Anyone know if loan can be transferred?

[swanley007]

Hello All;

I have my loan with SLM. I have a descent rate, but when my wife went to school she had a fed loan at a much lower interest rate. Also, I have noticed that some places are offering a lower interest rates right now. I was wondering if anyone has had any luck with refinancing with a different institution federal or private. Any success stories would be great.

One big problem is that I do not own a home, I rent (collateral is not there).

Maybe I am just wishfully thinking. Worth a try anyway though!

 

[meyers9163]

Good question. I know that Citibank does indeed offer a program in which you can refinance your loans. HOWEVER most of the places that will offer you the ability to refinance an unsecure loan will require a 30 year term. After careful review and input from one of our mods I elected to not refinance mine. I got a lower APR but with the longer term it did not benefit me to do such. Turbomax also had some good luck, so perhaps he will post some input. Best of luck!

 

[matt152]

I have a Wachovia loan at the prime rate. But it is variable. I would consider refinancing even if it required a rate increase of a couple of points, so long as I could get a guaranteed fixed rate.

 

[josh9399]

I went with SLM. I wish it could be transferred out of my name that's for sure! 60g

 

[killbilly]

Refi on a longer term is not necessarily a bad thing - IF - you make your payments the same or more than you were before. Ideally, that extra money goes to the principal and you pay it off much quicker because the interest rate is lower. However, you need to look at any fees associated with it so that they don't offset the savings. Oversimplified math to follow - these are just random numbers I used for a $30K loan.

30,000 at 8% over 10 years - $363.99 - payoff in 2018

30,000 at 8% over 20 years - $250.94 - payoff in 2028

Now - take that 20 year term ($250.94 payment) and make payments of $363.99 - that pulls your payoff date back to 2018, but you're only REQUIRED to pay $250.94 a month...so if you have a lean month you don't pay extra....

Okay. So let's say you up that to paying about $400 a month instead of $363.99, but on the 20-year note with a min. payment of $250.94....

30,000 at 8% over 20 years, but paying $400 a month - payoff is now in July of 2017.

Make sense?

You can game these numbers with the calculators at Bankrate.com. It makes sense (sometimes) to do a longer-term refi if you need a lower monthly payment but have the ability to pay extra against the principal.

However, GENERALLY, it makes sense to finance at the shortest term possible for the largest payment you can make, because that lowers the interest rate and total cost of the loan.