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Credible

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6.9

Overall Score

Author: Kaitlyn Short

LAST UPDATED: March 23rd, 2024

Credible is a third-party student loan refinancing company, providing customers with a dashboard of student loan rates from multiple lenders. The dashboard gives users a side-by-side comparison of APR rates, monthly payments, and more from up to ten lenders, with no impact on the consumer's credit score. This allows consumers to easily compare and contrast multiple lenders in on place, and tailor their refinancing experience to their specific needs. In addition, this process is absolutely free for consumers — Credible will only receive compensation from a lender if you complete the loan process and funding is disbursed. 

Credible also provides comparisons for a variety of needs, including mortgage refinancing and credit cards; and home loan, personal loan, and student loan origination.

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Customer Review: Dustin from Ruby, South Carolina

"I was paying my school loans at an average 7.5%. After using Credible to find my best option for refinancing, I locked in a 2.68% rate and will save over $30,000 in interest payments."

Continue reading for pros and cons, and verified Credible reviews from real customers.

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The Good

  • Choose from a Variety of Student Loan Lenders
  • Private Loan and Federal Loan Refinancing
  • No Fees
  • Auto Pay Discounts
  • Soft Credit Check
  • Apply With a Cosigner
  • Supplemental Information
  • Best Rate Guarantee
  • Positive Reviews

Choose from a Variety of Student Loan Lenders

Credible is partnered with a variety of student loan lenders. To apply for refinancing with each lender, you simply enter information including your education history, employment history, and student debt. The form takes less than two minutes to complete and checking your student loan rates on Credible is free and will not impact your credit score.

Credible's two-minute loan application process enables a customer to begin searching for student loan debt options quickly. Within minutes, you can prequalify for student loans from each of the private lenders in Credible's network. 

Credible's easy-to-use dashboard allows you to compare rates on a number of important loan criteria, including APR rates, monthly payments, total repayment amount, and loan term. If you find a lender you like, simply reach out to the lender by filling out the corresponding form. Once the lender has considered and accepted your loan offer, Credible will notify you about the status of your loan via phone, text, or email.

This process is quick and easy, and allows you to choose the best lender for your needs.

Private Loan and Federal Loan Refinancing

You can use Credible to refinance private and federal student loans. And one feature that sets Credible apart from other loan marketplace platforms is the ability to refinance your student loans even if you did not graduate or are no longer enrolled in school. 

Potential customers should note, however, that they cannot be currently enrolled in school to use Credible's student loan refinancing services. Nevertheless, the ability to refinance a loan for non-graduates is a unique value not offered by many lenders in the student loan industry.

No Fees

Credible's partner lenders do not charge any fees, including a prepayment penalty fee, loan application fee, and origination fee.

In addition, it is free to use Credible. The company's partner lenders do pay a fee, but this will not affect your loan amount or loan terms.

Auto Pay Discounts

Because Credible is a marketplace of refinancing lenders, there are a variety of discounts available. When you sign up for Credible's auto pay service, you will receive a 0.25 percent discount - regardless of your credit score or the lender you select.

It is important to note that this auto pay discount option is common within the industry.

Soft Credit Check

You might be worried about a hard credit check impacting your credit history. Credible and its personal loan lender partners make soft inquiries to check which student loan rates the customer prequalifies for, and only with the borrower's permission, leaving the customer's credit score untouched.

Apply With a Cosigner

Credible borrowers have the option to apply with a cosigner to get the lowest interest rate on their student loan refinancing.

With Credible, a borrower can add a cosigner to their loan agreement after receiving prequalified rates. This allows the borrowers the flexibility to see if a cosigner could get them lower rates, or if they will continue alone.

Based on the lender, cosigners can be released from a loan obligation. However, not all of Credible's partner lenders may offer this service, so it is important to check the specific lender's website.

Supplemental Information

Credible works hard to inform student loan borrowers about topics related to lending, refinancing, and personal finance. Credible ranks and reviews its student loan lenders and maintains blogs for three of its lending categories (refinancing, student loans, and personal loans). 

Consumers can also read company FAQs on some of the basics of loan refinancing. Not only is the Credible website capable of serving up the best refinancing options, but it's also a platform for users to weigh the pros and cons of refinancing their student loans.

