Absolutely. When considering refinancing your federal student loans, it is important to review the current protections and benefits you are granted with those loans and understand which of those you may be giving up when refinancing for an interest rate deduction or lower monthly payments with a private lender like Earnest.
Once your education loans from the federal government are refinanced into private student loans, you will get a new interest rate. That rate might be lower (ideally, it would be) or in some cases, it may be higher. An interest rate reduction will mean you’ll pay less interest over time.
Some lenders’ student loan refinancing products may include prepayment penalties or origination fees. Earnest will never punish you for paying off your loans early or make you pay for taking out a new loan.