
Sign up & start saving!
Get our weekly newsletter for the latest in money news, credit card offers + more ways to save
finder.com’s rating: 3.9 / 5.0
★★★★★
2.95% to 4.35% with autopay
APR
$250,000
Max. Loan Amount
720
Min. Credit Score
Product Name | Brazos Student Loan Refinance |
---|---|
Minimum Loan Amount | $10,000 |
Max. Loan Amount | $250,000 |
APR | 2.95% to 4.35% with autopay |
Interest Rate Type | Fixed |
Minimum Loan Term | 5 years |
Maximum Loan Term | 20 years |
Requirements | US citizen or permanent resident, Texas resident, graduated from an eligible school, at least 18, employed or about to start work in 60 days, make at least $60,000 or $30,000 with a cosigner making $60,000, 720+ credit score or 690+ credit score with a cosigner, strong credit history. |
Review by
Anna Serio is a trusted lending expert and certified Commercial Loan Officer who's published more than 1,000 articles on Finder to help Americans strengthen their financial literacy. A former editor of a newspaper in Beirut, Anna writes about personal, student, business and car loans. Today, digital publications like Business Insider, CNBC and the Simple Dollar feature her professional commentary, and she earned an Expert Contributor in Finance badge from review site Best Company in 2020.
If you’re a resident of Texas and looking to refinance your student loans, you may want to consider Brazos for its competitive rates and acceptance of noncitizens. It doesn’t charge any fees, and you can refinance as much as $250,000 of graduate school debt.
But you’ll need good credit or a creditworthy cosigner with a high income to be considered. And it doesn’t offer cosigner release — meaning you’ll have to refinance again if you want to take your cosigner off your loan.
Can’t qualify with Brazos? Compare your other refinancing options below.
To qualify for Brazos student loan refinancing, you must meet a few eligibility requirements:
Brazos Education Lending Corporation is a Waco-based nonprofit that directly funds student loans and student loan refinancing. Its refinancing loan works by replacing your existing student loans with a new one, ideally at more favorable rates and terms.
The application and repayments are done entirely online through Firstmark Services, a company that processes loan applications and handles student loan repayments.
Brazos allows borrowers to refinance federal loans, but it warns that you’ll lose several benefits by doing so. Among those benefits are flexible repayment plans that include graduated, extended and income-driven repayments. You’ll also lose eligibility for forgiveness programs like Public Service Loan Forgiveness, which wipes out your debt after 10 years of income-based repayments.
Think carefully about what you stand to lose before refinancing a federal loan, especially if you’re a teacher, public servant or nonprofit employee.
Because Brazos doesn’t charge fees, it won’t cost you anything to apply for refinancing. And since Brazos offers both fixed and variable rates, you may even save money on interest.
Yes. Brazos offers a 0.25% rate discount to borrowers who sign up for automatic repayments.
Brazos offers one standard repayment option: Fixed monthly repayments based on your loan term, interest and how much you borrow. However, you can control how much you pay each month based on your loan term.
Through Brazos, your loan term will range between 5 to 20 years. If you only owe a small amount or are able to afford larger repayments, consider choosing a five- or seven-year term. Borrowers with higher debt loads or low income might want to go for a longer loan term to keep repayments low.
Longer terms might sound attractive, but they come with a catch. Most long-term borrowers get higher APRs and end up paying significantly more in interest over the life of the loan. To make sure you don’t pay more than necessary, try for the shortest loan term you can afford.
Brazos allows you to put your payments on hold in three circumstances:
The nitty gritty of student loan refinancing through Brazos is done by third-party servicer Firstmark. Through this servicer, you can pay off your loan online, over the phone, and via check. However, some borrowers have complained about the Firstmark’s poor customer service and incorrectly processed repayments. Read our review to learn more.
Before you start your application, confirm that you’re eligible first.
Meet the requirements? Gather the following documents and information to complete your application:
Follow these steps to begin your application:
If you’re applying with a cosigner, they’ll receive an email with directions for filling out their portion of the application. Once it’s been submitted, wait for a response from Brazos. If you’re approved and are happy with the rates and terms you qualify for, carefully read the promissory note before signing it.
After Brazos disburses your loan funds, you’ll make repayments through Firstmark Services.
Brazos Education Lending Corporation is a part of Brazos Higher Education Services Corporation, a nonprofit that manages several smaller nonprofits involved in providing higher education financing to Texas residents, including:
Together, these companies have funded more than 2 million student loans.
Interested in parent loans? Brazos offers parent loans for college as well. Or learn more about consolidating your debt with our guide to student loan refinancing.
★★★★★ — Excellent
★★★★★ — Good
★★★★★ — Average
★★★★★ — Subpar
★★★★★ — Poor
We rate student loan providers on a scale of 1 to 5 stars based on factors like transparency, costs and customer experience. We don’t take into account elements like eligibility criteria, state availability or payment frequency — we save that for our reviews.