Refinancing Student Loans

[Anonymous]

I have about $130k principal on a 20 year (17 remaining) student loan for law school and $25k interest (so $155k total). The interest rate is 6% and my loan is through the federal government. I have been making minimum payments on it (on time) for the last three years. However, I am starting to increase my payments to about 10% of my income per year. 

My objective to pay off the loan within 15-20 years. I still want to have the ability to afford a house and new car. I will not be able to pay off the loan in that time span with a 6% interest rate. 

What are my options with refinancing for a lower interest rate? Do I need a down payment to obtain a lower interest rate, similar to buying a home? My loan can be high risk because my spouse has a strong income as well. For example, if I lost my job, my spouse can continue to make payments.

[Anonymous]

I really can't help with the refinancing, but I can say that when you go for the mortgage loan, they will ask for whatever your min amount due is on the loans.

IF you're in IDR and have to pay 0$ a month, then they will calculate 1% of your total loans and say that is what you should be paying and list it as the min amount due. I honestly don't think your loans will stop you from purchasing a home unless you have a lot of other debt

[Gallager2014]

I refinanced my private student loans earlier this yes through Earnest. Sofi and PenFed are some other options you may have. Just be aware that most tend to have a minimum score requirement of 720.

For my refi, I brought my interest rates down from 9% and 12% to 5.15%. With Earnest, they take other financial metrics (savings, bank balances, etc) into consideration during your application process.

[Anonymous]

Hello,

When you refinanced with Earnest, from what credit bureau did they pull from?  Do you remember.  Equifax has not rec'vd updated information so it's my lowest right now.  TU=758; Ex=739; Equ=680