Refinance Navient Student Loans

Navient used to be a part of Sallie Mae, it is now independent and provides its own student loans. This article reviews Navient Student loans refinancing process. Understand what is NaviRefi, its pros and cons as well as what are the eligibility criteria.

Updated by Chinmoy Dutta on 17th December 2020

Navient student loan refinancing is a process of refinancing federal and private student loans through a well-known federal student loan servicing company. Navient is a service provider company for Federal and Private student loans. It offers student loan refinancing through its product ‘NaviRefi’. NaviRefi refinancing is available to Navient customers via invitation only. 

Provided you have student loans with Navient, you might receive an exclusive offer for refinancing your student loans. This is an exclusive offer made to a select group of people as of now. Receiving this offer, you may be eligible to refinance your student loans with NaviRefi at a cheaper rate.

Refinancing your student loans is a great way to manage your student loan debt, it helps you can qualify for a lower interest rate and a new repayment term better suited for your financial condition.

If you refinance student loans serviced by Navient, the process is different. The refinanced loan isn’t obtained through the federal government because the Department of Education doesn’t offer a refinancing option.

Unlike consolidation, federal or private student loans or a combination of both can be refinanced. The goal of refinancing is not only to get one big loan to repay the existing debt but also to get a reduced rate of interest by qualifying for a new loan with revised repayment terms.

Navient used to be a part of Sallie Mae, which is another company providing private student loans.

Table of Contents

Understanding NaviRefi

People know Navient as a student loan servicer. But Navient also owns several other companies that manage various other aspects of student loans.

NaviRefi is a recently created refinance brand. Once refinanced, your loan goes to Navient for servicing, so you end up with Navient anyways to repay your loans. The only thing different is that the Navient parent company owns your loans now. So if you were working with Navient to pay off your federal loans, the new loan’s owner will be Navient itself, and not the Federal Government.


What to know before refinancing federal student loans

Federal student loans come with several benefits that are recognized during the repayment period of your loans. NaviRefi is a private student loan lender that refinances existing federal and private student loans. But before you consider refinancing federal student loans, you should understand the facts regarding consolidation and refinancing.

Refinancing could save some money, but there are some significant downsides associated with refinancing federal student loans that should be considered before moving forward. Provided you have federal student loans, refinancing should be considered once you meet the following conditions:

  • You are employed in the private sector

  • The total amount owed is less than two times your annual income

Pros: 

Some pros of refinancing are:

  • Reduction of interest rates results in lower monthly payments and the total amount to be paid for debt

  • Refinancing of both private and federal student loans are possible

Cons:

The cons of refinancing are:

  • Refinancing federal loans leads to loss of borrower protections. You will no longer be eligible for loan forgiveness and will not qualify for income-based repayment

  • You might lose deferment and forbearance privileges. However, some private lenders do provide limited options for forbearance

Generally speaking, private options are far more restrictive than federal options


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Details regarding refinancing student loans with NaviRefi

Some basic details that you need to know to make an educated decision about NaviRefi as to whether it is a good idea to refinance your student loans

Interest rates

Interest rates offered by Navient vary with time.

  • Variable Interest Rate: 2.87% - 7.29%

  • Fixed Interest Rate: 3.48% - 7.35%

Signing up for autopay provides an additional 0.25% interest rate discount. These are pretty standard for private student loan lenders. The interest rates may change and are determined by the borrower's or their cosigner’s credit

Borrowing limits for refinancing

NaviRefi refinances student loans starting from $5,001 up to $150,000. For professional student loans, refinance amount ranges from $5,001 to $250,000.

Origination Fees

There are no origination fees for taking your loan out or paying off your loan early. However, there might be some other fees involved, such as late fees, but these aren’t listed on the website.

Term length offered

You can refinance loan terms between 5 to 20 years with one-year increments in between. An exception is there for Kentucky residents who can refinance loans for up to 10 years if their student loans are $15,000 or less. 


Who is eligible to refinance student loans with NaviRefi

NaviRefi is pretty exclusive as of now and is only available to exist Navient customers by invitation.

Navient is by and far a loan servicing company that services student loans from other lenders including federal loans. It has a small business granting its private loans. But if you are repaying your federal loans through Navient, then Navient is your loan servicer and not your loan lender.

