iHelp
Author: Kaitlyn Short
Since 2009, iHelp has been pairing borrowers with community banks to finance and refinance student loans. Providing undergraduate, graduate, and medical school private student loans, iHelp is a good option for students at any point in their education or student loan repayment.
Continue reading for a complete review of this student loan company.
The Good
- Check Rates With a Soft Credit Pull
- Flexible Repayment Options
- Customer Service
Check Rates With a Soft Credit Pull
You can check your rates and terms easily and quickly with by completing a pre-qualification application, with no impact to your credit score.
However, if you choose one of iHelp's lenders and complete your student loan finance or refinance application, a hard credit pull will be performed. This is a standard practice in the industry, and is often required to complete to loan underwriting process.
Flexible Repayment Options
iHelp offers multiple refinancing options for the existing loans that are flexible and user-friendly.
The following refinancing options are unique and mostly not offered by the other lenders:
- Make full monthly payments, interest-only payments for 24 months, or payments on a graduate or income-sensitive plan.
- Pause payments up to 24 months - your interest will continue to accrue when you are not making payments.
Customer Service
iHelp offers outstanding costumer service. Unlike other loan services, iHelp connects you directly with a customer service representative instead of making you jump through multiple automated recordings. A phone number and mailing address is provided on iHelp's website under the "Contact Us" tab.
In addition, you have the option to submit any questions and concerns about your loan directly on iHelp's website, or you could use the Live Chat feature to receive answers to your questions right away.
The Bad
- High Interest Rates
- Variable Rates Only
- Longer Term Student Loans
- State Eligibility
High Interest Rates
iHelp doesn't offer the most competitive interest rates for refinancing your loan, you might be better off with a different lender especially if you have excellent credit score:
- Fixed rates: 4.65% to 8.84% APR, 10- and 15-year repayment terms.
- Variable rates: 3.58% to 9.47% APR; 20-year terms.
Variable Rates Only
iHelp only offers variable rates, meaning that your interest rates will fluctuate throughout the life of your loan - all variable rates are subject to change every 90 days.
If you are looking for a fixed interest rate you will need to find a different lender than iHelp, and there are many other lenders offer fixed interest rates.
Longer Terms Student Loans
Twenty years is the only term available for an iHelp private student loan, which is much longer than most private loan terms of 5 to 15 years.
That means if you make only monthly minimum payments you will end up paying much more for your loan than if you had a loan term of 15 years; however, if you have the option to pay more than your minimum monthly payments you will be out of your debt much faster without facing repayment penalties.
State Eligibility
iHelp student loan services are not offered in all 50 U.S. states, and vary by loan product.
If you do not reside in one of the states listed above for your specific loan product, or are not attending school in one of the above states, you will need to look into another loan provider.
Undergraduate Student Loans
Undergraduate student loans are only available to students attending school in one of the following states:
- Arizona
- Colorado
- Florida
- Massachusetts
- Maryland
- New York
- Ohio
- Pennsylvania
- Texas
- Virginia
- West Virginia
It is also important to note that not all universities in these states may be eligible for student loan financing.
Graduate Student Loans
Grad school financing is only available at select schools in the following states:
- California
- Florida
- Georgia
- Massachusetts
- Maryland
- New York
- Pennsylvania
- Virginia
- West Virginia
Medical School Student Loans
Medical school loan products are only available at select schools in the following states:
- California
- Florida
- Georgia
- Pennsylvania
- Virginia
Student Loan Refinance
Student loan refinancing is only available in the following states:
- Maryland
- Pennsylvania
- Virginia
- West Virginia
The Bottom Line
iHelp offers multiple refinancing options that are flexible and user-friendly. If you have any questions regarding your loan you will be connected to helpful representatives that will answer all of your questions.
However, iHelp doesn't offer the most competitive interest rates for student loan refinancing. Although these rates may increase the chance of approval for low credit borrowers, iHelp may not be the best choice for borrowers with excellent credit, especially those seeking a lower interest rate on a refinanced loan. In addition, if you want to square a loan through iHelp you only have the option of variable interests rates, which are subject to change every 90 days.
It is important to note that iHelp encourages borrowers to exhaust all federal student aid options available to them before looking into a private student loan.
Currently, there are no iHelp student loans reviews. If you have financed or refinanced your student loans with this company, please tell us about your experience by leaving a review.
