Earnest Student Loan Review

If you're a college student and have used up all your federal student loan options, you might want to check out Earnest private student loans. They've been around since 2013 and offer personal loans, student loan refinancing, and now private student loans too. Navient, a student loan servicer, acquired them in 2017.

Loan Specifics

Earnest offers fixed and variable private student loans, starting from $1,000 up to 100% of your school's cost. Undergrads and grads can apply, but parents can't take out loans for their kids. They have four repayment plans, and three of them give you a nine-month grace period, which is longer than most others. However, the deferment and forbearance options seem to be available only for refinancing, not for new private student loans. No need to stress about prepayment, late payment, origination, or disbursement fees, though.

Qualifications

To qualify for an Earnest private student loan, you must be a full-time student at a qualifying university and either a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. While a cosigner isn't mandatory, many students will need one if they don't have a credit history of three years or make at least $35,000 annually.

Customer Experience and Reputation 

When it comes to customer experience, Earnest offers online quotes and gives a 0.25% interest rate reduction if you enroll in auto-pay. Their website has a blog with helpful articles about student loans, but unfortunately, they don't provide calculators to understand the costs of their private student loans.

In terms of reputation, Earnest has been around for a while and has received mostly positive reviews for their personal loans and student loan refinancing. They have a solid 9.3 out of 5 rating on Trustpilot. However, since they started offering private student loans more recently, there aren't many reviews about that particular service.

Company's Disclosure

Earnest loans are serviced by Earnest Operations LLC, 535 Mission St., Suite 1663 San Francisco, CA 94105, NMLS #1204917, with support from Higher Education Loan Authority of the State of Missouri (MOHELA) (NMLS# 1442770). One American Bank, FinWise Bank, and Earnest LLC and its subsidiaries, including Earnest Operations LLC, are not sponsored by agencies of the United States of America.