Earnest Student Loan Refinancing Review August 2025

Earnest is an online lender that offers both in-school loans and student loan refinancing. Since launching, it has refinanced $23.5 billion in student loans for more than 290,000 borrowers. This Earnest student loan refinancing review covers what sets the lender apart, including its eligibility requirements, repayment terms, pros and cons, and unique features. 

Earnest student loan refinancing review

Best for: Fair-credit borrowers

Earnest stands out for its more flexible approach to qualifying refinancing applicants. While most lenders focus heavily on credit scores, income, and existing debt, Earnest also reviews your overall financial habits.

You’ll need a minimum credit score of 665 to qualify for a refinance loan through Earnest, but the lender also considers factors like on-time housing payments and whether you’ve built an emergency savings fund.

Pros and cons

Eligibility requirements 

You'll need to meet basic eligibility requirements to qualify for student loan refinancing with Earnest: 

• Be a U.S. citizen or eligible noncitizen who has graduated, is in your final semester, or is enrolled less than half-time with loans already in repayment
• Live in a state Earnest serves and be the age of majority in that state. Earnest does not operate in Mississippi and Nevada.
• Have a FICO credit score of at least 665 and steady, reliable income
• Be current on housing payments and student loans, with no bankruptcies or recent collections on your credit report
• Refinance only loans that are held by a U.S. institution and are in your name, either as the primary borrower or cosigner
• Not be requesting new loans for further education and not have a past-due Earnest loan or one in a hardship plan

Current student loan refinance rates

Borrowing limits

Earnest’s minimum refinance amount depends on where you live. In California, you must refinance at least $10,000. In New Mexico, the minimum is $10,001. In all other states, you can refinance starting at $5,000.

You can refinance up to $550,000, as long as the loans were used to attend a Title IV-accredited school.

Repayment terms

Earnest lets you choose a repayment term between five and 20 years. However, not every borrower will qualify for every term length. Your options depend on factors like your credit, income, and the cost of your loan.

If approved, you’ll be able to customize your term and monthly payment amount before accepting the loan. Adjustments can be made in $1 to $5 increments, with payments rounded to the nearest dollar. This allows you to fine-tune your payment to hit a target budget or payoff timeline.

Notable benefits

Earnest offers several features that can make refinancing more flexible and borrower-friendly:

• Big-picture underwriting: In addition to your credit score, Earnest looks at your financial habits, such as monthly cash flow, having at least 2 months of savings for essential expenses, and making on-time rent or mortgage payments.
• Customizable repayment plans: You can choose a loan term, monthly payment amount, and due date that fit your budget and goals.
• Cosigners allowed: If you wouldn’t qualify for refinancing on your own, Earnest’s cosigner policy lets you add a cosigner to your loan application.
• Skip-a-payment forbearance: Once every 12 months, you can skip a payment if needed. Earnest allows up to 12 months of forbearance over the life of the loan.
• Autopay rate discount: Borrowers who sign up for autopay receive a 0.25 percentage point interest rate discount. 
• Grace period match: Earnest will match your existing loan’s grace period for up to 9 months after you leave school.
• No fees: Earnest doesn’t charge origination, application, late, or prepayment fees.

What to consider before refinancing with Earnest

Earnest offers flexible underwriting, but there are still important restrictions that could affect your eligibility or loan options:

• Earnest’s credit score requirement is 665. While your approval isn’t based solely on credit, applicants at the lower end of the fair-credit range (580 to 669 under FICO) may not qualify.
• Earnest also doesn’t allow you to transfer a refinanced loan to another person. That means you can’t refinance a federal parent PLUS loan in your child’s name or put a loan in a spouse’s name.
• Geographic restrictions may also be a factor. Earnest offers refinancing in the District of Columbia and 48 states, but is unavailable in Nevada and Mississippi. Variable rates are not offered to residents of Alaska, Illinois, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Ohio, Tennessee, or Texas.

How Earnest compares with other lenders

How to apply

Earnest’s application process is quick and entirely online. Here’s how it works:

1. Get prequalified: Use the “Check My Rate” tool to see if you qualify and review your estimated APR. This takes about 2 minutes and won’t affect your credit score, as it uses a soft credit check.
2. Fill out an application: If you’re prequalified and want to move forward with your rate offer, complete the online application, or apply over the phone. 
3. Choose your repayment details: If approved, choose your desired loan term, monthly payment amount, and payment due date to fit your budget.

Why you can trust our Credible experts

The Credible editorial team is independent and unbiased. Partners do not influence our editorial content. To help you find the best student loan for your situation, we conduct thorough research and analyze thousands of lender data points. Using data-driven methodologies, we score criteria that are important to you. This allows us to objectively rank student loan lenders and products. To learn more, read our methodology below.

Methodology

To determine Earnest’s lender rating, Credible collected more than 1,000 points of data on two dozen private student loan refinance companies and evaluated them on several different categories: repayment options, eligibility, interest rates, loan terms, and customer support. We assigned a score out of five stars to each lender based on our findings. Below are the weightings assigned to the general categories for the best student loan refinance companies — which comprise individual criteria that are also weighted.

• Repayment options: 30%
• Eligibility: 25%
• Interest rates: 20%
• Loan terms: 15%
• Customer support: 10%

While the best lender for you will depend on your unique needs and financial circumstances, these findings should help answer your questions and assist you in your search for the best student loan.

Learn more about our methodology.