In case you are just servicing your loan repayments through Navient, you are not a direct customer to Navient. According to this, you will not be eligible to refinance with NaviRefi. Customers who borrowed loans from Navient will be eligible for refinancing through NaviRefi. But before you go ahead and refinance your loans, get to know whether should you refinance your Navient loans.

One must follow the below terms to refinance with Navient:

  1. Employment in the private sector is considered.

  2. An emergency fund should be a large amount.

  3. The total amount is less than 1.5 times the annual income you earn.


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Getting approval to refinance Navient Student loans

Once you’ve received the exclusive mail inviting you to apply for Navient student loans refinancing through NaviRefi, you need to check some criteria to move forward with the application.

The criteria for getting approval are:

  • You must be a U.S. Citizen or a permanent resident

  • You must live in an eligible state. California, Delaware or Nevada is currently not serviceable through NaviRefi

  • You must be employed or have a source of income. If you are a stay-at-home spouse, you can provide your spouse’s income

  • You also must have attended a school that receives Title IV federal student aid. You’re not required to have graduated from the school but should have received your loans from attending an eligible school


Pros and cons of refinancing with NaviRefi

Some of the pros and cons of refinancing your Navient student loans are as follows:

Pros Cons
It’s really easy to check your rate of interest and completion of applications are lightning-fast. As per the company claim, it only takes three minutes for a customer to complete an application form. NaviRefi is not available in all the states. People residing in California, Delaware, and Nevada have simply no choice. Even if you stay in a state where NaviRefi offers refinancing, the full suite of options as advertised on the website might not be available.
Navient already has all its customer information since the existing loans are Navient loans. All it requires to do is pull some extra information from its customers, such as their credit score and credit history If you are looking for refinancing variable-rate loans, the following states do not have to offer one. They only have to offer fixed-rate loans. Residents of Kentucky cannot refinance their loans for more than 10 years if they owe less than $15,000
One more benefit of using NaviRefi is that you can refinance your federal and private loans together. Another disadvantage of refinancing student loans with Navient is that Navient’s reputation is just plain bad. There are various lawsuits against them. It is consistently being rated as one of the worst student loan providers. If you are looking to avoid working with Navient, it’s better to avoid NaviRefi because your student loans will end up Navient.
Navient offers student loan discharge in case of death or disability. In case the borrower is dead or is permanently and completely disabled or incapacitated, Navient releases the loan. This, however, is not standard amongst private student loan providers.  

States like Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, and many more do not offer to refinance variable-rate loans. There is a lot of details that NaviRefi has not disclosed fully. They are:

  • Whether you can refinance your parents’ PLUS loans along with your loans

  • Details regarding their forbearance programs

  • What types of documents are required for self-employed people

  • Whether you can apply for refinancing with a cosigner


Considering other options

Getting an exclusive offer doesn’t mean one has to partake in it. Instead one should consider student loan refinancing as a part of your overall financial plan. People should check for the best refinancing offers available in the market so that they can save while their loan repayment period. Student loan forgiveness can be an option. To know in detail, read all about Navient student loan forgiveness.

Upon receiving the offer from NaviRefi, you can fill the application since it is just a rate check and not the complete application. You have to accept the mentioned terms and conditions before it becomes final. Before finalizing the process, check which companies are offering better rates of interest and select the one that suits you best. You can also check out our review on Navient student loan servicer and make informed decisions thereafter.

By considering other options, you can rest assured that you will be receiving the best refinancing deal possible. In this way, you can save money while paying off your student loans faster.

Contact Information

Mail:

NaviRefi

P.O. Box 8000

Fishers, IN 46038-8000

Payment Address:

NaviRefi

P.O. Box 9115

Wilkes-Barre, PA 18773-9115

Phone: 

844-381-6621 (U.S. Customers)

317-598-4024 (Abroad Customers)

Borrowers who are struggling to afford payments have good repayment options at the event. Since they have an option to get loans without graduation many borrowers approach them. Checking the above advantages, rate of interest, the other facilities which are feasible. You can apply for Navient student loans. For issues you have to report you can contact 888-545-4199 or email advocate@navient.com.