Should You Refinance Your Student Loans?

A lot of people have issues with their student loans. It is a hefty investment that you make when you are young, and it can cause problems well into your adulthood. Now, there are tons of ads that pop up and tell you that refinancing is the best option since the interest rates are down due to the pandemic. 

However, depending on your case, that might be a good or a bad thing to do. The structure of refinancing is essentially selling your current loan conditions to a new lender and hoping that they give you a better deal. During this process, it might be lucrative to go for a lower interest rate, which will reduce your monthly spending. Click on this link to read more. 

With time, this will give you the chance to save money. If you invest that money, that can increase your credit score too, and then you can even pick a better payment plan. It all depends on your momentary financial status. If you have more money, you can pay it off quicker. 

If not, then you can change the terms for a lower rate and a longer period. Here are both the benefits and the drawbacks that you can experience from refinancing.  

The advantages 

The most prominent benefit is the reduced interest rate. Whenever something like this happens in the finance world, it makes sense to use it for your own benefit. When rates are down, this gives you the chance to pay off debt quicker and reduce your monthly rates. 

Since you will have more money, you can use this to improve your skills. Watching online courses will definitely boost your worth on the market. If you do not want to invest in self-development, then you can put that money to work for you. 

Many index funds are available that pay higher than average returns. Know more about index funds here: https://www.bankrate.com/investing/what-is-an-index-fund/. Or, if you want to expose yourself to a bit more risk, you can try putting your money in cryptocurrencies and use strategies to trade or hold. It is important to remember that this procedure allows you to change your payment schedule. 

You can increase the timeframe from five to twenty years as a new duration. If you choose to pay it off shorter, the rates are going to be higher, and the interest would become negligible. Plus, you can group multiple payments into one and contact a single lender.

 If you have the chance, you could also include a co-signer who has a higher credit score and get a better deal. Make sure that you do not skip payments because that could be detrimental to your credit score.  

The disadvantages 

When it comes to the drawbacks, the most significant one is losing the safeguards that you have on the initial loan. The most important one is the income-driven repayment schedules. Additionally, the new private lenders do not want to put the same safeguards as the federal version. 

But there are some options in the event of financial difficulties or unemployment. They could give you a deferral when it’s time to refinance your student loans, but you still need to ask around before you choose to do this. You might think that all borrowers could go through this procedure, but that is not the case. 

You would definitely need a fantastic credit score. Another thing that would be helpful is a low debt to income ratio, which tells the financial institution how much money you spend each month on living expenses. Usually, the credit score that is required is 650, but it is better to aim higher into 700 and above. This is a much better option. 

When it comes to the DTI ratio, it should be lower than 50 percent. The reason these two metrics are important is because of the interest rate. The better you score, the lower the rate is going to be. These numbers show the lender that you are a responsible adult that can pay every monthly rate without delay. 

Finally, even though refinancing could prolong the time it takes to pay off debt, it is highly unlikely that you will get a cheaper interest rate than the one you have at the moment. There are calculators online that could help you determine this. Make sure to do your own research and choose the option with the least amount of consequences on your credit score.