Credible Student Loan Review: Free, Quick Private Student Loan Comparison Tool

What you need to know:

• Credible is a free service that students can use to make side-by-side comparisons of lenders.
• With Credible, students can get prequalified rates from up to eight private student loan lenders after filling out a single application.
• While Credible can reduce shopping time, you’ll still want to compare rates with other top lenders outside of Credible’s network.

Credible is an aggregator site that makes it easy to shop for various types of financing, including student loans, student loan refinancing, mortgages and personal loans.

Credible’s private student loans comparison tool is designed to make shopping for loans easier, but does it deliver? Here’s what you need to know.

Credible private student loan comparisons

Credible is not a lender but a platform. Credible is an online marketplace that aims to simplify the loan shopping process.

By using Credible, you could get private student loan rates from up to eight different lenders after filling out only one application. And you can use Credible to shop for both undergraduate and graduate private student loans.

Here are some examples of loan rates and repayment terms you can find via Credible’s marketplace comparison tool:

Interest rates:	Variable and fixed
Terms:	5, 7, 8, 10, 12, 15 & 20 years
Loan amount:	Up to the cost of attendance
Origination fees:	None

Credible is paid by its lender partners, so it’s able to offer its service completely free to users. None of its partners charge origination fees or prepayment penalties, according to the company.

Pros and cons of using Credible student loans tools

Here’s a quick breakdown of the pros and cons of using Credible to shop for private students loans:

Advantages of using Credible

A primary advantage of using Credible is its quick application process and easy loan offers. It takes less than five minutes to fill out Credible’s application to see if you’re eligible to receive prequalified rates from lenders. Here are other pros:

• Personalized rate quotes: If you do receive a prequalified rate from one of Credible’s partners, Credible says that it will be a “real” rate based on your personal details, not a generic rate estimate.
• No impact on credit score: Credible only performs a soft credit check when you submit an application, not a hard credit check. So you can check potential loan rates without any negative impact on your credit.
• No fees: You won’t be charged any fees for using Credible’s service. And none of the company’s lending partners charge origination fees or prepayment penalties.
• Strong customer support: Credible offers San Francisco-based customer support seven days a week and connects borrowers to lenders with three-way phone support. The company currently has a 4.7/5.0 star rating on Trustpilot out of over 3,200 customer reviews.

Disadvantages of using Credible’s online tool

Although there are several pros of using Credible’s service, there are also some cons, such as:

• Some top lenders are missing: Several of the largest private student loan lenders are missing from Credible’s network, including Earnest, Laurel Road and others.
• Prequalified interest rates aren’t guaranteed: If you decide to move forward with a lender, you’ll need to fill out a full loan application. Your final rate could change after your lender has collected more financial information. Or, the lender could decide against making a final offer at all.
• No federal benefits: Private student loans are not federal student loans, so they don't come with perks like income-based repayment and government student loan forgiveness programs. In most cases, students should only take out private student loans after they’ve hit their federal student loan limits.

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Eligibility requirements for Credible loan comparisons

The specific eligibility criteria for taking out a private student loan with one of Credible’s network member companies will vary depending on the specific lender that you’re considering.

Credible says that typically you’ll need to be enrolled at least part-time in a qualifying academic institution to meet its network’s criteria. It says that if you attend a Title IV-eligible school, there’s a strong chance that its lenders will offer financing to you. In fact, Credible boasts that over 2,200 schools are eligible for financing with its partners.

If you’re an undergraduate student, the odds are high that you’ll need to add a creditworthy co-signer to your private student loan application. According to Credible, nine out 10 loans for undergraduates are cosigned.

Graduate students with an established credit history may have an easier time qualifying for a private student loan on their own.

What does Credible’s application process involve?

Credible’s streamlined application process is one of its strongest features as a student loan marketplace.

The application is split into three quick sections:

• Education (school and degree information)
• Financial (income and housing payment information)
• Profile

It says that the average person takes about three minutes to fill out the application (it only took me about two minutes).

Once you’ve submitted your application, you could immediately receive prequalified rates in your inbox from multiple private student loan lenders.

Credible stresses that if you receive a rate quote from a lender, it will be a “real” rate, personalized for you, not just a rate estimate. Another attractive aspect of Credible’s application process is that it won’t affect your credit score.

Should you use Credible to shop for private student loans?

Because Credible is a free service that doesn’t affect your credit score, there isn’t really a downside to using the tool during your loan shopping process to compare information from the lenders in Credible’s network.

Borrowers shouldn’t look at Credible as a one-stop-shop for private student loans, however. Yes, Credible does work with several partners, but there are also several top lenders that, as of yet, aren’t part of the Credible network.

You’ll want to make sure to get quotes from a few of these other lenders on your own as well before making a final decision. Be sure to check out the loan term, repayment plan options, monthly payment, minimum loan amounts, and variable rate versus fixed rate.

Graduate students might find better offers elsewhere

Graduate students, especially, may be able to land a better rate with one of the private lenders outside of Credible’s network.

When discussing Credible, Travis Hornsby, founder of Student Loan Planner®, said, “They’re a little more geared towards finding private loans for undergrad than for grad school.”

For example, Credible’s application doesn’t ask for prospective borrowers to list their specific graduate degree. Instead, the company breaks all graduate degrees into just three broad categories: master’s, doctorate and postdoctoral.

Apply for a loan designed for your field

Other lenders can get much more specific for graduate applicants than Credible does, including offering exclusive graduate loans for various degree paths.

If you’re a graduate student pursuing one of these degrees, (or a degree in any field that has a reputation for being high-paying), finding a lender that focuses on your profession could help get you a better rate.

Want to start comparing private student loan lenders? Here are the best private student loan options for 2023.

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