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finder.com’s rating: 4.34 / 5.0
★★★★★
Variable APRs: 1.99% to 8.37%
Fixed APRs: 4.49% to 9.49%
APR
Cost of attendance
Max. Loan Amount
Not stated
Min. Credit Score
Product Name | Discover undergraduate student loans |
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Minimum Loan Amount | $1,000 |
Max. Loan Amount | Cost of attendance |
APR | Variable APRs: 1.99% to 8.37% Fixed APRs: 4.49% to 9.49% |
Interest Rate Type | Variable |
Maximum Loan Term | 15 years |
Requirements | Must be enrolled at least half-time at an eligible school with satisfactory academic progress and seeking a degree. Must be a US citizen, permanent resident or international student. |
Discover offers seven different types of student loans, but most require you to meet the following requirements to qualify.
They can. In fact, Discover has a website just for parents of student borrowers designed to educate families on how to pay for school without borrowing more than necessary. It offers tips on understanding financial aid packages, saving to pay for school, tax benefits and more. It also provides calculators to help you and your family predict how much you’ll need to pay when you start repaying your student loans.
The most effective way your parents can help you qualify, however, is by cosigning your student loan. Most college students haven’t established a credit rating and can’t pass a credit check on their own. Having your parent cosign can also help you beat the age requirement if you’re 16 or 17 years old.
Even if you have a credit rating, you still might want to consider having your parents cosign your student loans. That’s because they can help you get lower rates if they have strong credit and a low debt-to-income ratio.
Discover is a direct lender that offers seven different types of student loans:
The application takes around 15 minutes to complete and can be done entirely online. If you have any trouble, Discover has US-based student loan specialists ready to help 24/7.
You can also apply to consolidate or refinance your student loans through Discover.
In response to the coronavirus outbreak, Discover opened a new private student loan option: parent loans. Now parents and people with more established credit can take out private student loans on behalf of others.
Discover student loan rates, terms and loan amounts vary depending on what type of loan you’re applying for. A constant: Discover doesn’t charge application, origination or late fees. It also caps all variable rates at 20% APR. Here’s how the student loans break down.
Student loan | Maximum loan term | Loan amounts |
---|---|---|
Undergraduate | 15 years | Up to 100% of your school-certified costs |
Graduate | 20 years | Up to 100% of your school-certified costs |
Health professions | 20 years | Up to 100% of your school-certified costs |
MBA | 20 years | Up to 100% of your school-certified costs |
Law school | 20 years | Up to 100% of your school-certified costs |
Bar exam | 20 years | Up to $16,000 for bar exam preparation costs |
Medical residency and relocation | 20 years | Up to $18,000 for residencies in allopathy, osteopathy, dentistry, optometry, podiatry, pharmacy and veterinary medicine. Up to $5,000 for residencies in nursing, occupational or physical therapy and physician assistants. |
Yes, it does. Discover offers a 0.25% discount on interest to borrowers who sign up for autopay.
On top of this, it gives a 1% cash reward to students who maintain a 3.0 GPA while they’re using a Discover student loan to pay for school. You’ll first need to have an undergraduate, graduate, law, health professions or MBA loan to qualify. To get your cash, log in to your Discover account and submit your application within six months after the eligible semester ended.
Keep in mind that you can only redeem this reward once and it’s considered taxable income — so don’t spend it all at once.
Discover student loans come with the same fixed repayments of any other personal loans. However, you have two options while you’re still in school:
Choosing deferment might seem like a no-brainer, but it can actually cost you more in the long-run. That’s because interest starts to add up once your funds are disbursed to the school. When you start making full repayments after your grace period, Discover capitalizes your interest — or adds interest to your loan’s principal. So not only will you pay more due to the interest that added up while you deferred your loans, you’ll also have interest adding up on a larger loan principal.
Making full student loan repayments while you’re just starting your career can be tough. If you’re struggling to make your repayments, Discover has several options to help you avoid defaulting on your loan.
Payment assistance | How it works | You can qualify if you’re |
---|---|---|
Deferment | Put your student loan repayments on hold for a period of time. |
|
Early repayment assistance program | Put off your student loan repayments for an additional three months at the beginning of your full repayment period | Within the first three months of your repayment period |
Payment extension | Make three months of repayments at any time within a 90-day period | At least six months into repayments with loans that are more than 60 days delinquent and haven’t been in forbearance in the last six months |
Reduced payment | Make a reduced monthly repayment of at least $50 for the first six months of your student loan repayments | Paying off student loans that are less than 60 days delinquent |
Forbearance | Put off your repayments for a total of 12 months during the life of your loan; you can’t take all 12 months at once | Experiencing financial hardship due to:
|
Hardship | Reduce your interest rate for up to 12 months and make minimum monthly payments of at least $50 | Experiencing extreme economic hardship or are trying to pay off a high student debt |
To learn more about your repayment assistance options, reach out to Discover’s repayment assistance team by calling 800-788-3368.
BBB accredited | Yes |
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BBB rating | A+ |
BBB customer reviews | 1.37 out of 5 stars, based on 131 customer reviews |
Trustpilot Score | 1.9 out of 5 stars, based on 71 customer reviews |
Customer reviews verified as of | 16 October 2020 |
Customers have had mixed experiences with Discover, though most online comments aren’t related to its student loans. Customers were most pleased with Discover’s rewards program and customer service — though many negative reviews focused on customer service.
A few other customers on online forums note that they were only able to get approved for a Discover student loan if they applied with a cosigner and didn’t recommend it for students who want to borrow on their own.
Discover’s online application only takes a few minutes to fill out online. Here’s how to apply.
After you submit your promissory note, Discover reaches out to your school to get your loan certified. For most student loans, Discover sends your school the funds no more than a few weeks before the semester starts. You can access any leftover funds after your tuition and fees are paid off by reaching out to your school’s Financial Aid department.
If you’re taking out a bar or medical residency loan, Discover sends the money directly to your personal bank account.
While Discover is best known for its credit cards, it’s grown to be one of the top student loan providers in the US. Students might also be interested in checking out its student credit cards, which come with cash-back bonuses as high as 5% when you shop at select stores, gas stations, restaurants and more. You can also get $20 cash back for each academic year you maintain a 3.0 GPA for up to five years.
Read our review of the Discover it® Student Cash Back
Discover student loans could be a great option for students who’ve maxed out their federal student loans or need funding to help them pay for post-graduate programs. Its rewards program for good grades is a major draw for borrowers, but you might want to stay for the relatively flexible repayment options. You’ll likely need to apply with a cosigner to get a competitive rate, however, and be prepared to start making full repayments eventually.
You can learn more about how student loans work and compare private lenders by checking out our student loans guide.
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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.