Credible Review: Best Comparison Tool For Student Loan Refinancing

Credible is a student loan marketplace that allows borrowers to shop around for both student loan refinancing and private student loans (and now personal loans). We have been fans of Credible for a long time, because we're fans of being able to shop and compare the best rate - and Credible makes this easy.

If you're looking to get a better interest rate, or maybe lower your payment for your student loan debt, one of the best options (especially for private loans) is to refinance your student loan. However, finding the best interest rate and terms for your loan can be tough.

There are dozens of student loan lenders and refinancing companies out there, and where do you even start? And will applying at each place hurt your credit? That's where Credible comes into play.

Credible consistently comes in at the top of our list of best places to refinance student loans and places to find the best student loan rates. The reason is simple - they make comparison shopping for student loans easy, so you get the best deal quickly.

Let's dive into Credible and see what it's all about. Hopefully you'll see why we love them too. Plus, if you get a loan via Credible, you'll get up to a $1,000 bonus for using our link (and you won't find that offer other places).

Here's our Credible Review:

What Is Credible Student Loan Refinancing?​

If you have a private student loan, and want to lower your interest rate or change your payment terms, one of the best ways to do that is by refinancing your student loan. You can also refinance Federal student loans, but it's typically not advised. Read our full guide on student loan consolidation to learn why.

When you refinance your student loan, you're taking out a brand new loan, that pays off your old loan. This new loan hopefully has a lower interest rate, or maybe a longer repayment period, which will lower your monthly payment.

The hard part is finding this "magical" loan. That's where Credible comes into play. On Credible, you can fill out a single form, and it will compare multiple lenders at once for you, so you can find the best rate and terms for your student loan.

You can even fill out the entire application on their site (including for cosigners), and they walk you through the entire process from start to finish. Their goal is to make getting a student loan easy, and we think that they do it well.

It compares options from many of the top lenders: College Ave, RISLA, Citizens Bank, and more.

When Does Student Loan Refinancing Make Sense?

There are a few situations when student loan refinancing makes sense. And when it does, it can save you a lot of money!​

Using a service like Credible can make sense when:

• You have private student loans at a higher interest rate than you can get when you refinance
• You have Federal student loans, you're making payments on the standard repayment plan, and you want to pay off your student loans faster

Most people don't realize that they can refinance their student loans multiple times. So, if you already have private loans and you can save on interest, you can refinance. If you find a lower rate, you can do it again.

If you have Federal loans, you can lose some protections. But if you're looking to pay off your loans faster, and can afford it, refinancing can save you a lot of money!

What Are The Qualifications Required?

It's important to note that Credible itself does not lend any money. Instead, they are a comparison platform. But they advertise on their platform that there are NO minimum qualifications to use Credible. However, you must be 18 years or older and have at least $5,000 in student loan debt you're looking to refinance.

In reality, we've found that to get the best rates and terms, you need to have good credit and stable income. In using the platform, we've also found that most lenders require a minimum credit score in the mid-600s. You can read all about the basics of student loan refinancing here.​

In many cases, if you don't have great credit or a stable income yet, you can qualify with a cosigner.​

How Credible Works​

Credible is one of the easiest platforms we've used. It's very straightforward and it takes about 2 minutes to find your rate.

1. Find My Rate

The first thing you do is click "Find My Rate" and fill out the short form. It takes about 2 minutes to enter your information.

You need to provide information about your education and finances, as well as how much student loan debt you're looking to refinance.

The great thing about this is this doesn't impact your credit score. Credible starts the entire process with a soft credit check, so you don't have to worry about this impacting your credit score. That means that you can see if it's even worth it to refinance worry free.

2. Compare Your Options

After you enter your information, you'll see a dashboard of the various offers you might qualify for. I say "might" because none of these are 100% guaranteed - since none of your information was verified and your credit wasn't checked, this is still subject to change. Note: While it's not guaranteed, these are your actual pre-qualified rates. 

Assuming nothing changes in your credit profile, market rates have not changed and you can verify the information you provided in your profile, these rates are typically accurate.

However, if you were accurate during the process, and your information can be verified, you can potentially get some great rates. The awesome thing is you can see your options up front and know if it makes sense to refinance your student loan or not. 

3. Apply For Your Student Loan

Once you decide on a lender, it's time to apply. During the application process, you'll be asked much more in-depth questions about your loans, your financial history, and the lender will run a real credit check. Note: This all happens on the Credible website. 

After you complete this process, the lender will work with you directly to finalize all the details.​

If you need a cosigner for your student loan, they can start an application on Credible's site as well and it can all be streamlined together.  

4. Collect Your Bonus

When you refinance your student loan through our link, you'll get up to a $1,000 bonus! We're affiliates for Credible and we're proud to pass this bonus offer on to you. See our full list of the best student loan bonus offers here.

Credible Private Student Loans

Credible also offers private student loans for students who are still in school (or planning to go to school). They offer both fixed rate and variable rate private student loans. We consistently rank Credible as one of the best private student loans.

Just like for student loan refinancing, you can fill out a simple form and compare offers from multiple private student loan lenders all at once (without a hard credit check). Credible makes it easy to invite a co-signer to your application and even compare multiple co-signers to see which one gets you the best rate without affecting incurringc any hard credit inquiries.

They have most of the major lenders for private loans on their platform, including Sallie Mae, Citizens Bank, College Ave, Discover, and more.

With private student loans, it's important to make sure you fully understand what you're getting. We typically don't advise people to take out private student loans if at all possible. If you think it's necessary, though, using a service like Credible makes a lot of sense. You need to shop around.

Remember, always follow the proper order of operations when it comes to paying for college. 

Credible Personal Loans

Credible also offers personal loans using the same system that they have for student loans. They allow you to enter your information and compare multiple personal loan lenders in just 2 minutes. See why we recommend them to find the best personal loans.

Personal loans don't make sense for everyone (especially for people paying for college), but they can make sense for individuals looking to consolidate credit card debt and more. They are also a great alternative to tax advance loans because you borrow more, for longer.

Credible offers personal loans from $1,000 to $50,000, with APRs as low as 5.99% - which is great (rates vary by loan purpose, terms range from 2 - 8 years). This can save a lot of money if you're looking to consolidate credit card debt or other high interest debt.

Final Thoughts

We're big fans of Credible because they make it easy to shop for student loan refinancing by comparing multiple lenders in just minutes.

They also recently launched a mortgage service. Check out our review of Credible Mortgage here.

If you're looking to refinance your student loan, or even to take out new private student loans, make sure you shop around. We also compare all of the student loan refinancing lenders, so leverage us to do your research as well. And don't forget you'll get up to a $1,000 bonus if you use Credible!