11 Best Companies for Refinancing Medical School Loans of January 2026
Refinancing medical school loans is a no-brainer for physicians who won’t use federal loan benefits and have good enough credit to qualify for a lower interest rate.
Doctors can refinance medical school loans during residency or wait until they become attending physicians. Refinancing early can make a big difference, provided you don't need federal student loan benefits like Public Service Loan Forgiveness or income-driven repayment.
Our picks for refinancing medical student loans during and after residency are below, as well as information that can help you decide which is right for you.
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- 17 student loans lenders reviewed and rated by our team of experts.
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Why trust NerdWallet
- 17 student loans lenders reviewed and rated by our team of experts.
- 10+ years of combined experience covering higher education and consumer lending.
- Objective, comprehensive star-rating system assessing 41 categories and more than 50 data points across student loan origination and student loan refinance.
- Governed by NerdWallet's strict guidelines for editorial integrity.
Best Companies for Refinancing Medical School Loans
Lender | NerdWallet editorial rating | Min. credit score | Fixed APR | Variable APR | Learn more |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
4.5 /5 | 665 | 4.45-9.99% | 5.88-9.99% | Check Rate on Earnest's website | |
4.5 /5 | None | 4.12-9.99% | 5.87-9.99% | Read Review on NerdWallet | |
Best for faster repayment options 4.5 /5 | 680 | 4.88-8.44% | 4.74-8.24% | Read Review on NerdWallet |
Our pick for
Refinancing after residency
- Typical credit score of approved borrowers or co-signers: 760.
- Loan amounts: $5,000 to $500,000.
- Must have a degree: No, but must be within six months of graduation and have income or a job.
- Customizable payments and loan terms.
- Option to skip one payment every 12 months.
- You can see if you’ll qualify and what rate you’ll get without a hard credit check.
- Loans aren't available in Nevada.
- Typical credit score of approved borrowers or co-signers: 774.
- Loan amounts: $10,000 up to your total outstanding loan balance.
- Must have a degree: Yes, at least a bachelor’s degree.
- You are assigned a student loan advisor.
- You can refinance parent PLUS loans in your name.
- Payment postponement isn’t available for borrowers who return to school.
- The minimum amount to refinance is more than many lenders require.
- No co-signer release available.
- Typical credit score of approved borrowers or co-signers: 751.
- Loan amounts: $5,000 to $300,000, depending on the higest degree earned.
- Must have a degree: Yes, at least an associate degree.
- Forbearance of 18 months for 15- and 20-year loan terms is longer than many lenders.
- You can see if you’ll qualify and what rate you’ll get without a hard credit check.
- Loans aren't available in Maine, Nevada, North Dakota, Rhode Island or West Virginia.
- Typical credit score of approved borrowers or co-signers: Did not disclose.
- Loan amounts: $5,000 up to your total outstanding loan balance.
- Must have a bachelor's degree. For parent PLUS loans, the child does not need to have graduated to refinance.
- You can refinance parent PLUS loans in your name.
- Refinancing available for medical and dental residents.
- You can see if you’ll qualify and what rate you’ll get without a hard credit check.
- Payment postponement isn’t available if borrowers return to school.
Laurel Road offers special pricing to physicians. This is not a set interest rate discount, but rates may be lower than non-physician professionals.
- Typical credit score of approved borrowers or co-signers: Does not disclose.
- Loan amounts: $10,000 to $75,000.
- Must have a degree: No.
- Interest rate discount for autopay is larger than most lenders offer.
- Borrowers can refinance without a degree.
- No flexible repayment options for struggling borrowers.
- You can't see if you’ll qualify and what rate you’ll get without a hard credit check.
- Typical credit score of approved borrowers or co-signers: Mid-700s.
- Loan amounts: $5,000 to $300,000, depending on the highest degree earned.
- Must have a degree: Yes, an associate degree or higher.
- You can choose any loan term between 5 and 20 years.
- You can see if you’ll qualify and what rate you’ll get without a hard credit check.
- No co-signer release available.
- Students cannot refinance a parent PLUS loan in their name.
- Typical credit score of approved borrowers: 748.
- Loan amounts: $7,500 to $250,000, depending on the highest degree earned.
- Must have a degree: No.
- Income-based repayment plan available, with forgiveness after 25 years.
- Co-signer release available after 24 months.
- Students cannot refinance a parent PLUS loan in their name.
