Urgent: Student loan re-finance for non US citizen

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I am in need of urgent help. I am on H1-B (work visa) and I have a student loan with discover with $12,000 remaining. When I came to the US I had a co-signer who helped me get a loan from discover. Now, he wants me to pay it off ASAP. I paid $20000 out of $32000 last month and now the remaining balance is $12K.

I checked multiple banks online but most of them requires US Citizenship or Permanent residency, I don't have either. I checked pre-qualification with Citizens but they denied me. I checked pre-qualification with Sofi, they approved me with 5.28% but I am not sure how reliable is their pre-qualification since they did not ask for my social security. 

I am making $72K annualy as of right now. My FICO 8 is in between 690-698 between 3 CRAs. I have 3 missed payments with BofA and a charged-off account with Citi which was settled back in 2015.

What are my options? I don't have any other co-signers. Unfortunately, Discover won't let me remove co-signer since I am not a citizen.

[Anonymous]

If you can't get a co-signer, your options will be severely limited. As far as I can tell, SoFi requires US citizenship. Earnest might be an option with your Visa. I think there are several others too.
https://www.earnest.com/personal-loans

I know it might be difficult, but I would encourage you not to let this person feel like their "emergency" that it needs to be paid off ASAP is something that should be your responsibility. No one who takes out a loan of that size expects it to be suddenly due. You have made great progress paying out off and you have a steady job to continue doing so at an affordable pace. If you can't find another loan, don't feel bad. They are changing the arrangement, not you.
Best of luck!

[bondsandloan]

I don't think you have any option to re-finance a student loan without being a U.S. citizen / GC holder. SoFi requires you to have gc too.
Your only option is to discuss with your current co-signer or get a new one.
Student loans/financial aid through your university is usually the only option where you can get the flexibility you desire.

[bondsandloan]

And when did you originate the student loan with your co-signer?
Maybe it's your charge-offs with Citi and late payments that's making your co-signer nervous. Maybe try taking it easy with your unsecured loans and get on a tighter budget?