Splash Financial Review: Consolidate And Refinance Student Loans

How Splash Financial Works to Refinance Student Loans

To qualify for a student loan refinance, you must be a US citizen or permanent resident alien and have graduated from a Title IV accredited institution with either a two or four year degree. For parents refinancing student loans for their children, however, refinances are possible even if the child hasn’t graduated yet.

One other exception on graduation are applicants who are pursuing an associate’s degree. You’ll be eligible to apply if you’re in the final term of your program and have an offer of employment in the same field as your major.

However, to qualify you’ll need to be pursuing an associate’s degree in one of the following fields:

• Cardiovascular technologist
• Dental hygienist
• Diagnostic medical sonography
• EMT/paramedics
• Nuclear technician
• Nursing
• Occupational therapy assistant
• Pharmacy technician
• Physical therapy assistant
• Radiation therapy
• Radiologic/MRI technologist
• Respiratory therapy
• Surgical technologist

Splash Financial offers two types of refinances, Student Loan Refinancing and Medical School Student Loan Refinancing, both of which we’ll discuss in some detail in the next section.

As described earlier, Splash Financial serves as an online student loan marketplace, rather than as a direct lender. You’ll complete an application on the platform, and the participating banks and credit unions will offer loan quotes based on your qualifications.

When you make application with Splash Financial, a soft credit pull will be performed so that your credit score won’t be impacted. You’ll then be presented with rates and terms from interested lenders before you make a formal application. Once you do, a hard credit pull will be performed.

Married couples. One of the features unique to Splash Financial is that married couples can refinance their student loans under a single loan. For example, either both can include their respective student loans under a single refinance, or one spouse can refinance the other’s student loan(s) into a single loan in one name.

If the student loans of both partners are included under one spouse’s loan, the couple will need to execute an affidavit acknowledging the transfer of those loans to the spouse on the new refinance.

Loan payoff schedule: Once you complete your refinance, it will take between three and 14 days for your current student loan debts to be paid off. If payments will be due on any loans prior to the payoff date, you may want to make those payments to avoid both late fees and negative credit entries.

If there is an overpayment as a result of the combination of the payoff and your latest monthly payment, it will be refunded to you. If it’s refunded to Splash, the funds will be applied toward your new loan.

Should I Consolidate My Student Loans?

In some cases, you may find refinancing doesn’t lower either your monthly payment or your average interest rate on multiple loans. But even if it doesn’t, it may still be worth doing a refinance just to roll your many payments into a single monthly payment. This is what’s known as a loan consolidation.

That will not only simplify your financial life, but it will give you a better opportunity to concentrate on paying off a single loan as quickly as possible. And who needs the stress of having to make several monthly payments for what is essentially the same obligation? At a minimum, a student loan consolidation – even if it doesn’t lower your total monthly outgo – can be a step forward in the process of ultimately eliminating your student loan debts.

Splash Financial Student Loan Programs

There are two types of student loan programs.

Student Loans

Splash Financial has variable rate and fixed rate loans, and each has its own loan parameters and interest rate structure. Loan terms range from five to 20 years, and you can refinance up to the total amount of existing student loan indebtedness you have.

Medical School Student Loan Refinancing

Refinancing is available for medical school student loans, that allows you to refinance your loans and pay just $100 per month during training, plus an additional six months.

Deferments and forbearance on medical school student loans will be determined by the individual lender. But typically if you are in medical or dental training, you can defer making full payments on your loan for up to six months after your residency or fellowship. However, the total loan-term including residency and fellowship in any grace period cannot exceed 20 years.

Splash Financial Rates and Fees

Your interest rate will be determined by the information you provide on your initial questionnaire. It will be determined by your income, degree, the school you graduated from, and the credit information from your soft credit pull.

Your rate will be locked when you submit a full application for approval. Rate information provided in the pre-qualification phase is based on the information you supply. Your final rate will be determined by any new information obtained during full application.

Should you decide you don’t like the rates being offered, you can save your application and any documentation you uploaded. You can then check rates periodically, accessing the platform with your email address and the password you create. You can reapply at any time, such as after you’ve had time to improve your credit score.

Once your loan has been approved and funded, your first payment will be due 30 days later.

Variable Rate Loans

Interest rates on variable-rate loans start at 2.27% APR on student loan refinances, and 2.80% APR on medical school student loan refinances. Variable-rate loan terms are in increments of 5, 8, 10, 12, 15, and 20 years.

Variable-rate loans will fluctuate over the life of the loan. They are made up of an index, like the one-month LIBOR, plus a margin spelled out in your loan documents. That means your loan rate could change on a monthly basis.

Fortunately, variable-rate loans have rate caps that limit how high or low the rate can go. The typical rate floor is 2%. If your rate starts out at 3%, the lowest it can ever go is 1%.

The rate ceiling depends on loan term, and will typically be as follows:

• 9% on 5, 8 and 10 year loans
• 10% on 12, 15, and 20 year loans

Fixed Rate Loans

For student loan refinancing, rates are available as low as 3.48% APR, or as low as 3.76% APR for medical school student loan refinances. The maximum loan term is 20 years, with a minimum of five years.

Most participating lenders will provide a 0.25% discount on your rate if you sign up for automatic payments.

Fees: There are no prepayment penalties, origination fees, or application fees charged by any lenders participating in Splash Financial.

How to Apply with Splash Financial

You’ll start by checking your rates by entering your email and clicking the Get My Rate button on the website, like shown below. 

You’ll fill out a brief questionnaire, which will request basic information, like your monthly income.Your rates will appear in under three minutes of when you submit your request.

If you decide to proceed with a formal application, you’ll be required to provide screenshots or photos of documents to your lender of choice.

Typical documentation requirements include:

• Income verification, in the form of pay stubs or income tax returns
• Photo ID, such as a driver’s license, passport, or state-issued ID card
• Payoff verification statements from each existing servicer, which must include a statement projecting payoff balances in 10, 15, or 30 days
• Graduation verification, such as a photocopy of your diploma or transcripts

You can upload your documentation with your application.

Note on loans from credit unions: Many of the participating lenders on Splash Financial are credit unions. To qualify for a refinance through credit union you will need to become a member of that organization. However, credit unions are free to join, and typically require only that you open a checking account or other qualifying account.

Splash Financial Pros and Cons

Who Will Splash Financial Work Best For to Refinance Student Loans?

Splash Financial is an excellent choice for anyone who wants to either refinance student loans or do student loan consolidation. The reason is the platform’s student loan marketplace concept. Splash Financial is student loan aggregator, with participation from multiple lenders. Those lenders include banks and especially credit unions, who tend to be more accommodating than other lenders with student loan refinances.

With a single pre-qualification, you can receive loan quotes from multiple lenders. That will give you an opportunity to select the loan that will best meet your needs, as well as provide the most favorable interest-rate.

Student loan consolidation alone can be an important advantage. If you’re currently juggling multiple student loan repayments, just having those consolidated into a single loan with one payment can be a serious stress reliever. If it also results in a lower interest rate and monthly payment it will provide a dual advantage.

Find free student loan refinance rate quotes from other providers via our table below!