- Typical credit score of approved borrowers or co-signers: 660.
- Loan amounts: No minimum or maximum.
- Must have a degree: Did not disclose.
- Three repayment options: Fixed, interest-only or balloon.
- Greater-than-minimum payments allowed via autopay.
- No option to temporarily pause payments through forbearance.
- No death or disability discharge.
An option for borrowers in the technology industry, those who meet the membership requirements or individuals who want to make lower monthly payments starting out.
- Typical credit score of approved borrowers or co-signers: 756.
- Minimum income: $30,000.
- Loan amounts: $7,500 to $200,000.
- You can refinance without a degree.
- You can see if you’ll qualify and what rate you’ll get without a hard credit check.
- You cannot refinance parent PLUS loans in your name.
Our pick for
Refinancing during residency
Refinancing can save you money while you’re earning less as a resident, but your balance may increase by the time your residency ends.
- You can see if you’ll qualify and what rate you’ll get without a hard credit check.
- Dedicated Student Loan Debt Specialist available for borrowers.
- No co-signer release available.
- Loan size minimum is higher than most lenders.
Minimum payment during residency: $100/month.
- Typical credit score of approved borrowers or co-signers: Did not disclose.
- Loan amounts: $5,000 up to your total outstanding loan balance.
- Must have a bachelor's degree. For parent PLUS loans, the child does not need to have graduated to refinance.
- You can refinance parent PLUS loans in your name.
- Refinancing available for medical and dental residents.
- You can see if you’ll qualify and what rate you’ll get without a hard credit check.
- Payment postponement isn’t available if borrowers return to school.
Minimum payment during residency: $100/month.
- Typical credit score of approved borrowers or co-signers: Did not disclose.
- Loan amounts: $5,000 to $500,000.
- Must have a degree: Yes, a bachelor’s degree or higher.
- Select from multiple repayment options.
- You can see if you’ll qualify and what rate you’ll get without a hard credit check.
- Loan features vary by lender.
- Forbearance and death discharge may not be available.
- You may need to become a member of a credit union to qualify.
Should you refinance medical school loans?
Refinancing is one of several strategies for paying off medical school debt. The best option for you will depend on factors like the type of loans you have — federal or private — and your career goals.
If you have federal student loans, consider refinancing if you won’t need an income-driven repayment plan and don’t plan to pursue medical school loan forgiveness. While there are several forgiveness programs, only federal loans qualify for the one that's most widely available: Public Service Loan Forgiveness.
If you borrowed private medical school loans, there’s little downside to refinancing if you can qualify for a lower interest rate. That may be during your residency, when you become an attending physician or both.
Refinancing medical school loans during residency
Student loans can be a financial burden while you’re making less money as a resident. You have two primary options to help manage those payments:
Use a federal income-driven repayment plan. This could shrink your federal loan payments to as little as $0 during residency, depending on your income. Opting for income-driven repayment can make sense if you want to keep your options open post-graduation — to pursue nonprofit work or a lower-paying career, for example — or you can’t meet a refinance lender’s financial criteria.
Refinance during your residency. A few lenders have specific refinancing programs for medical residents. These let you pay as little as $100 a month before full payments start once your residency ends. Consider this option if refinancing medical school loans fits your long-term career goals and you can qualify for a lower interest rate while you’re a resident. Though, you may need a co-signer to do that.
No matter which strategy you choose, interest will likely accrue faster than you can pay it — so you may end up with a balance at the end of your residency that's bigger than what you started with. Making larger-than-minimum payments can help manage the interest.
» MORE: Best lenders to refinance vet school loans
Refinancing medical school loans after residency
If you choose not to refinance during your residency, use that time to work on building your credit so you can get the best possible rate in the future. Refinance as soon as you can qualify to save the most money.
For example, refinancing $206,924 — the average medical school debt in 2023 — from a 8% APR to a 5% APR would save about $316 a month and more than $37,000 total. But that assumes you have 10 years left on your loan term. If you waited a couple years, your potential savings would shrink.
As your income continues to grow, you'll likely have more refinancing options and be eligible for lower interest rates. It can make sense to refinance medical school loans multiple times because lenders typically don’t charge fees to do so, meaning you start saving right away.
How to refinance medical school loans
The process to refinance your loan will look similar with most lenders. Here are the steps you need to follow.
