Citizens Student Loan Refinancing Review September 2025

Citizens Bank has a long history in the financial sector, with origins going back to 1828. Today, the bank is a major financial institution offering various products, with a staggering $220.1 billion in total assets as of June 30, 2025.

If you're a student loan borrower, you may have a particular interest in the company's student loan refinance product, which can help you change your interest rate and loan terms. In our Citizens student loan refinancing review, we break down what borrowers should know about the company and its refinance loans.

Citizens student loan refinancing review

Best for: Existing Citizens account holders

Citizens Bank may be an appealing refinancing lender for many borrowers, but it's best suited for current Citizens account holders. If you're a customer, you may qualify for a loyalty discount, which can reduce your interest rate by 0.25 percentage points.

When you choose to repay your refinance loan with automatic payments, you can lower your interest rate by another 0.25 percentage points, meaning you can benefit from an overall interest rate reduction of 0.50 percentage points.

When you take out a Citizens refinance loan, you can refinance multiple student loans, which can help you save money and simplify repayment. Citizens Bank refinancing options include:

• Refinancing for students
• Refinancing for parents
• Refinancing for medical residents

Pros and cons

Eligibility requirements

To qualify for student loan refinancing, you must meet Citizens' eligibility requirements:

• Citizenship: Must be a U.S. citizen, permanent resident, or resident alien with a valid Social Security number
• Education: Must possess a bachelor's degree or higher
• Minimum credit score: Does not disclose
• Minimum income: $24,000
• Cosigner availability: Yes (cosigner must meet credit requirements and be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident)
• Minimum loan amount: $10,000
• Maximum loan amount: $300,000 to $750,000, depending on degree type

Borrowing limits

To refinance your student loans with Citizens, you must have at least $10,000 in loans, which is higher than some other competitors. The maximum loan amount varies by degree and borrower.

If you have a bachelor's degree, you can refinance up to $300,000. Those with a graduate degree can refinance up to $500,000, and the maximum goes up to $750,000 if you have a professional degree. Parent refinance borrowers have a limit of $500,000.

Current student loan refinance rates

Repayment terms

One of the main benefits of refinancing with Citizens Bank is that the company offers a wide range of repayment terms to fit your needs and budget. The Citizens refinance loan terms are:

• 5 years
• 7 years
• 10 years
• 15 years
• 20 years

Notable benefits

The Citizens student loan refinance product has several notable benefits, including:

• No fees: You won't pay any application, origination, or prepayment fees when you refinance with Citizens Bank.
• Interest rate reductions: Citizens Bank offers borrowers an autopay discount of 0.25 percentage points. Borrowers with an eligible existing account can also take advantage of a loyalty discount of 0.25 percentage points.
• Affordable payments in residency: Borrowers eligible for the medical residency refinance loan can pay $100 per month during their program.

What to consider before refinancing student loans with Citizens

Before you refinance your student loans with Citizens Bank, be aware of the potential drawbacks. If you have federal student loans that you're looking to refinance, proceed with caution.

Refinancing pays off your current loans with a new, private refinance loan. Since you won't have federal loans anymore, you won't be eligible for specific federal benefits, including student loan forgiveness and income-driven repayment.

Also, be aware that Citizens student loan refinance interest rates can either be fixed or variable. When you choose a fixed refinance rate, you get predictability, as it'll stay the same over the life of the loan. Variable rates can shift up or down depending on the current economic and interest rate environment.

It's also important to check out Citizens Bank refinance reviews on sites like Trustpilot and the Better Business Bureau (BBB). Lastly, keep in mind that while Citizens Bank will be your refinance lender, your loan servicer will be Firstmark Services.

How to apply for student loan refinancing with Citizens

If you want to change your loan terms, your interest rate, and potentially save money, student loan refinancing can help. Here's how to apply for Citizens student loan refinancing:

1. Prequalify: You can review your eligibility and potential rate in just 2 minutes through the online prequalification process without affecting your credit score.
2. Gather important information: You'll need to provide personal and financial information, including your gross monthly income, employer name, housing payment amount, Social Security number, and current loan information.
3. Fill out the application: Once you have the information you need, fill out the Citizens Bank student loan refinancing application. Include your personal and loan information and provide supporting documentation as needed.
4. Choose terms: If you get approved for student loan refinancing, you can then select your repayment term, type of interest rate (fixed or variable), and see potential monthly payments.
5. Sign promissory note: To finalize everything, you'll sign your promissory note for the loan, which is an agreement to repay your loan according to its terms.
6. Start repayment: Your refinance loan will pay off your existing loan(s). Once you've been notified that the process is complete, you'll start repayment on the refinance loan. Consider signing up for automatic payments to secure the 0.25 percentage point interest rate reduction.

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 Citizens' 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.