Brazos Student Loan Refinancing - Explained

In 1975, Murray Watson Jr. founded Brazos Higher Education Service Corporation, Inc. a nonprofit corporation that is managed by a group of nonprofit companies. For the past 40 years, it has been providing services on student loans. There are millions of students who are taking loans which have led to trillions of dollars in debt.

Brazos Student Loan Refinancing offers options to the residents of Texas which provides them with a new and lower interest rate. Refinancing student loans has numerous benefits like having a single monthly payment to be made, pay your debts off sooner, a reduction in the total payments of interest, and many more. 

Brazos also assists in a way that it will help pay off the principal and interest on your current loan. This will ease you out and you can manage other finances associated with you and how they should be in the future.

To get a better understanding of Brazos Loan Refinancing, let us know more about it in detail.

Table of contents

• Features of Brazos student loan refinancing
• Pros and Cons
• Procedure for refinancing with Brazos
• Refinancing options
• Repayment options
• Federal loan consolidation vs Brazos refinancing
• Referral bonus
• Contact information

Features of Brazos student loan refinancing

To go ahead with refinancing your student loans with Brazos, you can expect to avail the following features  

1 - Easy online application- To apply for refinancing with Brazos, the process is very prompt and quick. An online application is to be filled for pre-approval to check if you qualify the basic requirements of refinancing.

2 - Money savior- By opting for refinancing with Brazos, you can qualify for a lower rate of interest so that will be easy for you to pay the loan. This, in turn, will help you in saving money for the complete duration of the loan.

3 - No fees- The refinancing options are free from all the fees like the origination fee, application fee, or prepayment penalties.

4 - One loan one payment- While refinancing, Brazos combines all of your loans into a single loan. In this way, you will have to make one payment per month and continue with just one loan with an added advantage of lower interest rates.

5 - Term options- Various terms for payments are available while refinancing your loan- 5, 7, 10, 15, and 20 years. You can go for whichever term that suits your financial needs.

6 - Cosigners and parents- If you have a cosigner with a strong credit score, you may get a lower interest when refinancing your loan. And also refinancing of Parent PLUS loan can be done by your parents.

Rates and interests 

Features	Description
Terms of loan	5, 7, 10, 15, 20 years
Amount of loan	10,000 - 150,000 dollars
Grace period	No grace period
Cosigner release	No cosigner release offered
Interest rates	Fixed - 3.50% + , Variable - 2.38% +

---

Pros and cons of Brazos student loan refinancing 

It is known that their services are available in other regions and just not texas which can be improved. Below are a few pros and cons to be considered before refinancing with Brazos. 

Advantages of Brazos student loan refinancing

• Low rate of interest, in some cases Brazos provides a lesser rate of interest compared to other lenders

• On opting for the autopay option, they provide a 0.25% discount and provide a bonus

• Most interest rate and loan term details are mentioned clearly on their websites

• They provide Deference and forbearance options in cases like financial hardship

Drawbacks of Brazos student loan refinancing

There are certain areas where Brazos is lacking in becoming perfect. The following are the drawbacks of Brazos Refinancing Loan option-

1 - No cosigner release - Brazos does not provide any cosigner release, but as it deals with those clients which are already established (having good credit history & score) so the cosigner takes the charge to pay only when you are not able to pay the loan.

2 - Option for forbearance - The offer for forbearance is limited to 12 months. If you are facing any difficulty in paying after that, it will not be helpful. So you need to be clear with your incomes and the cosigner’s credibility

It also does not offer any income-driven repayment plans like the other lenders are providing.

---

Procedure to apply for refinancing with Brazos

To apply for refinancing your student loans with Brazos, there is a process to be followed which will give you an easy to know which are the necessary things required to qualify for it. 

Here is the step by step guide to help you

1) Check for possible student loan options

 It is important to check the feasible options available so that you can go for the option which will be best suitable. You can check it by using the calculator to know what fits best to your pre-defined financial goals and help you in sustaining till the term of your loan. Brazos have developed their own loan calculator you assist you in process of refinancing. It gives details like the interest rates and loan term for the principal amount you intend to borrow. You can compare and be aware of the variables before you decide. There are multiple free loan calculators available to verify the accuracy. Once you have decided, you can refinance your loans with Brazos. 

2) Eligibility requirements

As the refinancing options are for the residents of Texas to either the pursuing graduates or to the working professionals. To qualify for it certain requirements need to be met and, what you need to know

Following are the requirements for refinancing

Borrowers requirements

• The borrower must be a graduate or an undergraduate bachelor from amongst 2000 plus eligible schools

• The person must the loans which are to be refinanced

• The person must be a citizen of the US or National or a non-citizen with a government-issued ID of permanent status or if applying for an eligible cosigner, must have a work or student visa

• The borrower must be a resident of Texas

• The borrower must be at least 18 years old

• The borrower must have a strong credit history 

• FICO score of at least 720 or 690, in the case of a qualified cosigner

• The borrower should have a minimum income of $60,000 or $30,000 (for qualified cosigner)

• The borrower must be applying for one outstanding, fully disbursed education loan

• The borrower must be employed or self-employed at the time of making an application or is going to start with any in the next 60 days

Cosigner’s requirements

• The person must be a citizen of the US or National or a non-citizen with government-issued non-expired document

• The cosigner must be at least 18 years old

• Must be having a FICO score of 720 

• The minimum income should be $60,000

• Must be a resident of the State of Texas

• Must have a strong credit history 

3) Collect the details and apply 

Before applying for the loan, the pre-approval takes minutes to perform and then you can pursue further with your refinancing application. But you need to keep an eye for all the details that are required to apply for it and are necessary as well. These are a few necessary details

Loan limits 

The minimum amount of a loan to be refinanced should be $10,000 and in case of the maximum amount of limit, for borrowers with a bachelor's degree it is $150,000 and for borrowers with graduate or law or medicine or any other professional degree the maximum limit is $250,000.

