PenFed Powered by Purefy Student Loan Refinancing Review

• Soft credit check to qualify and see what rate you’ll get: Yes.
• Application or origination fee: No.
• Prepayment penalty: No.
• Late fees: Yes; a fee equal to 20% of the interest portion of the payment applies after the payment is five days late. The minimum late fee is $5; the maximum is $25, except where prohibited by law.

Compare PenFed’s range of interest rates with other student loan refinance lenders. Your actual rate will depend on factors including your — or your co-signer’s — credit history and financial situation. To see what rate PenFed will offer you, apply on its website.

Financial

• Minimum credit score: 670. You’ll need a higher score if you’re applying without a co-signer or refinancing more than $150,000.
• Minimum income: You’ll generally need an income of at least $25,000 if you’re applying with a co-signer, and $42,000 if you’re applying without one. If you’re refinancing more than $150,000, the minimum income is $50,000 or $100,000, depending on how much other debt you have.
• Typical credit score of approved borrowers or co-signers: 779.
• Typical income of approved borrowers: $94,000.
• Maximum debt-to-income ratio: Generally, 35% for applicants with undergraduate degrees and 40% for applicants with graduate degrees.
• Can qualify if you’ve filed for bankruptcy: Yes, if the bankruptcy was 10 or more years ago. You can also qualify — even with a recent bankruptcy on your record — if you have a co-signer who meets all of the credit, income and debt-to-income criteria, and you have a credit score of 670 or higher and income of $25,000 or more.

Other

• Citizenship: Must be a U.S. citizen. Unlike many other lenders, PenFed doesn’t refinance college debt for permanent residents.
• Location: Available in all 50 U.S. states.
• Must have graduated: Yes, must have a bachelor’s degree or higher.
• Must have attended a Title IV-accredited school: Yes.
• Percentage of borrowers who have a co-signer: 22%.

• Academic deferment: No.
• Military deferment: No.
• Forbearance: PenFed doesn’t have a structured deferment or forbearance program, unlike other lenders. If you lose your job or experience an illness or death in the family, the lender may offer temporarily payment relief on a case-by-case basis.
• Are loans discharged in the event of death/disability of borrower?: No.
• Allows greater-than-minimum payments via autopay: Yes.
• Allows biweekly payments via autopay: No.

• Loan servicer: Pentagon Federal Credit Union, known as PenFed.
• In-house customer service team: Yes.
• Process for escalating concerns: Yes.
• Borrowers get assigned a dedicated banker, advisor or representative: Yes, each borrower is assigned a personal student loan advisor.
• Average time from approval to payoff of the refinanced loans: Three to 14 days.

• Couples refinancing: Spouses who both have student loans can qualify to refinance with PenFed based on their combined incomes and the higher credit score of the two. This means the spouse with the lower credit score would likely qualify for a lower interest rate than he or she would otherwise.
• PenFed powered by Purefy referral program: Earn $200 cash for each friend you refer who receives a loan from PenFed through Purefy.