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You’ve been in the workforce for a few years and make a decent salary. But your financial situation could be better if you weren’t paying such high rates on your loans. Sound like you? You might want to check out Education Loan Finance (ELFI). It has some of the lowest interest rates around, no application fees and will even work with federal student loans. Read on to find out if ELFI is right for you.
2.8% to 6.01%
APR
None
Max. Loan Amount
680
Min. Credit Score
| Product Name | Education Loan Finance Student Loan Refinancing |
|---|---|
| Minimum Loan Amount | $15,000 |
| Max. Loan Amount | None |
| APR | 2.8% to 6.01% |
| Interest Rate Type | Variable |
| Minimum Loan Term | 5 years |
| Maximum Loan Term | 20 years |
| Requirements | Must have a bachelor's degree or higher, good credit, annual income of $35,000+, low debt-to-income ratio. |
To be eligible for ELFI student loan refinancing, you or your cosigner must:
While ELFI doesn’t mention any hard credit or income requirements, you might have a better chance of being approved if you make at least $35,000. Most lenders won’t approve applicants with a debt-to-income ratio above 50%.
Education Loan Finance is SouthEast Bank’s student loan refinancing and consolidation program with three decades of working with student loans under its belt. With ELFI, you can refinance both federal and private student loans — even federal consolidation loans. Its rates are highly competitive and it can sometimes even match offers from other lenders if they’re lower.
If you decide to refinance with ELFI, buckle up for the long haul. Its application isn’t complicated but ELFI tends to ask for more documentation than other refinancing providers, which can take a while to gather.
It’s possible that you’ll get lower rates by refinancing, especially if you have unsubsidized or PLUS loans. However, refinancing any federal student loan means you’ll lose access to several benefits that most private providers don’t offer. Carefully weigh what you’ll lose and gain before refinancing any federal loans.
How much you’ll pay to refinance a loan through ELFI depends on several factors, like how much student debt you have and your creditworthiness. Ideally you’ll start saving right away — ELFI doesn’t charge origination or application fees.
With ELFI, you can choose between a variable APR, which changes every three months, or a fixed APR, which stays the same through the life of your loan. Variable rates currently range from 2.8% to 6.01%. Fixed rates range from 3.29% to 6.69%. Loan terms range from 5 to 20 years.
ELFI calculates variable rates by adding between 0.95% and 4.85% to the three-month LIBOR rate, a baseline interest rate that many other education lenders use to calculate variable rates. The maximum variable interest rate anyone can get is 9.95%, no matter how high the LIBOR rate goes.
ELFI doesn’t offer any discounts on its refinancing loans, exactly. But you can get $400 by referring a friend to ELFI — as long as they’re approved. Your friend will also get a $100 check just for applying through ELFI’s referral program.
If you’ve seen some information on ELFI’s Fast Track bonus, you’re out of luck. As of December 1, 2018, ELFI is no longer offering this feature.
ELFI only offers a standard repayment plan where each month you repay the same amount. If your financial situation changes and you can’t afford your monthly repayment, reach out to ELFI to see if it can grant you forbearance.
Mostly good things, though there isn’t a lot of online chatter about ELFI. While there were no customer comments on its Better Business Bureau (BBB) or Trustpilot pages, forums like Reddit had a couple threads on ELFI. Most customers were pleased with how low their rates were compared to other lenders and how quickly they were able to get an offer.
As of March 2019, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) gives it a A+ rating. There are several complaints listed, they appear to involve miscommunications over the application process but don’t necessarily show a negative trend.
Get ready to apply for ELFI by gathering together the following documents:
If you prequalify, ELFI will give you information on the types of rates and terms you might be able to get.
After your loan is disbursed, you’ll start making repayments through MOHELA, ELFI’s loan servicer.
Education Loan Finance operates as an online lender, but has the weight of a bank behind it to make sure your loan is handled smoothly. It’s funded over $18 million in student loans and offers free resources like scholarship searches and financial literacy products to help borrowers make a more informed decision.
With the option to match competitors’ rates, a risk-free rate check and no application or origination fees, ELFI could be the lender to go with when refinancing your student loans. However, it’s always good to check out other options before settling on one provider. Read our guide to student loan refinancing to find more options and learn more about how refinancing works.