Best Rate Guarantee

Credible offers a best rate guarantee - if it can't find you the best student loan refinancing interest rate it will give you $200 (terms apply).

Positive Reviews

Credible has predominantly positive online reviews. Although current numbers of reviews are moderately low, 75 percent of reviews are 5 stars. Many customers highlight how fast and easy the comparison and application process is with Credible, in addition to receiving lower rates than they might have otherwise. Customers often remark that they were able to save more money with Credible and that customer service was reliable and helpful throughout the loan and refinancing processes.

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Customer Review: Katie from Asheville, North Carolina

"The application was easy to follow and I got fast responses from multiple lenders including one I was not familiar with who ended up giving me the best rate! I was able to save about $20,000."

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The Bad

  • Variable Information
  • High Minimum Credit Score Requirements

Variable Information

Using a marketplace for loan refinancing has both perks and disadvantages. The main drawback to finding a rate through a marketplace platform like Credible is that every lender featured on the site does not offer the same rates and terms. 

For example, some lenders offer a forbearance option for your loan and others do not. And while Credible does provide extensive profiles on each lender, you may feel the need to conduct additional research on a potential lender before sending in your form.

High Minimum Credit Score Requirements

Most of Credible's partners look for a credit score between 670 and 700 for refinancing. This could be a difficult requirement for undergraduate students to meet, or those who have a low credit score or a limited credit history. However, other factors are taken into consideration for qualification, including the school you graduated from, your degree, and the size of the loan that you want to refinance.

If you aren't able to qualify for Credible student loan refinancing based on your credit score, it is recommended to apply with a creditworthy cosigner.

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The Bottom Line

Credible offers a convenient way to compare information from multiple lenders all under one easy-to-use platform. Borrowers can compare rates and terms, allowing them to customize their student loan refinancing lender to their specific needs.

Using Credible is simple, straightforward, and completely free. The prequalification application process is quick and easy, providing a borrower with various lender options in two minutes. Before selecting a lender through Credible, be sure to read its company profile, and make sure the lender provides all the features you're looking for as you refinance your loan.

Although Credible provides lender information quickly, there may be some additional research that you should conduct, as some services and policies vary between lenders (such as cosigner release or forbearance processes), which will not be listed by Credible itself. This may require some extra time, but it will ensure that you are getting the best lender for your needs.

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Star Rating

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4.4

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55 Reviews

Review Breakdown

5 grade

75%

4 grade

11%

3 grade

2%

2 grade

0%

1 grade

13%

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William Love

*What is dislike the most, is how Credit Unions Lack of Communication, and the lack of trusted Resource for Consumer Protection Act.* *When you put your trust, on direct deposits and on my check date, the funds are not availible,is frustrating. I tried to withdraw fund that was reference check stub at the bank and when i addressed the bank they told me to check my workplace. They tried to give me the run-a-round.

11 months ago

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David Nirenstein Macon, GA

In mid April, I decided to try and pursue a better loan than what Sallie Mae i.e. Navient had to offer. I have been wit this company for about 10 years as I had secured a student loan for my son around 2005. I always paid them on time and had established a reliable credit history. My current credit rating is 750 and I do have some consumer debt, but the monthly payments are always on time. I was referred to a bank called Citizens which requested the usual amount of data which I dutifully sent to them in the hopes of refinancing my current loan at a lower rate in the hopes of paying this off which I could have done with the offer which was on the table. I am retired on Social Security, pension, and investment income which is not huge by national standards, but being the creative financial person I am survival and prosperity is accomplished quite handily, thank you. I was not approved so I feel this whole Credible Site should be panned as no value whatsoever and essentially just a huge waist of time!!

