Nelnet Bank Student Loan Refinancing Review 2026

Nelnet might be best known as a federal student loan servicer, but Nelnet Bank offers student loans and student loan refinancing for qualified borrowers. Depending on your situation, refinancing your loans through Nelnet Bank could be the right move. 

This Nelnet student loan refinance review explores the lender’s eligibility requirements, advantages, disadvantages, and application process.

Nelnet Bank student loan refinancing review

Best for: High-debt borrowers 

Nelnet Bank makes it easy for borrowers with a lot of student debt to refinance their loans all in one place. With a maximum refinancing limit of $300,000 and competitive interest rates, Nelnet Bank offers an opportunity for high-debt borrowers to refinance their student loans at a rate that works for their budget. 

Pros and cons

Eligibility requirements 

In order to qualify for a student loan refinance with Nelnet Bank, borrowers must meet the following eligibility requirements: 

• Citizenship: You must be a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident with a valid Social Security number. 
• Education: You must have graduated with a bachelor’s degree or higher. Alternatively, you can meet the education requirement if you are a state-licensed registered nurse. 
• Age: You must be at least 18 years old. If you live in Puerto Rico, you must be at least 21 years old. 
• Credit: You must have a FICO credit score in the mid-to-high 600s or above. 
• Cosigner: While a cosigner isn’t required, according to Nelnet Bank, around 90% of its student loans involve a cosigner. Cosigners must have a minimum annual income of $36,000 and a credit score of 680 or higher. 

Current student loan refinance rates

Borrowing limits

Nelnet Bank offers refinance loans from $5,000 to $300,000. But the total amount you can borrow varies based on your individual financial situation. 

Repayment terms

You can refinance student loans with repayment terms from five to 25 years with Nelnet Bank. The wide range gives you some flexibility in finding a repayment option that works for your budget. 

Notable benefits 

As one of the largest federal student loan servicers, Nelnet Bank has a lengthy tenure in managing student loans. A few of the benefits of working with this lender include:

• No application or origination fees
• No prepayment penalties
• Receive a rate discount when you enroll in automatic payments.
• Prequalify without affecting your credit. 

What to consider before refinancing student loans with Nelnet

Before you jump into a refinance with Nelnet Bank, it’s important to consider all of your options. 

If you have federal student loans, refinancing will convert them into a private loan. The switch means you’ll lose access to federal borrower protections, like income-driven repayment plans and potential loan forgiveness. Make sure the potential savings of a refinance are worth giving up your federal borrower protections. 

Even if you only have private student loans, it’s critical to evaluate the interest rates on your current loans. It might not make sense to refinance if you can’t lock in a lower interest rate. Depending on the situation, you might refinance your loans with higher interest rates while leaving the loans with lower interest rates untouched. 

Nelnet Bank offers student loan refinancing with high loan limits and competitive interest rates. But in order to work with the lender, you’ll need a FICO credit score in the mid-to-high 600s, and you must have graduated with at least a bachelor’s degree. 

Although a cosigner isn’t required, Nelnet says most of the loans it approves include a cosigner. After 24 months of on-time, consecutive payments, cosigner release is an option. 

Nelnet Bank loans don’t come with application fees, origination fees, or prepayment penalties. And if you enroll in automatic payments, you can get an interest rate reduction of 0.25 percentage points. 

How to apply for student loan refinancing with Nelnet Bank

If you are ready to refinance your student loans with Nelnet Bank, here’s how to move forward: 

1. Review the eligibility requirements: Make sure you (and your cosigner, if you have one) meet the lender’s eligibility requirements. 
2. Check your rate: You can check your potential rate without hurting your credit score by prequalifying online. When you prequalify, Nelnet Bank will perform a soft credit pull. 
3. Fill out a complete application: If you want to continue, you’ll need to provide more personal and financial information to Nelnet Bank. 
4. Select a loan: If approved, you can select your loan from the options Nelnet provides.
5. Sign the loan agreement: Once you are happy with the terms, you can sign the loan agreement to finalize the refinance. 

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 Nelnet Bank’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.