How to Consolidate Navient Student Loans

Tired of juggling multiple student loan payments? Depending on your situation, consolidating your Navient student loans with other student debt might make sense.

If you have federal loans, you might benefit from federal student loan consolidation. Virtually any federal loan borrower can qualify for a federal Direct Consolidation Loan with the U.S. Department of Education as there is no credit check requirement.

But federal consolidation isn’t available if you’re looking to consolidate private student loans (or a mixture of federal and private loans). If you have private loans, you can take out a new private consolidation loan with Navient or another private lender.

Consolidating student loans with private lenders is more commonly referred to as student loan refinancing. Unlike with federal loan consolidation, you can get a lower interest rate and/or lower monthly payment through refinancing.

Although it was one of the primary federal student loan servicers, Navient quit the federal loan business in 2021. However, it still services private student loans, including loans that are refinanced through its NaviRefi product.

Here’s everything you need to know about consolidating Navient student loans with NaviRefi.

NaviRefi: Navient’s refinance student loan

With NaviRefi, student loan borrowers can refinance multiple private or federal student loan payments into a single new loan. Below, we cover the terms, eligibility criteria and loan application process to refinance Navient loans.

What are the loan terms and fees?

Borrowers can refinance from $5,001 to $500,000 in student loan debt with NaviRefi. Navient offers a strong selection of loan terms. However, California borrowers have a minimum loan amount of $10,001.

With NaviRefi, you can select anywhere from five to 20 years. That’s a plus because it gives each borrower a better chance of finding the right repayment terms (and monthly payment amount) that fits their budget. Additionally, there are no origination fees.

In most states, NaviRefi is able to offer both fixed interest rate and variable rate loans. However, it doesn't currently offer NaviRefi loans for Nevada borrowers.

Who is eligible to consolidate Navient student loans?

To refinance with NaviRefi, you must be:

• At least the age of majority in your state
• A United States citizen or permanent resident
• Employed or have sufficient income from other sources
• A former student of an eligible Title IV school
• Have a minimum credit score of 680

Finally, you can’t be a resident of Nevada, as this is the only state where Navient isn’t currently offering refinancing loans.

How do eligible borrowers apply?

If you meet the eligibility requirements above, here’s how to move forward with applying with NaviRefi.

1. Visit the NaviRefi website and click “Get a New Rate.”
2. Select whether you prefer to do a soft credit check to see rate options for comparison.
3. Follow the prompts to complete your application.

Here a few pieces of information that you’ll need to provide when you apply:

• Social Security number
• Employer information
• Annual income

If you have questions or need help filling out your application, you can reach out to Navient’s customer service team at 844-381-6621 (Mon-Thurs, 8 AM to 9 PM ET and Fri, 8 AM to 8 PM ET).

How long does Navient take to consolidate loans?

Applicants can receive a rate quote from Navient in as little as three minutes. But if you move forward with your application and are approved, Navient doesn’t offer an estimate on how fast your loan funds are disbursed. However, the refinancing process with other lenders often takes one to two billing cycles.

Once the consolidation is complete, you’ll receive your first billing statement from Navient. Until then, continue to pay your existing loans according to schedule to avoid accidental late or missed payments.

How do borrowers make payments?

To make your first payment, navigate to the NaviRefi website, click ” Log In” and select “Register Now.”

After setting up your account profile, select “Make a Payment” to add your bank account information. You can't make credit card payments. And you'll only be allowed to make debit card payments by phone.

You can also enroll in auto-payments at any time. And choosing to do so could save you money as you’ll earn a 0.25% auto pay interest rate discount.

Benefits of consolidating student loans with Navient

One of the biggest advantages of refinancing with Navient is that it offers a high degree of repayment flexibility. In addition to Standard (or Level) Repayment, borrowers may be able to take advantage of the following options:

• Rate Reduction Program: Provides a reduced interest rate for 6 months for borrowers who are experiencing financial difficulty.
• Term and Rate Modification Program: This combines the benefits of the Rate Reduction Program with an extended student loan repayment term.
• School, Training or Military Deferment: If you’re enrolled at least half-time in school, are working through a training program (internship, residency or fellowship), or are in the military, you may qualify for temporary payment postponement.
• Forbearance: This temporarily suspends payments (but not accrual of interest on the loan balance) for borrowers who qualify based on their financial situation.

Further, Navient will consider loan cancellation in the event of a borrower’s death or total and permanent disability.

In addition to these Navient-specific benefits, there are a few potential advantages that apply to student loan refinancing as a whole. Examples include the potential to lower your interest rate, choose a more convenient repayment term or release a cosigner.

Drawbacks of consolidating student loans with Navient

As mentioned earlier, NaviRefi consolidation loans are private loans. So, if you consolidate federal loans with Navient, they'll no longer be eligible for a variety of federal benefits. By refinancing federal loans with Navient you will lose access to federal:

• Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plans (REPAYE, PAYE, IBR, and ICR)
• Student loan forgiveness options (like the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program)
• Forbearance and deferment
• COVID-19 student loan relief

Beyond these general disadvantages of refinancing, it should be noted that Navient doesn’t have the best of reputations. Loan servicers, in general, don't often receive glowing customer service ratings. But Navient specifically has been involved in a series of lawsuits over the past few years alleging misapplication of borrower payments, deceptive practices and more.

Finally, NaviRefi's uses credit-based underwriting, like most private lenders. So, only borrowers with excellent credit scores will qualify for the best rates.

Should you consolidate Navient student loans?

In most cases, yes, consolidating Navient student loans in some fashion will make sense. The only question is if you should choose private or federal consolidation.

If you need income-driven repayment options or you qualify for PSLF, you should choose federal consolidation for your federal loans. Note that while only Direct Loans qualify for PSLF, Federal Family Education Loans (FFELP) and Perkins Loan can become eligible after they're consolidated into a new Direct Consolidation Loan.

Just know that if you've already made any qualifying payments towards PSLF, you'll lose credit for them and will restart at zero eligible payments after consolidating. So, if you've already made a significant number of eligible payments, you may be better off avoiding federal consolidation altogether.

If you don't need to make payments on an income-driven repayment plan and work in the private sector, student loan refinancing could be worth considering. But if you decide that refinancing is right for you, that doesn’t necessarily mean that Navient should be your choice. Another lender may be able to provide more attractive variable or fixed rates, flexible terms or better customer service.

Additionally, some lenders may be willing to pay you a refinancing cash bonus of $200 to $1,275. Before choosing a refinancing lender, it’s important to look at all your options. Compare Navient’s refinance loans with our top refinancing lenders.