2 Best Student Loan Refinance Bonus Programs

How student loan refinance bonuses work

Third parties, including websites like NerdWallet, receive a commission from student loan refinance lenders for sending borrowers their way. Some of these referrers reduce that commission, offering the difference to borrowers as a bonus for refinancing via their website.

You may not save money by opting for the best sign-up bonus if it isn’t paired with the lowest interest rate. For example, say you plan to refinance $30,000. One lender offers you a $500 refinance bonus and an interest rate of 5%. Another has no bonus but a rate of 4.5%.

Even if you put that $500 directly toward your loan, you’d still pay more overall ($37,547 vs. $37,310) thanks to the higher interest rate, based on a 10-year repayment plan. Use a student loan refinance calculator to make sure you’re getting the best deal possible.

How student loan referral bonuses work

Many lenders offer money for referring new customers to them. These are similar to sign-up bonuses, except you’re the third party providing the application link. If you plan to take advantage of a referral bonus, do the following first:

• Know which link to use. The lender will provide you with a custom link. If your friends, family or other referrals don't click on that specific link at the start of their application, you likely won’t be able to get the referral bonus.

• Learn when the deadline is. The person you refer must successfully complete the refinancing process within a set number of days from starting it. ELFI, for example, gives you 90 days to do this; for SoFi, the window is 120 days. Know this deadline so you know when to give someone a nudge.

• Find out if there’s a limit. Some lenders limit how many bonuses you can receive.

Additional terms and conditions will apply. Be sure to read the lender’s complete guidelines.

Other student loan refinance promotions

It’s rare to find student loan refinance bonuses that don’t require a referral from a website, another borrower or your employer. But other promotions are available from some lenders:

• Prepayment bonuses. A lender may reward you for paying off your loan early.

• Interest rate discounts. Most lenders will lower your interest rate by 0.25 percentage points if you enroll in automatic payments. Some offer a larger deduction; PNC’s autopay discount is 0.50 percentage points, for example.

• Loyalty rewards. Financial institutions may lower your interest rate further if you have an existing account with them.

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.