iHelp Student Loan Review: Student Loans From Community Banks

With so many options available in the marketplace for student loans it can quickly become overwhelming. Fortunately, services like iHelp take much of the guesswork out of the equation. Owned and operated by the Student Loan Finance Corporation, this company has been serving students and their families since 1978 and continues to maintain its pristine A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau.

It's also one of the companies that use Credible. We love Credible as a comparison tool because you can compare all different student loan refinancing in seconds. Plus, College Investor readers get up to a $750 bonus for refinancing with Credible!

iHelp offers two different avenues for their student loans. One type serves the currently enrolled or soon to be enrolled student, while the other type is for graduates who are looking to consolidate as much of their unwieldy student debt as they can. The application process to begin your search for a loan can be performed at any local branch of any of their participating institutions or online.

Check out our full iHelp Student Loan Review below.

iHelp Student Loan Application Process

By using the iHelp application process, it allows students and parents to complete the paperwork and see if they can actually qualify for a loan at a particular institution, without the hassle of doing it several times for several different lending institutions. The iHelp site operates throughout the entire United States of America and is easily accessed when trying to determine what interest rate you may qualify for.

There are certain prerequisites and information you need to know before purchasing a student loan. Here are few things to consider when you investigate iHelp:

• To be eligible for the pre-qualification process, you, or a co-signer, must have at least three years’ worth of a viable credit history and must have a monthly income of at least $1,500.
• Undergraduates can get anywhere from $1,000-$100,000 and graduates can get up to as much as $150,000. In Georgia, however, there is a minimum loan requirement of at least $3,000. Consolidation loans begin at $25,000 and can range to $100,000 for undergrads with graduates being able to tap in to as much as $150,000.
• If you meet iHelp’s initial requirements, you will be turned over to one of their affiliated institutions like Citizen’s Bank. Applicants must also be of legal age where they live and have had a yearly income of at least $18,000 for three consecutive years.
• In addition to the three years of a credit history, the potential borrower must also have a debt to income ratio of less than 45%. Borrowers with cosigners can have the cosigner removed from the loan after making payments on time for 24 straight months.

When you refinance with iHelp on Credible, everything is taken care of by Credible and you don't need to worry about the behind the scenes stuff of loan financing.

iHelp Student Loan Rates And Terms

iHelp has a variety of competitive rates and terms. As of November 26, 2018, they currently offer the following:

If you refinance with them, you can get loans ranging from 10 to 20 year terms. They offer the following rates:

• Fixed Rate: from 4.75% APR
• Variable Rate: from 4.63% APR

iHelp also offers private in-school loans. These loans are variable rate only, and are for a 20 year term. Currently, those rates start at 3.89% APR.

The Verdict

iHelp is a great potential search tool for finding student loans that work for you. However, we think that Credible is a better way to compare, as they make the process smooth from end to end.

Remember, always compare your lenders at Credible before getting a student loan. And don't forget that College Investor readers get up to a $1,000 bonus when they refinance with Credible.