6 Best Companies for Refinancing Medical School Loans of February 2023
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.
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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.
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.
Best Companies for Refinancing Medical School Loans
Lender | NerdWallet rating | Min. credit score | Fixed APR | Variable APR | Learn more |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Splash Financial Student Loan Refinance Check rate on Splash Financial's website | Best for Refinancing during residency | 650 | 4.49- | 6.81- | Check rate on Splash Financial's website |
Laurel Road Student Loan Refinance Check rate on Laurel Road's website | Best for Refinancing during residency + Refinancing after residency | 660 | 4.49- | 4.74- | Check rate on Laurel Road's website |
SoFi Student Loan Refinance Check rate on SoFi's website | Best for Refinancing during residency | 650 | 4.74- | 5.09- | Check rate on SoFi's website |
ISL Refinance Loan | Best for Refinancing during residency + Refinancing after residency | 670 | 6.93- | N/A | Read review |
Earnest Student Loan Refinance Check rate on Earnest's website | Best for Refinancing after residency | 680 | 4.47- | 4.59- | Check rate on Earnest's website |
College Ave Student Loan Refinance Check rate on College Ave's website | Best for Refinancing after residency | Mid- | 5.24- | 5.24- | Check rate on College Ave's website |
Our pick for
Refinancing during residency
on Splash Financial's website
Splash Financial Student Loan Refinance
Min. credit score
650Fixed APR
4.49-Variable APR
6.81-on Splash Financial's website
on Laurel Road's website
Laurel Road Student Loan Refinance
Min. credit score
660Fixed APR
4.49-Variable APR
4.74-on Laurel Road's website
on SoFi's website
SoFi Student Loan Refinance
Min. credit score
650Fixed APR
4.74-Variable APR
5.09-on SoFi's website
ISL Refinance Loan
Min. credit score
670Fixed APR
6.93-Variable APR
N/AOur pick for
Refinancing after residency
on Laurel Road's website
Laurel Road Student Loan Refinance
Min. credit score
660Fixed APR
4.49-Variable APR
4.74-on Laurel Road's website
on Earnest's website
Earnest Student Loan Refinance
Min. credit score
680Fixed APR
4.47-Variable APR
4.59-on Earnest's website
on College Ave's website
College Ave Student Loan Refinance
Min. credit score
Mid-Fixed APR
5.24-Variable APR
5.24-on College Ave's website
ISL Refinance Loan
Min. credit score
670Fixed APR
6.93-Variable APR
N/AShould 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 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 widest available one: 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 — 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 keep the interest at bay.
» MORE: PAYE vs. REPAYE: How to choose
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 $201,490 — the average medical school debt in 2019 — from a 7% APR to a 5% APR would save about $200 a month and more than $24,200 total. But that assumes you have 10 years left on your loan term. If you waited a couple years, your potential savings will 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
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.
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.
STUDENT LOAN REFINANCE RATINGS METHODOLOGY
Our survey of more than 29 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.
Read more about our ratings methodologies for student loan refinance and our editorial guidelines.
Last updated on December 13, 2022
To recap our selections...
NerdWallet's Best Companies for Refinancing Medical School Loans of February 2023
- Splash Financial Student Loan Refinance: Best for Refinancing during residency
- Laurel Road Student Loan Refinance: Best for Refinancing during residency + Refinancing after residency
- SoFi Student Loan Refinance: Best for Refinancing during residency
- ISL Refinance Loan: Best for Refinancing during residency + Refinancing after residency
- Earnest Student Loan Refinance: Best for Refinancing after residency
- College Ave Student Loan Refinance: Best for Refinancing after residency
Frequently asked questions
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.
Some lenders let you refinance during your medical residency, while others make you wait until you’re an attending. Based on your long-term plans, consider refinancing during your residency and after.
Savings will vary based on your loan terms. By refinancing $201,490 — the average medical school debt in 2019 — from a 7% APR to a 5% APR, you would save about $200 a month and more than $24,200 total over a 10-year term.
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.