2 Best Dental School Loan Refinance Lenders

Should you refinance dental school loans?

The best reason to refinance dental school loans is to save money. When you refinance, your loans are replaced with a new loan with new terms, which typically include a lower interest rate. There are no origination or hidden fees.

Say you refinance $296,500 — the average dental school debt for the class of 2023 — from an 8% APR to a 5% APR. You’d save about $452 a month and roughly $54,303 over 10 years.

Saving that much interest probably sounds pretty good. But refinancing won't be the right dental school loan repayment option for everyone.

If you have federal loans, refinancing will cost you benefits like income-driven repayment plans and Public Service Loan Forgiveness. You may want or need these options, depending on your career goals. For example, if you plan to work for a nonprofit that provides dental care to those in need, you'll probably want to pursue PSLF.

But federal benefits could also be important in less obvious situations. Say you want your own dental practice, for instance. An income-driven plan could cost you the least each month, giving you the financial flexibility needed to open or purchase a practice, as well as to manage start-up or operational expenses.

These aren't issues with private loans, as they lack similar repayment benefits. If you already have private dental school loans, refinancing makes sense whenever you can qualify for a better rate. Refinancing also makes sense if your primary repayment goal is to save on interest, pay off loans fast or both.

When to refinance dental school loans

If you’re doing a dental residency and want to refinance at some point, you generally have two choices: refinance during or after residency.

Refinancing during your residency

• If your residency program offers a stipend: You can consider refinancing during residency. SoFi allows you to refinance as a resident and pay as little as $100 a month during your training. Alternatively, if you have federal student loans, you could enter an income-driven repayment plan during residency and refinance afterwards, when your income is higher.

• If your residency program charges tuition: Refinancing during residency may not be an option. With SoFi, dentists must prove that they’re not taking on additional debt to cover residency tuition. You may be able to defer dental school loan payments during residency, but interest will still accrue. Revisit refinancing once you’re employed.

Keep in mind that your loan balance will likely increase during residency. Whether you’re on income-driven repayment or paying $100 per month after refinancing, your payments likely won’t cover the interest as it accrues.

Refinancing dental school loans after residency

Dental school loan refinancing once you're practicing is a smart move if you have:

• Good credit. You need a score at least in the high 600s to qualify.

• Strong income. Dentistry is a high-paying profession.

• Private dental school loans. If you refinanced during your residency, you can refinance again.

• Clear career goals. Consider refinancing federal loans if you don’t plan on needing income-driven repayment or working in the public sector.

» MORE: 8 dental school debt forgiveness programs

How to refinance dental school loans

Compare refinance lenders to find the one that’ll offer you the lowest rate, and look for special deals for dentists. For example, members of the American Association of Orthodontists can get 0.25% off their interest rate by refinancing with SoFi.

Also, pay attention to lenders’ loan limits. A few lenders will refinance as much student debt as you have, a couple refinance up to $500,000 and others will refinance up to $200,000. But some lenders have loan limits that may be too low for the average dentist.

STUDENT LOAN REFINANCE RATINGS METHODOLOGY

Our survey of more than 19 banks, credit unions and online lenders offering student loans and student loan refinancing includes the top 10 lenders by market share and the top 10 lenders by online search volume, as well as lenders that serve specialty or nontraditional markets.

We consider 41 features and data points for each financial institution. Depending on the category, these include the availability of biweekly payments through autopay, minimum credit score and income requirement disclosures, availability to borrowers in all states, extended grace periods and in-house customer service.

The stars represent ratings from poor (one star) to excellent (five stars). Ratings are rounded to the nearest half-star.