Refinancing private SL options

[Anonymous]

I'll try to make this question/situation as clear and to the point as possible..

I have a private student loan that is currently being serviced by AES, a little over 7% variable APR. Balance of $15k. There are a handful of 30-60-90 day late payments that occurred in the years 2014-2016. In current good standing. With that said, I would like to refinance this loan with a lower fixed rate using the following 2 situations:

1.) Refinance the loan using solely my wife's credit worthiness (800+ estimated FICO) and information. APR of 3.75% fixed, 10 year. The loan will then show as paid off and closed on my credit report. Lower overall debt to income ratio. 

2.) Refinance the loan using my creditworthiness/info and her as a co-signer. With this, we got a slightly higher rate (4.75%  fixed APR, 10 year). More on-time payments will be reflected on my report, therefore higher percentage of on time payments.  

So that presents my question.. which scenario will overall benefit my creditworthiness the most? Let me know if more information is needed to accurately answer. Thanks!

[calyx]

The biggest impact a new loan will have will depend on whether or not either (or both) of you have pre-existing installment loans.  If one of you does not have an installment loan reporting, then having the new installment loan will help bump that person's FICO scores.  If your private loan is your only installment loan (no auto or mortgage), then having that report for you would be better (the cosigning option).
A new loan will reset your AOYA and could drop your AAoA across scoring threshholds, which would hurt you up front, but that hit will fade with time as the loan ages.   Percentage of ontime payments means absolutely nothing for FICO, that's CMS fluff used to make people feel better.    DTI doesn't matter for FICO, either, though lenders will look at it to determine if they'll lend you money, so a lower DTI is good for your creditworthiness overall.

Honestly, I'm a Finances over FICO person, so I'd go for the lower rate regardless.  This isn't going to be a dealbreaker for your FICO.    As for ultimate creditworthiness - it would depend on the requirements of the loan/lender you use.

[Anonymous]

+1 ^ excellent advice

It might also benefit you if the worst if those dates was in 2014 to attempt an early Exclusion. This should remove it from each of your reports up to 6 months early. YMMV if or when the 3 CB say yes or no.