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finder.com’s rating: 4.7 / 5.0
★★★★★
3.25% to 7.78%
APR
$300,000
Max. Loan Amount
720
Min. Credit Score
Product Name | Reset Refinance Loan |
---|---|
Minimum Loan Amount | $5,000 |
Max. Loan Amount | $300,000 |
APR | 3.25% to 7.78% |
Interest Rate Type | Fixed |
Minimum Loan Term | 7 years |
Maximum Loan Term | 20 years |
Requirements | Credit score 720+, debt-to-income ratio 40% or lower, no student loan default or previous bankruptcies. |
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.
You don’t need to be an Iowan to benefit from Iowa Student Loan refinancing, but it doesn’t hurt. This loan is the best deal for IT professionals or engineers living in Iowa, but others can benefit too.
Its rates are capped where many for-profit lenders start. And its relatively flexible repayment plans can make paying off your loans more affordable in both the short and long term.
The catch: You need to have stellar credit to qualify. And it can take up to 60 days for your application to go through — not ideal if you’re in a rush to refinance.
Not sure it’s right for you? Compare your other refinancing options below.
To meet Iowa Student Loan’s most basic eligibility requirements, you or your cosigner must:
Refinancing with Iowa Student Loan is similar to refinancing or consolidating with many other providers: You take out a new loan to pay off your private or public student debt, preferably with lower rates. You aren’t limited to a certain number of loans as long as you fit within its borrowing requirements.
Iowa Student Loan is a private student loan provider that underwrites its loans and uses its subsidiary, Aspire, to service its loans. Who originates your loan depends on where your live — you’ll likely borrow from a local bank that you won’t deal with directly.
You can complete the entire application process online, which can take anywhere between to 30 to 60 days from start to finish. The amount of time you have to spend on it is minimal, however: A few minutes at a time filling out the application, gathering your information, collecting documents and reviewing your loan’s terms.
While Iowa allows you to refinance federal loans, it makes a point of warning that you’ll lose several benefits by doing so. Some of these include, federal forgiveness programs, income-based repayment plans and the option to adjust your loan term while you’re in repayment.
One of the perks of borrowing from Iowa Student Loan is it doesn’t charge any fees at all — including prepayment, late and nonsufficient funds fees. You should ideally start to save on your loan by refinancing with Iowa Student Loan. It offers fixed rates that range from 4% to 7% and 3.75% to 6.75% if you live in Iowa — with a choice between 5, 10 or 15 year loan terms.
If you’re an Iowa resident, you’ll automatically get a 0.25% discount on your interest rates. Any applicant could benefit from one of the following discounts:
Choose from one of the following repayment options while you’re setting up your account with your loan servicer, Aspire:
Yes, you have two forbearance options through Iowa Student Loan:
In addition to its regular refinancing program, Iowa Student Loan offers refinancing for students and parents of students who haven’t graduated. Rates are slightly higher than its main refinancing program, but it’s also easier to qualify.
You can refinance up to $200,000 in student loans that have already been disbursed at rates from 5.05% to 7.05%. That starts higher than the current federal student loan rate.
That’s why Iowa Student Loan recommends only using this program for private loans. You won’t save on interest by refinancing a federal loan. And you’d loose access to benefits like eligibility for more forgiveness programs and flexible repayment options.
You or a cosigner must meet the following requirements to qualify for a Reset Refinance loan:
BBB accredited | No |
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BBB rating | A+ |
BBB customer reviews | 1 out of 5 stars, based on 5 customer reviews |
Customer reviews verified as of | 16 October 2020 |
In 2007, a former US Bank executive filed a lawsuit against Iowa Student Loan, accusing it of attempting to create a monopoly on student loans. Specifically, she accused it of paying incentives to banks to market private student loans in a way that undermined their involvement in federal loans programs, which she argued was illegal. Iowa Student Loan’s lawyer argued that they were acting according to federal law. It’s unclear how the judge ruled on this case.
To make your application as seamless as possible, get the following documents together for you or your cosigner before you sign up:
It also recommends that you use an online service to do a soft credit pull so you have an idea of your personal credit score. Once you’ve done these two things, you’re ready to start your application.
Iowa Student Loan is a non-profit organization that’s been around for over 35 years and only offers student financing. It also offers two different private student loans: Partnership Loans and College Family Loans.
Partnership Loans allow students to take out a private loan for school with a cosigner and are only available for residents of Iowa or borrowers attending an eligible Iowa institution. College Family Loans allow parents or family members to borrow on the behalf of a student and are available nationwide.
Iowa Student Loan uses profits to fund scholarships and educational programs to help students and families become more financially literate. To qualify for a scholarship, you must be a high school senior and Iowa resident or planning on attending an eligible school in Iowa.
Scholarship amounts range from $250 to $2,000, so you won’t be able to make much of a dent in your tuition with them alone.
Interested in comparing other providers? Visit our student loan refinancing guide to check out more options and learn about how refinancing works.
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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.