I graduated medical school in 2020 with approximately 234k in federal student loan debt @ about 6% and 24k in private loans from my medical school (5%), totaling around 258k. By the time I graduated in 2020, they had peaked to around 281k. (I made minimum payments and sometimes extra payments on them.)
I made the decision in 2019 that I was not going into academics and decided to privately refinance them. A year later, the pandemic began and the student loan payment moratorium went into effect. No interest and no payments (two years later it is still in effect and due to end January 2023). Ouch! As they are privately financed I got no such option and have since paid over 17k in interest alone (and can’t write any of it off on taxes).
Regardless, I continued to refinance them down over the next three years. Many different refinance companies offer no closing costs and give you referral bonuses (basically the opposite of getting a mortgage, so easy and they pay you!).
My initial refinance rate on a five year fixed plan 4.03% in 2019 (they have residency deferral option with $100 monthly payments). Then 3.69% –> 1.99% –> 1.65% –> 1.35% –> 1.1%
I last refinanced in January of 2022 with Laurel Road. They have an autopay discount of 0.25 percent and linked in checking account (if you direct deposit your paychecks at a certain amount) up to 0.55 percent.
I now have a five year fixed rate at 1.1% with payments around $4,200. I am in no hurry to pay this off given the low rate and crazy inflation now although I suspect at a certain point I will just say I want to be done with them and get rid of them slightly early. For now, I plan to invest the difference as the entire loan will now cost me less than 2k in interest a year (now down to 210k as of September 2022).
Unfortunately interest rates have since risen dramatically but its still very possible to get a sub 3% fixed or variable loan as of September 2022.
Click on the link below for a referral to Laurel Road and get a $200 discount!
