NaviRefi Student Loans Review: Pros, Cons, And Alternatives

NaviRefi offers student loan refinancing.

Student loan refinancing offers the opportunity to save money on your loan payments with the help of a lower interest rate. Depending on your situation, a refinance could save you thousands of dollars over the course of your loan. 

NaviRefi is one way for borrowers with at least one Navient loan to tap into a refinance. 

Ready to learn more about what NaviRefi has to offer? Let’s take a closer look.

What Is NaviRefi?

NaviRefi is a Navient company. The parent company, Navient, doesn’t have a great reputation. Navient itself most recently ended its contract with the U.S. Department of Education. Plus, it was also forced to wipe out $1.7 billion in private student loans. 

The loans available through NaviRefi are made through Earnest Operations LLC, which is another member of the Navient family of companies. 

What Does It Offer?

NaviRefi does offer relatively attractive offerings on the surface. Here’s what student loan borrowers can expect through NaviRefi. 

Quick Application

When looking to refinance your student loans, a lengthy application process is a big turn-off. If working with NaviRefi, you won’t have to deal with an extensive loan application. Instead, the company promises an application as fast as 3 minutes. 

Loan Amount Flexibility

Everyone has unique needs when it comes to student loans. 

With NaviRefi, you can refinance anywhere from $5,001 to $500,000. That’s a big range that should cover the vast majority of student loan borrowers. It’s worth pointing out that NaviRefi requires a minimum loan amount of $10,001 for borrowers in the state of California. 

Additionally, you can choose a loan term between 5 and 20 years.

Options For Those Without A Completed Degree

One great thing about NaviRefi is that the student loan refinancing company is willing to work with borrowers that don’t have a completed degree. 

If you didn’t finish your degree but want to refinance your loans, then NaviRefi is an option to consider.

Related: Student Loan Lenders That Refinance Without A Degree

Hard Credit Check Required To See Rates

You won’t be able to see what rate you qualify for with NaviRefi until you submit to a hard credit check. Since hard credit checks will impact your credit score, it’s important to keep this in mind before completing your application with NaviRefi. 

Autopay Discount

You can score a 0.25% APY rate discount when you sign up for auto payment. Auto payments are often a good idea even without the discount because it helps you remember to make your payments on time. 

Are There Any Fees?

NaviRefi advertises that student loan borrowers refinancing through them won’t encounter origination fees, prepayment fees, or late payment fees. 

The company doesn't disclose whether or not it charges application fees, disbursement fees, returned payment fees, or collection fees.

How Does NaviRefi Compare?

If you are looking to refinance your student loans, NaviRefi isn’t necessarily the best fit. Although the lender offers a wide range of terms and loan amounts, its invitation-only system is somewhat limiting. 

Splash is not directly a student loan refinancing company. Instead, while it does offer its own loans, it's also backed by a marketplace of lenders to deliver you the most competitive rates and terms. Plus, it has a nice bonus!

ELFI is another great choice - they typically have some of the lowest student loan refinancing rates, and they also offer an attractive bonus to refinance through them.

How Do I Refinance With NaviRefi?

NaviRefi requires an invitation code to start the application process. With this code in hand, you’ll also need to meet the following requirements:

• Be the age of majority in your state.
• Be a U.S. citizen or non-citizen permanent resident of the U.S.
• Live in any state except Nevada.
• Have a sufficient income.
• Have attended a school that is eligible for Title IV federal student aid. 
• Have a minimum of $5,001 to refinance ($10,001 in California). 
• Have a minimum credit score of 680.
• The date of your last attendance cannot be longer than six years ago.
• Be current on your housing payments.
  
• Have no accounts in collections or a recent bankruptcy.
  

If you meet all of the requirements, you’ll need to provide proof throughout the application process. NaviRefi will review your information and decide whether or not to offer you a loan. If approved, you can choose from the available terms and finalize the loan.

Is It Safe And Secure?

When you apply for a loan with NaviRefi, you’ll need to provide a lot of personal information. According to NaviRefi’s privacy policy, it can share that information with affiliates, service providers, lending partners, and for legal purposes. 

With that, many parties could get access to your information when you work with NaviRefi. Although this level of information sharing is not necessarily unique among student loan refinancing companies, it’s something to consider before applying.

Note: You cannot use the NaviRefi website on Firefox, which is odd.

How Do I Contact NaviRefi?

Need to get in contact with NaviRefi? You can call the company at (833) 324-7846. Representatives are available from Monday to Friday from 8 AM to 8 PM EST. 

NaviRefi itself doesn’t have a Trustpilot rating. But its parent company, Navient, only has 1.9 out of 5 stars. And only 3.2 out of 5 stars through ConsumerAffairs. But the customer experience at NaviRefi itself has yet to be determined. 

Why Should You Trust Us

I am America’s Student Loan Debt Expert™ and have been actively writing about and covering student loans since 2009. Myself and the team here at The College Investor have been actively tracking student loan providers since 2015 and have reviewed, tested, and followed almost every provider and lender in the space.

Furthermore, our compliance team reviews the rates and terms on these listing every weekday to ensure they are accurate. That way you can be sure you're looking at an accurate and up-to-date rate when you're comparison shopping. 

Who Is This For And Is It Worth It?

Navient does not have the best reputation among student loan borrowers. After a string of very public lawsuits, it’s likely that you’ve heard about Navient at some point. Beyond the lawsuits, the fact that you have to submit to a hard credit check just to check your rate is inconvenient.

If you are seriously considering student loan refinancing, I recommend comparison shopping with Credible before jumping in with NaviRefi. Although the loan products available through NaviRefi seem perfectly adequate, Credible can help you find the absolute best deal for your situation.

NaviRefi Features