Credible Student Loan Refinancing Review 2024 (Up to $1,250 Cash-Back Bonus)

What you need to know:

• Credible is an online platform designed to compare personalized prequalified rates and terms for student loans and other financial products.
• Getting rates from multiple lenders requires only one form, but you may be missing out on better offers from bigger lenders.
• Credible serves as a middleman marketplace that connects borrowers with refinancing options from partner lenders.
• You can get a cash-back bonus up to $1,250 by refinancing with our Student Loan Planner® referral link.

Credible is an online marketplace that connects borrowers with prequalified rates from its partner lenders. It can help you locate refinancing options, as well as search for private student loans, personal loans and mortgages — all on the same user-friendly platform.

Credible functions as a one-stop-shop for student loan refinancing, but there are some exceptions to keep in mind. Read on for our Credible student loan refinance review.

Credible student loan refinance review

Credible

4.5 out of 5

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Credible: Best for comparing multiple lenders

• Positives: Strong application experience
• Allows cosigners: Yes
• Deferment or forbearance available: Yes with some lenders
• Interest rates: Fixed starting at 4.88% APR (with autopay)*; Variable starting at 4.86% APR (with autopay)*
• Bonus: $1,250 bonus for loans over $100k, and $350 for loans $50k to $100k

Visit Credible Up to $1,250 Bonus More Information

Credible doesn’t underwrite loans directly. Instead, it functions as a marketplace to help you compare instant prequalified rates and repayment options from multiple private lenders, all within a few minutes. And its services are completely free to use.

You can expect to find big lender names like Citizens, ELFI and LendKey. But you'll also have smaller lenders to choose from. Credible's partner lender offers include:

• Rates: Fixed- and variable-rate loans
• Terms: 5, 7, 8, 10, 12, 15 and 20 years
• Loan amounts: $5,000 to $500,000

Credible student loan refinancing rates and repayment terms vary by lender. Prequalified variable and fixed rates generally include loyalty and autopay discounts, where applicable.

As an added bonus, if you apply for refinancing through our Credible bonus link, you can receive a cash-back bonus of up to $1,250 if you refinance more than $100,000 (and $500 of that comes directly from Student Loan Planner®). If you refinance less than that, you'll get a $350 Credible bonus. All bonus payments are by gift card. See terms.

That's better than any of the $500 to $1,000 Credible bonuses we've ever seen in the history of the company.

Disclosure: Prequalified rates are based on the information you provide and a soft credit inquiry. Receiving prequalified rates does not guarantee that the Lender will extend you an offer of credit. You are not yet approved for a loan or a specific rate. All credit decisions, including loan approval, if any, are determined by Lenders, in their sole discretion. Rates and terms are subject to change without notice. Rates from Lenders may differ from prequalified rates due to factors which may include, but are not limited to: (i) changes in your personal credit circumstances; (ii) additional information in your hard credit pull and/or additional information you provide (or are unable to provide) to the Lender during the underwriting process; and/or (iii) changes in APRs (e.g., an increase in the rate index between the time of prequalification and the time of application or loan closing. (Or, if the loan option is a variable rate loan, then the interest rate index used to set the APR is subject to increases or decreases at any time). Lenders reserve the right to change or withdraw the prequalified rates at any time.

Pros and cons of refinancing with Credible

Here’s a rundown of the pros and cons of refinancing your student loans with Credible.

Pros

• User-friendly website and simple application. Smaller lenders tend to have pretty lousy websites and tedious application processes. Credible solves this problem with its easy-to-use website and application form.
• Quickly compare rates from multiple lenders. You’ll only need to submit one form to receive multiple offers from lenders within just two to three minutes.
• No fees to browse lenders. Credible is free to use. Their partner lenders don’t charge prepayment penalties, loan application fees or origination fees.
• Checking rates won’t affect your credit score. Credible performs a soft credit check that won’t impact your credit score. Keep in mind the lender will do a hard credit check when you move forward with a loan offer.

Cons

• No control over rates or loan terms. Credible acts as a middleman service. Therefore, it doesn’t play a part in setting personalized prequalified rates or making other loan decisions related to your credit profile.
• Missing some of the biggest lenders. Credible charges a hefty fee for lenders. So, you could be missing out on lenders with lower interest rates or benefits simply because they weren’t willing to pay to play.
• Personalized prequalified rates aren’t always accurate. Although prequalified Credible student loan refinance rates usually line up, they aren’t guaranteed. Be prepared for slightly different offers after submitting all the necessary information.
• Lacks uniform unemployment protection. Ideally, you won’t need this protection. However, it’s an added benefit that other companies like Laurel Road and LendKey offer.
• No federal protections. If you choose to refinance your federal student loans, you'll lose access to federal borrower protections (e.g. deferment and forbearance), flexible repayment plans and student loan forgiveness options.