8 years ago

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Anthony Irvine, CA

I can sum it up in an email I sent to **** @ Credible below. Hey ****, Thanks for the email. I think this is the 3rd email you've sent me like the below. I am responding to your email because you would love to find out why I never bothered submitting stuff to Citizens Bank. Honestly I had forgotten about why I disliked Credible so much that I blocked it out of my mind. I logged back in and remembered why now. Let's start with Credible itself (irony in the name). You basically represent that you have lenders who are willing to refinance my student loans and imply basically they're ready to fight for my business. Credible holds itself out as being easy and you can do it in as little as “30 seconds.” Regardless of whether it actually takes 30 seconds, your website has implied and the message it sent to me was (1) you are going to have multiple offers and have a choice in your lender and (2) this is going to be so easy it will be as if no time passed at all. In fact, let's go back to your 3 points: (1) compare with my peers, (2) submit one form and (3) choose the best offer. Well, your impressions backfired and turned me completely off once reviewed. Let's review my 3 (THREE) “offers.” One is as you indicate, Citizens Bank needs more information! But isn't the point of taking as long as I did to give you the information up front is to make the back end brainless and easy? Apparently not as Citizens Bank needs more information. CU Student Loans… what do I say about this? They're not accepting new refinancing offers. How is this even an offer you present to me? Honestly it gives me 2 impressions – (1) CU Student loans is a joke and (2) by presenting this to me you just appear small, inefficient and unprofessional. And last, but certainly not least, is Education Success Loans. To your credit, it is an actual quote… sort of. It gives me a term and a range. It tells me its variable even though I specifically requested a fixed rate loan. BEST YET, I have to apply directly to their site. Your company reminds me of the quote from Office Space when the consultants interviews Tom Smykowski and finally the consultants ask him “What would you say you do here, Tom?” and he responds with “Well-well look. I already told you: I deal with the customers so the engineers don't have to. I have people skills; I am good at dealing with people. Can't you understand that?” To me that describes Credible succinctly. In fact, since you operate behind a website I'm not even sure it qualifies as people skills, but let's give you the benefit of the doubt there. So what would you do if you were in my position, ****? Your company takes my information and passes it on to these “lenders.” You promise quotes but you don't deliver quotes. One of your lenders doesn't even lend, and the others I need to fill out their application. So I just have to ask you… What would you say you do here? I normally don't take the time to write these letters – most of the time you really DON'T want opinions like this, and based on the work of the site you must have had some serious angel backers and venture capitalists. It's a great idea as well. Your company's execution, however, is poorly done while its build-up is high – two things you never want a business to be. Thanks for the holiday wishes, and best of luck with Credible. Anthony

9 years ago

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Jon R Foster, RI

Credible is basically an affiliate website. They advertise that they will help you with finding better lenders for student loans, when all they did was take my information and sell it to a bunch of different useless lenders. Not only was my credit report pulled multiple times (I know it doesn't hurt your score that much because the inquiries are all similar), but they don't make this clear when you are giving them your social security number. Not only did my credit score get slammed from them allowing multiple companies to pull my report, but their entire system is bugged. Of the 5 lenders they said I would hear something from, only 2 of them actually responded. One of them was Citizens who I applied with privately prior and their rates were outrageous, but the other was listed on Credible as "No Offer", meaning that this lender did not make me an offer, but they still send me an email every day telling me that my application with this lender was incomplete. Do not waste your time with this company. If you want to refinance, you can find the top lenders by simply searching Google. All you are doing with Credible is allowing them to sell your information to multiple lenders.

9 years ago

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Cheryl Masters Denver, CO

I just received your information about no debt minimum, only to find information on following pages that contradicted your prior advertising. Please DO NOT attempt any further contact with me. Otherwise, I shall find it necessary to contact the Better Business Bureau regarding your fallacious advertising. I am saving your entire communication in case I need it.

7 years ago

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XV New York, NY

This site is bogus. You give them all of your information only to have them "link" you to other companies where you then also have to fill out more info and/or apply for a new loan. Not only that, but each of these institutions it links to, performed a HARD inquiry on my credit report, which negatively impacted my credit score. Had I realized all using this site was going to do was leave me w/ the crappy student loan I already had and a lower credit score I would never have bothered!!!

9 years ago

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David Boston, MA

This company shopped my personal information to many different financial institutions. Each of these banks did a hard inquiry on my credit report. This dropped my credit score by 10 points in the middle of a time when I am trying to buy a house. This company NEVER disclosed they would be shopping around my personal information for their benefit. Moreover, they never stated a hard inquiry would be performed on my credit. This company is the antithesis of the word credible. Please avoid this company - they are not professional in how they do business.

9 years ago