Because Citizens is a solid choice despite a couple of drawbacks, Citizens ranks in the middle of our student loan refinance company rankings.

Citizens may not be the best lender in the market, but many borrowers will find Citizens offers a competitive refinance option.

Citizens Bank Refinance: Terms and Conditions

As you can see from the table, Citizens Bank offers a wide possible range of interest rates. On the lower end, these rates are excellent, but the higher rate loans are pretty abysmal. Whether or not Citizens ends up being the best deal will depend upon your credit score and income.

Citizens does get high marks for the length of time available to repay the loans. With up to 20 years to repay your loans, Citizens has one of the longest repayment plans in the market. Savvy borrowers know that paying the minimum over the life of the loan is a recipe to spend a lot on interest, but by stretching out repayment so far, the minimum is much more manageable for months when the budget is tight.

Finally, like other legit lenders, there are no charges for loan applications, origination fees, or prepayment penalties.

Citizens Bank Interest Rates vs. Other Lenders

When we break down the interest rates according to loan type (fixed and variable) and loan length, Citizens ranks among the best lenders in a few different loan categories. Additionally, Citizens is routinely just outside the top three in many other loan categories.

Ultimately, while Citizens advertised rates across many loan types are very competitive, the only way for an individual borrower to verify they are getting the best possible rate is to apply with several different student loan refinance companies. This is because each lender uses a unique formula when evaluating credit applications.

Red Flags for Borrowers to Review

One thing we don’t like is the emphasis on co-signers. While co-signing may be a necessity for some, it is something that most borrowers would be wise to avoid. The mandatory 36 month waiting period for a co-signer release is also one of the longest we have seen. Many co-signers will want to be able to be removed from the loan within a year or two.

Citizens seems to be targeting people with federal loans for their refinancing. Here at the Student Loan Sherpa, we think private consolidation of federal loans can be a huge mistake. However, for others is it is a good idea. Any prospective borrower must understand that if you consolidate your federal loans with a private lender, you will never qualify for student loan forgiveness or an income-driven repayment plan.

However, Citizens does a better job than most companies at pointing out some of the risks associated with private loan consolidation.

Citizens Bank Refinancing Review: The Bottom Line

The Citizens Bank refinance program claims a spot in the top half of our Student Loan Refinance Rankings, based mainly on the low interest rates advertised.

Due to the large range of possible interest rates, borrowers would be wise to apply to several different companies to find the lowest rate actually available. By working with multiple companies, potential customers also get the opportunity to directly compare the companies and how they interact with their customers before any contracts are signed. Please note, if you decide to go this route, be sure to apply to all of them in a short period of time to prevent any damage to your credit report.

The post Citizens Bank Student Loan Refinance Review appeared first on The Student Loan Sherpa.

Even though these lenders both offer low interest rates, there are major differences between the two companies. From the source of funding to the approval process, Citizens Bank and Earnest use very different strategies.

The borrowers that identify and understand these differences will find the best refinance deal.

Citizens Bank vs. Earnest: Refinance Basics

Interest Rates	6.92% - 12.34%	5.89% - 9.74%^
Loan Terms	5, 7, 10, 15, and 20 Years	5 - 20 Years
Minimum Loan	$10,000	$5,000
Signup Bonus	-	$150^

Both lenders offer solid interest rates, with Earnest usually offering slightly lower rates to the best-qualified borrowers.

One of the first significant differences is the repayment length options. Citizens offers the more traditional 5, 7, 10, 15, and 20-year repayment plans. Earnest borrowers can pick any length between 5 and 20 years. If a borrower wanted to repay their loan in precisely 6 years and 7 months, Earnest would create that loan. The benefit of that level of specificity isn’t apparent, but for borrowers who want a specific loan length, Earnest is the only lender offering this feature.

From a terms and conditions standpoint, the lenders are pretty similar. Like most legitimate lenders, there are no prepayment, origination, or application fees with Citizens Bank or Earnest.

Both lenders also refinance federal loans into private loans. Refinancing a federal loan into a private loan is risky because borrowers lose federal perks and protections. However, all refinance lenders provide federal consolidation, so it is hard to fault Citizens or Earnest. Nonetheless, borrowers with federal loans should carefully consider their options before refinancing their loans with any private lender.

A Note About Earnest Ownership Several years ago Earnest was purchased by Naivent. Given Navient’s lousy reputation among student loan borrowers, there was concern that Earnest’s quality would drop.

Fortunately, there hasn’t been a noticeable difference in borrower feedback since this purchase. However, borrowers that wish to distance themselves from Navient may also want to avoid Earnest.

