Best Student Loan Refinance Companies
SoFi is the default pick because it charges no application or origination fee and includes unemployment protection during repayment. Earnest is worth considering if you want flexibility to adjust your monthly payment or payment date as your budget changes. ELFI suits borrowers who want a dedicated advisor guiding the process, and Splash Financial is worth a look if you want one application routed across several partner lenders. Before refinancing any federal loan, confirm on studentaid.gov what protections you would be giving up.
Best Student Loan Refinance Companies
Nothing we can price
None of these carry the figures needed to rank them for your situation yet.
Compared side by side
4 compared on the 4 things that decide it. A blank cell means we could not confirm the answer, not that the answer is no.
| Provider | Origination fee | Cosigner release | Hardship policy | Loan terms offered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SoFi Student Loan Refinancing Best overall | — | — | — | — |
| Earnest Student Loan Refinancing Best for payment flexibility | — | — | — | — |
| ELFI Student Loan Refinancing Best for hands-on support | — | — | — | — |
| Splash Financial Student Loan Refinancing Best for comparing multiple lenders at once | — | — | — | — |
Every offer, priced the same way
Ranked by what it costs you over a year. The arithmetic behind each figure is shown so you can check it. Offers we could not price are listed at the bottom with the reason.
1. SoFi Student Loan Refinancing — SoFi
Best overall
No application or origination fee, plus unemployment protection if you lose your job.
Priced from national figures.
2. Earnest Student Loan Refinancing — Earnest
Best for payment flexibility
Lets you change your monthly payment amount once a year and pick your own due date.
Priced from national figures.
3. ELFI Student Loan Refinancing — Education Loan Finance
Best for hands-on support
A named loan advisor stays with your application from the first call through funding.
Priced from national figures.
4. Splash Financial Student Loan Refinancing — Splash Financial
Best for comparing multiple lenders at once
One application gets routed to whichever partner lender in its network fits your profile.
Priced from national figures.
How we ranked these
We rank on whether the lender charges an application or origination fee, whether a cosigner can be released after a track record of payments, what forbearance or hardship options exist, and how much flexibility the lender offers over payment terms after the loan is issued. We do not rank on advertised rates, since refinance rates are individually underwritten.