Eligibility requirements

There are many factors that go into qualifying for student loan refinancing, including your credit history, the school and degree you graduated with, and the size of your new loan. Credible states that excessive debt-to-income ratio (DTI) is the most common reason borrowers are turned down.

If you’re worried about qualifying on your own, the Credible refinance platform allows you to check personalized prequalified rates with different cosigners to find the best one. Many of their partner student loan lenders also offer a cosigner release, after a minimum amount of on-time monthly payments have been made.

Application process

Credible makes shopping around for personalized prequalified rates fast and easy. There’s only one form to fill out, and you get instant prequalified rates from up to eight lenders in a couple of minutes.

You’ll need to provide some basic personal information, including your full name, birth date, address and citizenship status. Credible uses details related to your education, income and monthly housing payment, as well.

Because Credible’s platform is integrated with its partner lenders, your information won’t be shared until you’ve chosen a loan and lender that meets your needs.

Should you refinance with Credible?

We recently surveyed over 3,900 of our readers to gain better insight on borrower experiences with Credible and other refinancing companies.

Overall, Credible has a positive brand image and user experience from student loan borrowers shopping around. Here’s what one reader had to say about refinancing with Credible:

“Using Credible was easy and straightforward. I found a great option that made me realize I can actually pay back my loans, and now I see the balance going down.”

January 2024 Student Loan Planner Reader Survey

However, we’ve received feedback in previous surveys that note complaints, such as:

• Because it’s a platform-based lender, borrowers don’t deal directly with the people who make the lending decision (which can be frustrating).
• After choosing a lender on Credible, borrowers reported issues with lender applications. Unfortunately, some of Credible’s lending partners don’t have the best websites and application processes (which is partly why lenders choose to pay a fee to get on Credible’s platform).

But for many borrowers, Credible puts them in the driver’s seat. One reader said:

“For once, I actually felt like financial institutions were competing for my business and I felt like I had control in the situation. I was very impressed with how easy the process was and the outcome.”

2022 Student Loan Planner Reader Survey

Refinancing based on income

Credible does a good job finding refinancing options for borrowers who have had a hard time qualifying elsewhere. But it may not be the best place to find competitive rates if your annual income exceeds $200,000.

Our 2022 survey data shows that Credible draws the majority — approximately 85% — of its business from borrowers with annual incomes from $50,000 to $200,000. Whereas, only 4% of borrowers fell into the $200,000+ income level. This data matches up with our experiences here at Student Loan Planner® and aligns with our 2024 survey data, as well. 

In comparison to other top refinancing lenders, Credible locked down the most psychologists, earning 25% of the 2024 market share. But Credible also performs well with chiropractors and government employees (although Earnest won the majority market share for both of those professions).

If you have a high income and carry a large student loan debt load, you may still be able to find a good refinancing deal with Credible. But we always recommend shopping around with at least three lenders before you refinance your current student loans to find the best rate.

Final thoughts for Credible student loan refinance review

According to our January 2024 survey, Credible received the highest overall rating from our readers, beating out popular lenders like Laurel Road and SoFi®. And it receives 4.5 out of 5 starts from Student Loan Planner® due to ease of use and its overall borrower experience when finding great refinancing options.

But Credible is a marketplace of lenders, not a direct lender. So, these types of student loan refinancing marketplaces tend to do better when the lenders within those platforms are offering more attractive deals — which we aren’t really seeing in 2024 due to external banking conditions and significantly higher interest rates overall.

So, we still recommend shopping around with the best student loan refinancing lenders to find the lowest interest rate. 

That said, Credible provides a convenient platform to compare multiple lenders who are competing for your business, which can drive down your interest rate. Plus, you can get a generous cash-back bonus if you refinance student loans using our Student Loan Planner® referral link. You can score:

• $350 bonus for loan amounts ranging from $50,000 to $100,000.
• $1,250 bonus for loan amounts over $100,000 ($500 of that bonus is provided directly by Student Loan Planner®).

Based on our Credible student loan refinance review and the fact that it’s completely free to use, you have nothing to lose by checking out Credible.