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Sunday, April 2nd
Splash Financial is on a mission to help you save money on your student loans through refinancing. In business since 2013, this site serves as a referral platform that lets you shop around for the best rates and terms among Splash Financial's lending partners. More than 100,000 people have created accounts with this service, submitting more than six billion dollars in refinancing requests.
Social Security number required for quotes
You can get a rate estimate for your student loan refinancing by answering a series of questions about your degree, how much you owe, your current financial situation (income and investments), and your contact details. The last step of the process requires you to enter your Social Security number, but Splash Financial reassures prospective clients that it will result only in a soft pull on their credit report at that stage of the process. (Of course, if you like what you see and decide to apply for a specific refinancing loan, a hard pull will be done at that point.)
Competitive interest rates
We were impressed with the rate quotes we got during the prequalification process. They'll always depend on the current market and the lenders in Splash Financial's network (which, incidentally, we would love to see them list straight out - but they don't). The interest rates we received on our student loan quote weren't the lowest we found, but they were still competitive with the better lenders in our review.
Find out which lenders are a match
When you select a loan that interests you and click "Continue" , the next page will disclose the lender you've been matched with. Everything you entered during your prequalification rate check gets passed along to that lender, to make it faster to complete your full refinancing application. For what it's worth, every single loan presented to us was a match with Earnest, another lender in our student loan refinancing evaluations. That wasn't as much variety as we were expecting, but at least we were given options there with very competitive rates and terms.
Easy to get help from customer support
We got a quick response when we reached out to Splash Financial's customer service team via live chat online. Our rep told us that there are about 10 different lenders in their network, and she (or he?) offered to double-check our prequalification application to see why we had only been matched with Earnest. We also learned from that rep that only one lender in Splash Financial's network offers cosigner applications: in our rate quote, we weren't allowed to indicate spousal income, and that was the reason we only got a match with one lender. Keep that in mind if that applies to your situation as well.
Customer services gets lots of compliments
Although you won't find thousands of client reviews for Splash Financial - which is to be expected, given that they've been in operation for less than 10 years - the feedback you will see is almost universally positive. Starting with an "A-" rating and accreditation with the BBB and continuing on to the 250+ five-star reviews left by happy customers, this referral platform is doing a solid job of connecting people with lenders offering lower-than-average interest rates and great terms on refinanced student loans. The top compliments this service receives tend to relate to their customer service: representatives are described as "responsive" , "knowledgeable" and "friendly" .
Loans serviced by third parties
The one caveat is the same we offer with any lending referral service: remember that, ultimately, your loan will be serviced by the lender and not by Splash Financial. This company connects you to the financial institution, but from there onward it all depends on that bank, credit union, or other lender.
Reliable option for getting multiple lender offers
Splash Financial earns a good ranking among resources for refinancing student loans. We were impressed by their customer service, both in our interactions and in what we found described in client reviews. It isn't the most robust of the referral services in our platform, but Splash Financial still gets high marks for being a trustworthy way to refinance your student loans.
If you got your student loans back when interest rates were high, you're smart to think it might be a good idea to refinance when rates have dropped. Whether you get a lower rate or take years off your loan (or both), your savings could be in the tens of thousands of dollars.
You can typically qualify to refinance your student loans if your outstanding balance is at least $5,000, though some lenders have higher minimums. You'll often need to be in good standing and up to date on your current loan payments, have steady income and a credit score of 660 or higher. Otherwise, your refinancing may require a cosigner.
But, be careful if you're considering refinancing your federal student loans into a private loan. There are some benefits offered with government student loans that don't carry over into privately-funded ones. Do your research before you sign on the dotted line and make sure that the benefits you'd gain outweigh the perks you'd lose.
So, you've determined that it's the right time to refinance your student loan. What should you look for in a lender? Here are some factors to guide your decision-making:
To help you determine the best way to refinance your student loan, TopConsumerReviews.com has evaluated and ranked today's top lenders. We're confident that with this information, you'll easily find the right rate and term on your loan refinancing!
Select any 2 Student Loan Refinance Companies to compare them head to head