Confirm that refinancing is right for you. Before refinancing federal student loans, triple-check that you are comfortable giving up federal loan benefits including access to Public Service Loan Forgiveness and income-driven repayment plans. If you have a mix of federal and private student loans and want to maintain access to those programs, refinance just the private loans.
Check if you qualify. You generally need a credit score that's at least in the high 600s to qualify for student loan refinancing. The higher your score, the lower the rate you'll likely get. Some lenders have pre-qualification processes that allow you to see a personalized rate before you officially apply — they'll do a soft credit pull, which won't hurt your credit score, to determine your rate.
Shop around and apply. Get rate estimates from multiple lenders and choose the one that offers you the lowest rate.
» MORE: Best dental school loan refinance lenders
Consolidating medical school loans
Refinancing at a lower interest rate is only possible with private lenders. Some may refer to their products as med school consolidation loans, but private consolidation loans and refinancing are the same thing.
Federal consolidation, like refinancing, can combine your loans into a single loan. But you can only consolidate your med school debt with the government if you have federal student loans.
Medical student debt consolidation won’t save you money; your interest rate will be the weighted average of your original loans. But consolidation can make sense as a loan management strategy. For example, you may want to take this step before pursuing Public Service Loan Forgiveness — that way you’ll only have to track a single loan payment.
Last updated on January 12, 2026
Frequently asked questions
Who should refinance medical school loans?
Consider refinancing medical school loans if you know you won’t use federal loan benefits — or if you already have private student loans — and your credit is good enough to lower your interest rate.
When can you refinance medical school loans?
Some lenders let you refinance during your medical residency, while others make you wait until you’re an attending physician. Based on your long-term plans, consider refinancing during your residency and after.
How much can physicians save by refinancing?
Savings will vary based on your loan terms. By refinancing $206,924 — the average medical school debt in 2023 — from a 8% APR to a 5% APR, you would save about $316 a month and more than $37,000 total over a 10-year term.
Can you consolidate medical school loans?
You can consolidate medical school loans if they're federal student loans. Federal loan consolidation lets you make a single payment, but it won't decrease your interest rate or save you money like refinancing.
How we chose the best student loans
Our team of student loan experts follows an objective and robust methodology to rate lenders and pick the best.
17
Lenders reviewed
17
Lenders reviewed
We reviewed 17 banks, credit unions, and online lenders — including the top 10 by market share and search volume — plus lenders serving niche and nontraditional borrowers.
41
Features assessed
41
Features assessed
Each lender is evaluated across five weighted categories, covering dozens of features related to affordability, eligibility, consumer experience, flexibility, and application process.
50+
Data points analyzed
50+
Data points analyzed
Our team tracks and reassesses more than 50 data points, including APR ranges, fees, credit requirements, and borrower tools, through our annual survey to lenders.
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5.0
Overall score
NerdWallet surveyed and reviewed 17 banks, credit unions and online lenders offering student loans and student loan refinancing. We included 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. Some lenders are NerdWallet partners, but this did not influence our selection of the winner.
We consider 41 features and more than 50 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 a wide range of 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.
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NerdWallet's Best Companies for Refinancing Medical School Loans of January 2026
- Earnest Student Loan Refinance: Best for Refinancing after residency, Fixed APR: 4.45-9.99%
- SoFi® Medical Professional Refinancing: Best for Refinancing during residency, Fixed APR: 4.12-9.99%
- ELFI Student Loan Refinance: Best for Refinancing after residency, Fixed APR: 4.88-8.44%
- LendKey Student Loan Refinance: Best for Refinancing after residency, Fixed APR: 4.89-9.04%
- Laurel Road Student Loan Refinance: Best for Refinancing during residency + Refinancing after residency, Fixed APR: 4.74-8.75%
- Splash Financial Student Loan Refinance: Best for Refinancing during residency, Fixed APR: 4.25-10.24%
- PNC Student Loan Refinance: Best for Refinancing after residency, Fixed APR: 6.99-16.39%
- College Ave Student Loan Refinance: Best for Refinancing after residency, Fixed APR: 6.99-13.99%
- RISLA Student Loan Refinance: Best for Refinancing after residency, Fixed APR: 3.99-8.74%
- First Tech Federal Credit Union Student Loan Refinance: Best for Refinancing after residency, Fixed APR: 8.60-18.00%
- EDvestinU Student Loan Refinance: Best for Refinancing after residency, Fixed APR: 7.41-11.03%