LendKey Review 2021: Student Loan Refinancing with Credit Unions and Community Banks
LendKey Student Loan Refinance helps you find the best deal from multiple credit union and community bank lenders.
LendKey is a marketplace helping with student loan refinance with credit unions and community banks. LendKey does not refinance student loans itself, but matches borrowers who qualify for refinancing with its partners.
With LendKey, you complete and submit one application and find the best terms and rates from their network of local lenders. LendKey student loan refinance is available in all 50 states through their 300+ credit union and local bank partners.
LendKey Student Loan Refinance Key Features:
- Fixed and variable interest rates
- Loan terms of 5, 7, 10, 15 or 20 years
- $5,000 to $125,000 for undergraduate degrees
- $250,000 for graduate degrees
- 300,000 for medical, dental or veterinary degrees
- Cosigner Release
- Forbearance benefit for up to 18 months
LendKey Student Loan Refinance Promotion
There are currently no bonus promotions with LendKey Student Loan Refinance
LendKey Overview
LendKey provides an end-to-end digital lending partner to hundreds of banks and credit unions, from delivering new customers and members to servicing throughout the life of a loan. Lenders now can offer credit products online in an efficient, secure way, and give borrowers a seamless digital lending experience.
What Is LendKey Student Loan Refinance?
LendKey offers borrowers access to student loan refinance with a community bank or credit union rather than a big bank or private lender. LendKey has helped 99,000+ borrowers with $3.1 billion in student loans.
Refinancing student loans simplifies repayment and can lower the total cost of student loans borrowed. With a student loan refinance, you are replacing all of your existing student loans (or a single student loan if you only have one) with a new loan with new terms.
Who is it best for?
LendKey student loan refinance is good for people who want multiple offers from local lenders and value community banks and credit unions. If you have multiple loans, you can benefit by refinancing them into a single new loan making repayment simpler.
What do you get?
By qualifying for a lower interest rate or reducing the payback period of the new loan, you could save thousands in interest over the life of the loan.
LendKey Student Loan Refinance benefits and features:
- No application fee
- No origination fees
- A 0.25% rate reduction with automatic payments
- Checking rates do not impact your credit score
- Review rates, terms, and offers from multiple lenders
- Servicing of all the loans
- Extended forbearance for longer loan terms
- Cosigner Release
How LendKey Student Loan Refinance works
In order to find your available rates, you complete one application and enter basic personal information. LendKey will conduct a soft credit inquiry, which does not affect your credit score, and provide you with available offers from lenders.
LendKey requires you to pick a lender. If you get identical offers from multiple lenders, you’ll need to crunch the numbers and determine which community bank or credit union is best for your needs.
After choosing a lender, the next step is to finalize the application process by providing more information and includes a hard inquiry of your credit report. The lender will respond with a conditional offer which will include documents to verify your identity and employment.
“With a student loan refinance, you are replacing all of your existing student loans (or a single student loan if you only have one) with a new loan with new terms. By qualifying for a lower interest rate or reducing the payback period of the new loan, you could save thousands in interest over the life of the loan.” (LendKey website)
Safety and Security
LendKey does not provide loans directly. They bridge the communication between you and the lenders. LendKey works with over 300 community banks and credit unions. They have also helped over 99,000 borrowers with over $3.1 billion in student loans.
Where to Get Started with LendKey Refinance
- Set aside some time to complete the application on the LendKey website
- Review the results of your LendKey application and crunch the numbers
- Choose your lender and finalize the application
If you choose a credit union to be your student loan refinance lender, then you’ll be required to become a member of that credit union.
Why Use LendKey Student Loan Refinance
LendKey is a solid choice for student loan refinance with their streamlined platform, one application, and with no application or origination fees. If you’re the type who wants to work with local lenders such as community banks and credit unions, then give LendKey a try and see what offers you get. It doesn’t hurt your credit score to see what rates are available. Additionally, it’s a comforting feature that your loan, although financed by a local lender, is serviced by LendKey.
Just remember that student loan refinancing isn’t for everyone. It will only make sense if you have high rate loans or multiple loans that make it hard to manage.
Consider all your options and the cost associated with refinancing. It may make sense to refinance private and federal student loans through companies like LendKey if you’ve determined interest rates are lowered and your total cost of student loans is decreased.
Keep in mind that refinancing your federal student loans into any private loan company–bank or credit union– will remove all federal benefits. These federal student loan benefits include income-based repayment options and student loan forgiveness.
With that said, you can refinance your private student loans together AND keep your federal student loans separate from the refinancing. If you only have federal student loans, then consider a federal consolidation. Contact your current student loan service about your federal student loans and options you may have.
