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Student Loans

Credible Student Loans Review

Best Marketplace

4.6 /5
Private Student Loans
  • Compare multiple lenders with one application in 3 minutes
  • Student loans for undergraduate and graduate degrees
  • Checking your prequalified rates doesn’t impact your credit score1
  • There are no fees to see your results
  • Only shows rates from its partner lenders
Rates (APR)4.07%16.70%
Loan amounts$1,000 – 100% of certified costs
Repayment terms5, 7, 8, 10, 12, 15, or 20 years
Refinance Student LoansView Rates
  • Compare multiple lenders with one application in 2 minutes
  • Student loans for undergraduate and graduate degrees are eligible
  • Checking your prequalified rates doesn’t impact your credit score
  • There are no fees to see your results
  • Only shows rates from its partner lenders
Rates (APR)5.28%12.41%
Loan amounts$1,000 – 100% of outstanding balance
Repayment terms5, 7, 10, or 15 years

Credible is an online marketplace that allows you to compare rates and terms on student loans. In this review, we’ll explain the pros and cons of using Credible to find a new student loan or refinance existing student loans.

What does Credible do?

Credible is a loan comparison website for financial products, including student loans. If you’ve prequalified with one of its partner lenders and decide to proceed with that lender, Credible can make the connection so you can fill out a full application.

The lenders available through Credible’s marketplace offer student loans accepted at more than 2,200 schools across the U.S.

>> Read More: List of student loan companies

Credible private student loans

Credible allows borrowers to shop for student loan options from private lenders. You can use these loans to pay for education-related costs not covered by federal student loans, including tuition, housing, food, books, and more.

To be eligible for most loans, you must be enrolled at least part-time in an educational program. International students may be eligible if they have a U.S. address and a U.S. citizen or permanent resident as a cosigner.

Private student loan rates and terms vary depending on your financial need, credit history, your school’s cost of attendance, and whether you have a cosigner. Some lenders offer deferred and interest-only payment options, as well as both fixed- and variable-rate loans.

Rates, borrowing limits, and more

The available terms for your student loan through Credible will depend on several factors, including your chosen lender and credit score.

The images from Credible’s website below disclose its partner lenders and rates for private student loans:

List of Credible partner private student loan lenders and rates as of February 2024
Source: Credible (for Illustrative purposes only, actual rates may vary)
Source: Credible (for Illustrative purposes only, actual rates may vary)

How to apply for a Credible private student loan

You can apply for a Credible private student loan in six steps.

1. Get started: To prequalify for a loan through Credible, start by selecting whether you’re the student or cosigner.

Screenshot from Credible to begin applying for a student loan by choosing "I'm a student" or "I'm a cosigner"
Source: Credible (for Illustrative purposes only, actual rates may vary)

2. Enter your personal, educational, and financial information: Next, you’ll enter details such as your contact information, salary, school, projected graduation date, and the amount you wish to borrow.

3. Get prequalification offers: Without running a hard credit check, Credible will display your personalized offers from its partner lenders. You can sort the offers by total interest, APR, payments during or after school, and term length.

Screenshot displaying two offers from Credible partners for a student loan
Source: Credible (for Illustrative purposes only, actual rates may vary)

You can expand each offer to see additional details.

Screenshot displaying more details about a private student loan from Citizens Bank on Credible's website
Source: Credible (for Illustrative purposes only, actual rates may vary)

4. Choose an offer: If you want to proceed with an offer, select the “Continue” button on that offer. You’ll enter additional details for the lender—such as your Social Security number, the specific degree you’re pursuing, and additional employment information—and consent to a hard credit check, which may lower your credit score by a few points.

5. Official approval: The lender will verify the information you entered by checking your credit and—ideally—approve you for the rate and terms you expected. This is often instant, but underwriting could require additional information.

6. Get funds: The lender will disburse the funds to your school according to the schedule the college sets. If your loan requires in-school repayment, these will begin after fund disbursement. If you select to begin repayment after you graduate or leave school, your first monthly payment will be due after the grace period ends.

Credible student loan refinancing

Borrowers can also find options for refinancing student loans through Credible. Refinancing can lead to lower interest rates or monthly payments depending on your repayment term and interest rate.

Rates, terms, and more

The terms and rates for your refinanced loan will depend on which lender you select, your credit score, and other factors.

You can see a list of Credible’s partner lenders for student loan refinancing and more details about their loans below:

Image from Credible website in February 2024 showing its top student loan refinance partner lenders, their current rates, and what types of degrees they will refinance
Source: Credible (for Illustrative purposes only, actual rates may vary)
Image from Credible website in February 2024 showing two additional top student loan refinance partner lenders, their current rates, and what types of degrees they will refinance
Source: Credible (for Illustrative purposes only, actual rates may vary)

How to apply for a Credible student loan refinance

Getting a refinance loan with Credible involves the following eight steps.

1. State your goal: To prequalify for a refinance through Credible, first, select your most important reason for refinancing. (This won’t affect your eligibility or offers, but it helps Credible sort your offers.)

Image from Credible asking the borrower to choose a refinancing goal: lower payments, maximize savings, or get out of debt faster
Source: Credible

2. Choose your loan type: Select whether you’re refinancing parent loans or student loans. (Credible offers parents the option to transfer loans in their name into the child’s name.)

Screenshot from Credible's website asking the user what loans they're refinancing today
Source: Credible

3. Select whether you want to transfer your loans to another person: Tell Credible if you want the loans to remain in the original borrower’s name or if you plan to transfer them.

Source: Credible
Screenshot from Credible's website displaying three refinance offers
Source: Credible (for Illustrative purposes only, actual rates may vary)

Source: Credible

8. Begin repaying your new loan: The new lender will pay off the loans you’re refinancing. This may take several weeks, so you should continue making payments on your refinanced loans until you get confirmation they’re paid off. Then you’ll instead make payments according to the new lender’s schedule.

How we rated Credible student loans

We designed LendEDU’s editorial rating system to help consumers identify companies that offer the best financial products. Our experts spend hours researching these companies each year to ensure our ratings are fresh and accurate.

Our most recent evaluation compared Credible to several lenders across a number of factors, including rates, repayment terms, customer reviews, and benefits. We weighted, scored, and combined these factors to produce a final editorial rating. This rating is expressed on a scale from 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest possible score. We round all ratings to the nearest tenth decimal place.

Student loanBest forOur rating
Private student loanBest marketplace4.7 out of 5
Student loan refinanceBest marketplace4.8 out of 5