Citizens Bank Advantages

Citizens Bank is one of the few remaining traditional banks offering student loan refinancing. Most of the larger lenders: SoFi, CommonBond, and Earnest, are considered fin-tech companies.

The fin-tech lenders depend on investor interest in student loans to fund loans. If investor interest drops, these lenders have to raise rates. A bank like Citizens can fund their own loans. Borrowers out to find the lowest possible refinance rate should check rates with bank-based and fin-tech lenders to secure the best deal.

Another big advantage to Citizens is that they will refinance loans for borrowers without a degree. Most of the other student loan refinance companies require applicants to have a degree.

Earnest Advantages

The one aspect that separates Earnest from all other refinance lenders is their application process.

Typically, lenders care about two numbers when making credit decisions: monthly debt-to-income ratio and credit score. Earnest looks at the bigger financial picture of applicants. For example, a borrower who sets aside money each month in a retirement account or savings account may fair better with Earnest.

In the past, the additional information that Earnest required meant completing the application took longer. Today, getting approved with Earnest takes about 10 minutes, which is comparable to most other lenders.

Finally, Earnest offers a $150 Bonus to new customers who apply through this link. Full terms and conditions on the bonus program are available here.

Deciding Between Earnest and Citizens

Most borrowers looking to refinance should consider both Earnest and Citizens Bank.

Borrowers without a degree will find Citizens is one of the few lenders willing to refinance. Borrowers who need a very specific repayment length should focus on Earnest.

Ultimately, most borrowers will benefit from checking rates with both lenders. Earnest and Citizens use very different criteria for determining approval and interest rates. One borrower may get an excellent rate from Earnest while another might find a far better deal with Citizens. The exact lender formulas are closely guarded secrets, so borrowers looking for the lowest possible rate must shop around.

Click here to check rates with Citizens Bank.

Click here to check rates with Earnest.

The post Earnest vs. Citizens Bank Student Loan Refinance Comparison appeared first on The Student Loan Sherpa.

Citizens Bank has created an appealing student loan option for many undergraduate borrowers. The interest rates are low and Citizens has a unique program that makes it an excellent option for many borrowers just starting school.

That being said, Citizens Bank Student loans do come with some concerns, and we find the advertising materials to be a bit misleading in a couple places.

Citizens Bank Student Loan Basics

Citizens Student Loans
Loan Types Offered:	Fixed and Variable
Best Variable Rate:	1.16%
Best Fixed Rate:	4.18%
Repayment Length Options:	5, 10, and 15 Years
Offers Loans Directly to Parents	Yes

As the table above shows, the interest rates with Citizens One start out fairly low. Unfortunately, these low rates are only available to borrowers with excellent credit or a cosigner.

Another major limitation is that the best rates are only available for borrowers who choose the 5-year repayment length and start repayment during school. Opting to begin repayment after graduation or picking a longer repayment length will result in higher interest rates.

Like most private lenders, Citizens places an emphasis on having a cosigner due to the fact that most students have little or no credit history.

Finally, Citizens does not charge a fee for applications or loan origination.

Citizens Bank Advantages

Advertised interest rates with Citizens are among the best in the market. Having the best-advertised rates doesn’t necessarily mean that Citizens will be the lender that actually offers the best rate, but it does mean that Citizens is worthy of borrower consideration.

Citizens Bank also advertises that they are the only lender with a multi-year approval program. The theory behind a multi-year approval is excellent. Borrowers can secure funding not just for the coming school year, but for future school years as well. The idea is to help students avoid the nightmare scenario of being one semester short of graduation and no longer able to secure funding for school. According to Citizens, last year 64% of their borrowers took advantage of the multi-year approval.

Unfortunately, there are some concerns with the multi-year approval.

Disadvantages of the Citizens Bank Student Loan

Locking down funding for future years sounds like an excellent idea, but the fine print with Citizens makes it clear that the future funds are not exactly “locked” down.

For starters, there is still a soft credit pull before each year. Citizens is correct that it is better than a traditional hard credit inquiry for credit scores, but if this was truly a multi-year approval, additional credit checks shouldn’t be required. Citizens makes it clear that the soft credit check is necessary to “verify continued eligibility.” This means that future negative credit reporting could jeopardize the funds that were previously approved.

The fine print on the multi-year approval states that: “After we make the initial loan to you, we may refuse to allow you to take out additional loans under the multi-year approval feature.”

Ultimately, our view of the multi-year approval is that it sounds nice in theory, it might help out some borrowers, but it isn’t the game-changer it first appears to be.