Required documents-

• Proof of Texas residency

• Proof of income- either form 1099 or a tax return 

• Social security number

• Permanent address 

• Payoff verification from your current lenders and the mailing address where the payment slips are getting delivered so that Brazos can verify and check how much they need to pay from the present loan

After catering it all, you can move ahead with the loan application and get it approved with ease. 

---

                                      Worried about your college tuition? Learn more about best student loans

---

Refinancing options with Brazos

With Brazos, there are various options available for the term period of loan refinancing. Both types of rates are offered by them be it fixed & variable for the term of 5, 7, 10, 15, and 20 years. You can opt for any loan term of your choice and which will suit your finances the best. The impact of going for different options are explained below.

1. The variable rates are determined by the changes in the market index and a set number of percentage points. Calculations are updated every month to set the variable rates for interest rates, it is seen that the rates are generally low when you opt for variable rates but there are odds that they will increase in the future, the rest depends on the market's average rates. 

2. On the last working day of every month, the Journal of Wall Street reflects the LIBOR rate which in turn helps in calculating the variable rate plus the margin with it, and in any case, the variable-rate cannot go more than 9.90% and round up to 2 places of decimals.

3. If you are going for fixed-rate loan refinancing options, then the rates are fixed throughout the life of the loan. Comparatively the rates are higher in the beginning than the variable rates. 

4. Chances are the lender may feel troubled if the rates get higher but it will be paid a fixed rate. If you take advantage of auto-pay discounts, in that case, the rates can change for that period of time. The auto-pay can benefit you up to .25% reduction in your interest rate but in case of deferment or forbearance it is not applicable, you can apply again after the duration of forbearance or deferment will get over. 

Refinancing your student loans is a great way to get away from the current loan terms and getting new loan terms that are better suited for your financial situation.

---

Repayment options with Brazos

After the disbursement of the previous loan, the repayment will start after 30 to 45 days. If you think that loan consolidation is something you want to go for, only the federal government provides you with options like this. Apart from it, graduate repayment programs are also offered by them only. 

If in any way, you are serving the public or a government employee then you can be eligible for loan forgiveness options that are not present with Brazos Loan. 

All borrowers have to go through their repayment journey. Some take advantage of the options available to them while others suffer and lose out on the benefits available to them. Student loan repayment if the planned right can boost your credit score. It is important to have an in-depth understanding of the options out there.

Thus, to go either for consolidation or refinancing, it is on you to decide which option suits you the best and will also be beneficial in the future for you.

Learn more about student loan repayment options

---

Is federal loan consolidation different from Brazos loan refinancing

Yes, various private lenders offer the option for refinancing your student loan but in case of consolidation of your student loans, only the federal government offers it, under the direct loan consolidation program. 

Here is a table giving more points while comparing both the consolidation and refinancing options- 

Basis of Comparison	Federal Direct Loan Consolidation	Brazos Refinance Loan
Lender	United States Department of Education	Brazos Education Lending Corporation
Are loans Eligible?	Federal Loans Only	Federal and Private Loans
Option to lower the interest rate?	No	Yes
Monetary savings	No	Yes, it can be saved either by shortening your term or lowering the interest rate
Credit Check	No	Yes
Are income-sensitive or graduated repayment plans available?	Yes	No

You will be requiring a complete credit check if you are going for a refinancing process with private lenders but with the consolidation option, you can get it done without any credit check. Generally, private lenders can refinance both federal and private loans together. But the federal government can only consolidate direct loans.

---

Referral bonus with Brazos

If you want to get a referral bonus, you just need to follow these below-mentioned steps and if the potential person will avail the refinancing of the loan option then you can get $200 as a referral bonus.

1. Put in your email address and a unique referral link will be sent to you on the registered mail ID

2. Share the unique referral link with the concerned person

3. After every successful completion of application of the concerned person’s loan refinancing with your given link, you will receive a bonus of $200 

Learn more about the working of the Brazos referral mechanism

---

Contact information

Given below are the details to get in contact with Brazos

Address: 

Brazos Education Lending

2600 Washington Avenue

Waco, Texas 76710

Email:

info@brazos.us.com

Brazos Higher Education Services Corporation offers lower rates than the other lenders but it is dependent on the potential of the borrowers how much credibility they have. With a strong income and credit score, there are more chances of getting the loan approved.

To opt for refinancing with Brazos, you need to have a check of all your requirements and the services that it is offering you so that you can make a fair decision all over.

Learn more about the top best student loan refinancing lenders