel that I’ve wasted my time and part of my credit score on the hard pull, and I hope that writing this review prevents you from wasting yours. Student loan refinancing is a nice idea and there is no reason that it shouldn’t be a good deal for both parties involved. Apparently So-Fi has yet to find a good way to judge a person’s ability to repay a loan, as the federal government will now be getting all of the interest instead of them. My advice to So-Fi is to please train your service representatives better and to stop soliciting people by offering misleading information.
It seems to me SoFi is no different, even though they want to be seen as the “good guys” looking out for the “little guys”. My guess is they’re poor little rich kids who’s dads threw them some cash after graduation and said, “Here, son (or daughter), go do something with your life.” So they wanted to be looked at at something other than the 1% that they are. I have a credit score well over 800 and am being jerked around. I will not upload any more documentation. I think they’re just jerking me around until I give up, so they don’t have to deny me. Well, lucky them – I give up.
I don’t understand some of the comments on here. I just refinanced with Sofi and reduced my interest rate from 7.5% to 4.5%. The process took about 3 weeks from start to finish. I had to upload a few documents to prove my salary but it was all fairly easy. Given my debt is $83,000, I will save $2500 in the first year alone. My income is six figures and my credit score is 785 so maybe that helps. It may not work for everyone but it worked for me!
Yes so the whole experience with sofi was not bad for me I refi a little over 65k my fico is upper 750+ I make more than 6 figures my debt is low, I think the people who are complaining obviously dint complete any financial course in school, do the math people you are trying to borrow double what you get paid I.e borrowing $100k only making 50k with fico scores in the low 700. Sorry to be blunt it’s not the fault of Sofi or any other financial institution it’s your fault for not reading over the fine print before signing.
I filled out an application and then saved it to my file WITHOUT SUBMITTING! I read a ton of awful reviews and decided not to apply. I got back on the website and tried to delete my application- not possible. I left the application and that’s been 3 weeks ago. Today I received an email that I was denied for loan consolidation- THE ONE I NEVER APPLIED FOR!!!!!! They pulled my credit as well with out my knowledge or acceptance. When I called to delete my file she lady said that the computer sensed that there was enough information to go ahead and submit and they “only did a soft pull of credit”. WELL LADY- SHAME ON YOU. I never even applied for your horrible consolidation program. BEWARE OF THIS PROGRAM.
Hello, I have read comments about the requirements. I was thinking of applying without a co-signer, and pretty sure that mine would be denied too. Have any of you found another company that was reasonable? I am looking at CU Student Loans?
Thanks
I just received an offer from sofi. There is a $5000.00 finance charge and I am not sure what that is exactly. Is it the cost of refinancing?
My understanding is that there should not be any fees associated with the loan. Is it possible that the finance charge is the amount you spend in interest over the life of the loan?
If it is any other sort of fee, please let me know and I will update the article accordingly.
So I found out that it is the total interest you will pay over the life of the loan.
So 625 credit score making 46000/year 56k in loans. From the comments it sounds like I shouldn’t even bother right?
I have to say, I’m really surprised other commenters are advising against looking into SoFi. Forget whether or not you actually refinance with them, if you’re shopping around and other companies are pulling your credit score, why not try SoFi? They have the easiest application process (no faxing or mailing required, you can simply upload screenshots from your online checking account and email yourself a photo of your driver’s license… that’s what I did) and you never know if you’ll get approved and be able to save a couple thousand dollars with a lower interest rate.
Like I said, I applied, and I went through the whole process of refinancing with SoFi. I don’t have the best credit score (missed a payment here and there due to the loan company setting up direct debit, and mailing me letters to confirm, but not actually doing it or failing to change my requested due date, despite having a representative confirm the new date, and other headaches outside of my control) I was making $52,000 annually and had 1.5 times that in student loan debt. I was approved and I have been so happy that I took the time to look into SoFi; I cut my interest rate almost in half, I reduced my monthly payments without lengthening my loan, I removed a cosigner and improved their credit, and I get the perks of having SoFi career services and awesome customer service, oh and I’m no longer paying a company that treated me terribly.
TLDR: Even those of us with credit blemishes and modest incomes can get approved by SoFi, and the benefit to doing so is WORTH IT, so just try – it really can’t hurt.
thats my question…. I make about $50k a year and have double your loans,,,,no one replied to you so I’m curious as to know if you applied or not?
I’d advise against it. My credit score is above 700, income just shy of $50k and private loans around $40k. I was denied for insufficient income despite getting the ‘pre-approved’ letter in the mail. Seems that they’re only helping those that are already in excellent financial shape.
Observe your income and FICO you would be better getting a personal loan from a credit union with low rate try your local bank they are the best for personal loans
Yeah I wouldn’t
After seeing some of the negative reviews on here, I was a little worried about the process. But, my refinancing was flawless. I had $60k balance left of consolidated subsidized loans with Sallie Mae (AKA Navient) at a ridiculous 8.5%. I was pay $1,000 a month to try and speed up that balance considering I was wasting nearly $5k a year in interest payments. So, I applied with SoFi. I followed all the instructions and send them any paperwork that was requested. It took about a week to get fully approved and another week for the funding to arrive at Navient. The two week process left $105 balance at Navient, which I promptly paid off. SoFi gave me 2.67% variable interest with a 10-year payoff — hopefully LIBOR will remain low.
While at 8.5%, I was aggressive about paying off my balance. Now, at 2.67%, I am much less concerned. I’ll probably just stick with the 10-year repayment schedule as long as LIBOR stays low and use the difference increase my savings in my kids’ 529s (I don’t want them to leave school with the loans I did). The refinancing will probably save me $20k over the life of the loan.
It couldn’t have been easier to go through the process. My good FICOs and income probably had a lot to do with my ease.
I was getting worried after reading these reviews as well and you are the only one on here who gives this company any positive reviews? what hurdles did you experience? I’m asking because I’m interested in re-financing my loans which are currently a little north of $100k with a rate of 11%. I pay more than a $1,0000 a month and currently make around $60k yearly. My credit score is not that great but the funny thing is, the only thing on my credit is this stinking student loan and I’m really limited on what I can do. You didn’t experience anything annoying or any type of hurdles?
I didn’t experience any any significant hurdles other than having to send them copies of my pay stubs and a an additional form of ID (a copy of my passport). That being said, my financial situation is a little better than yours. My FICOs hover near 800 and my salary is well into the six figures. Based on what I read here and on another review site, people with high FICOs and high incomes sail right through while people with more moderate FICOs and incomes don’t seem to have the same experience.
” people with high FICOs and high incomes sail right through while people
with more moderate FICOs and incomes don’t seem to have the same
experience”,,,,,,why would you say that? that can’t possibly be true could it?! not in America!,,,,:,-) thanks for your input