We also don’t like that Citizens suggests that their loans are a better alternative than federal government loans such as a Graduate PLUS loan. The problem with all private loans, including the Citizens One loan, is that these loans lack federal protections such as income-driven repayment plans and student loan forgiveness. Our view on private student loans is that they should supplement federal borrowing… not replace it.

No student is guaranteed to graduate and no student is guaranteed a job at graduation. Because of future income uncertainty, students should seek out federal protections when possible.

Citizens Bank Final Review

The Citizens Bank Student Loan is one of the better private student loan options available. No private lender will be able to compete with the federal government loan terms, but for borrowers who have maxed out their federal loans, Citizens is a solid option.

We applaud Citizens for the innovation of the multi-year approval, but wish borrowers had more assurances regarding future funding availability.

Borrowers looking for a private student would be wise to check their rates with Citizens.

However, checking with one lender is never enough to find the best possible rates. Borrowers may want to consider a tool like Credible, where they can check rates with Citizens at the same time as other larger lenders such as Sallie Mae, College Ave, and Discover.

The post Citizens Bank Student Loan Review: Low Rates but Some Concerns appeared first on The Student Loan Sherpa.

Student loans were traditionally handled by the big banks and lenders like Sallie Mae. A few startups recognized an opportunity in the market. They would target low-risk borrowers (those with high incomes relative to their debt and good credit scores) and offer interest rates significantly lower than the big banks.

This approach has proven to be very lucrative to these companies. SoFi, one of the startups, is now the leading student loan refinancing company. Meanwhile, Sallie Mae left the business entirely, as did most of the other big banks. Citizens Bank is now the largest bank still in the student loan refinance business.

It might be tempting to treat this comparison as a new school versus old school approach, but the reality is that these two lenders are fairly similar. SoFi has had to adjust as it has become the largest company in student loan refinancing and Citizens has had to change its approach in order to stay competitive with the new lenders.

Despite the large list of similarities between the two lenders, there are some major distinctions between the two that all borrowers should understand.

SoFi Advantages: Red Carpet Treatment and Low Interest Rates

SoFi has taken over the student loan refinance marketplace by rolling out the red carpet for their target borrowers. This includes features like US-based customer service, community events for SoFi members, and a career development office for SoFi borrowers.

In our original review of SoFi, this was one of the features that we especially liked. Rather than spending money on collections, SoFi invests the money in helping their borrowers find jobs so that they can continue to make payments.

While these perks are nice, the value of any refinance ultimately comes down to interest rates. Over the years, SoFi has consistently been among the lowest of all the student loan companies. This is both in terms of the lowest advertised rate as well as the actual rates offered. It is for this reason that SoFi is near the top of our student loan refinance company rankings.

Citizens Advantages: Solid Rates from a Local Bank

Unlike the other big banks, Citizens has successfully adjusted to the highly competitive market for student loan refinancing services.

If you live in the Midwest or Northeast where Citizens Bank has a number of branches, you have the convenience of visiting an actual location to discuss your student loan issues and questions.

Citizens is also among the very best in terms of interest rates offered. Like SoFi, they have earned a reputation for consistently offering low rates and often being the company that ends up offering the best rate to the customers who take the time to shop around.

They also have built a solid reputation for prompt customer service and processing of loan applications.

Finally, Citizens is a traditional bank while SoFi falls into the “FinTech” category. Banks are usually more regulated by the government, so if there is an edge in this difference, it probably goes to Citizens.

A Key Difference

One word of caution that we would offer to prospective borrowers is to be very careful when it comes to cosigning loans.

Having a cosigner means that person is also obligated to pay back the debt. This involvement can complicate matters from a financial and personal perspective. For this reason, we strongly encourage borrowers to not involve a cosigner in this process.

Unfortunately, Citizens seems to place an emphasis on adding cosigners to the loan.

If you visit their website, one of the assumptions on the interest rate offerings is that the borrow has a cosigner. While the presence of cosigners may help them keep rates competitive with all of the new lenders, we think borrowers should focus on loans that do not require a cosigner.

The Citizens focus on adding cosigners and its three-year mandatory waiting period to remove a cosigner, is the main reason that they rank lower in our rankings.

Making a Choice Between SoFi and Citizens

Ultimately, these two companies are close enough that if you are debating between the two, it is probably best to just apply to both and find out who offers a better rate.

If it is a close call, we think SoFi should probably get the edge, but if there is money to be saved with choosing Citizens, then picking Citizens is an easy choice.

Check the rate you qualify for with SoFi here.

Check your rate with Citizens and several other student loan companies here.

The post SoFi vs. Citizens Bank Student Loan Refinance Comparison appeared first on The Student Loan Sherpa.