What you need to know:
- LendKey doesn’t underwrite loans itself. Instead, it’s a platform-based lender that allows borrowers to connect with its network of lenders.
- LendKey prioritizes people over profits by partnering with nonprofit credit unions and banks.
- Its platform gives you access to hundreds of smaller lenders you may not have been aware of otherwise.
LendKey connects borrowers to a network of over 300 small banks and credit unions to explore financial products like refinancing, private student loans and home improvement loans. Its platform is designed to focus on nonprofit credit unions and banks that have more than just the bottom line in mind.
Take a look at our LendKey student loan refinance review to gain a better understanding of what to expect when refinancing with LendKey.
LendKey student loan refinancing
LendKey doesn’t do the actual loan underwriting itself. But it can guide you through the refinancing process from beginning to end. LendKey has refinancing options for existing federal and private loans, including loans held by Sallie Mae.
LendKey student loan refinancing rates and terms vary by lender, but here’s an overall summary.
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Fixed APR | 3.49-7.75% |
| Variable APR | 1.90-8.59% |
| Terms | 5, 7, 10, 15, and 20 years |
| Loan Amount | $5,000 to $300,000 |
| Cosigner Release | Yes |
| Cash Bonus | Up to $750 |
*Rates and terms as of December 7, 2019.
*Includes autopay discount.
If you decide to refinance with LendKey, use our LendKey bonus link to receive up to $750 as a cashback bonus.
Pros and cons of refinancing with LendKey
Here’s the biggest pros and cons of refinancing with LendKey to consider.
Pros:
- Compare rates from hundreds of local banks and credit unions. Get preliminary offers from a network of small lenders within just a few minutes. They have a quick online application.
- Great unemployment protection. LendKey offers 18 months of paused payments if you become unemployed. This is a rare commodity among private lenders, so it’s worth considering if your future job stability is unknown.
- Browsing rates won’t impact your credit. LendKey performs a soft credit pull that won’t affect your credit score.
- Good customer service. You’ll have access to LendKey’s customer service reps from the time you start browsing until the final payment on your loans.
- Offers some death and disability protection. In every case so far, LendKey’s lenders have forgiven loans where the borrower became disabled or died.
Cons:
- Not available to all states. Borrowers who live in Maine, Nevada, North Dakota, Rhode Island and West Virginia are not eligible.
- Maximum loan limits. LendKey has varying loan limits based on degree. Professional degrees cap out at $250,000 and $300,000.
- Excludes offers from other banks and online lenders. You’ll have access to many offers, but you may miss out on a better rate if they aren’t a partner lender. For example, you won’t see rates from SoFi, Earnest or Citizens Bank.
- May have to join a credit union. You may have to open a checking or savings account with the credit union that provides your loan.
Eligibility requirements
LendKey requires borrowers to have completed a degree program from a Title IV eligible school in order to qualify for student loan refinancing. Other LendKey student loan refinance requirements include:
- A minimum annual income of $24,000.
- A credit score of 660 or higher.
- Existing student loan debt between $5,000 and $300,000, depending on your program.
- Monthly debt payments that don’t exceed 33% of your monthly income.
If you don’t qualify for LendKey’s partner offers on your own, you can improve your chances of getting approved by including a cosigner with a positive credit history. Their partner lenders offer cosigner releases after 12-48 months of consecutive, on-time payments depending on the individual loan terms.
Application process
You can get preliminary loan offers by filling out a quick, simple application. You’ll need to provide information related to your income, loan amount and the school you attended.
LendKey’s soft credit inquiry won’t impact your credit score. Within just a few minutes, you’ll be able to view rates and terms from lenders that match to your location and characteristics.
Should you refinance with LendKey?
We surveyed over 1,600 borrowers to better understand their experiences refinancing with LendKey and other major lenders.
Overall, borrowers were satisfied with their interactions with LendKey. One respondent said:
“LendKey has great customer service and was a pretty great deal for me considering I don’t have a very high income and was applying without a cosigner.”
But we did get some negative feedback worth noting. Some of LendKey’s partner lenders require membership as a condition of loan approval, which may require you to open an account or join an association.
Although the process was wrapped into the same refinancing application process, some borrowers still felt it was burdensome. This reinforces the need to review the fine print of loan disclosures before submitting a final loan application.
Refinancing by annual earnings
Our survey showed that LendKey’s bread and butter of refinancing are borrowers who make an annual income up to $100,000. Our data also showed that only 3% of LendKey’s business is with borrowers who earn more than $200,000.
So, what does this tell us? Considering 80% of our survey respondents applied to three lenders or less, you can save time by focusing your energy on a lender like CommonBond or Earnest if you make more than 200K.
It also means borrowers who have lower incomes and don’t hold professional degrees — which typically translates to less debt — have a good shot at getting a competitive rate from LendKey.
Final thoughts on LendKey
LendKey ranked #7 in our survey among major lenders listed on our site. But it ranked in the top four in terms of their customer service and website.
This lower-than-expected ranking may be attributed to their inconsistent rates. Because they’re a platform-based lender, rates are solely dependant on their partner lenders. So if LendKey’s partner banks and credit unions are doing really well, LendKey will offer great rates. But if they aren’t doing well, it will be directly reflected in higher, less attractive rates.
We give LendKey a 4.5 out of 5-star rating due to it’s network of smaller lenders and it’s strong unemployment, disability and death protection terms.
If you owe five figures worth of debt or fall into a lower income bracket, we recommend checking out LendKey’s offers.
Refinance private student loans, get a bonus in 2020
Not sure what to do with your student loans?
Take our 11 question quiz to get a personalized recommendation of whether you should pursue PSLF, IDR forgiveness, or refinancing (including the one lender we think could give you the best rate).
Take Our Quiz
I think it would be worth letting your users know that this platform is not reputable, as they are actively quoting a low rate that contradicts the disclosure that they are trying to get people to sign.
On March 16, 2020 I was approved for a student loan refinance with LendKey. The Application Summary on their webpage quotes me a rate of 1.9%, reduced to 1.65% with an Auto-Pay discount. However, the Loan Disclosure that I am prompted to sign indicates that the 1.9% rate includes the auto-pay discount, and the rate would be increased by 0.25% if I did not use auto-pay. On March 23, 2020 I notified LendKey of the discrepancy between what they surfaced to me in the web portal and what they were hiding in the fine print, and on March 27, 2020, they responded to me by email that 1.65% with auto-pay was the correct rate. When I followed up with the customer care team by telephone on April 1, 2020, they indicated that the correct rate is 1.9% with auto-pay, contradicting their web portal and the email response that they sent me days earlier. I believe that these lending tactics are deceptive, intended to bait-and-switch borrowers by quoting an incorrect rate, and then getting them to sign documents that do not match the rate that they were quoted. I filed a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau regarding this issue, and received a response that the discrepancy was due to a “contained server error”.
However, as of today (April 24, 2020), the web portal still presents a 1.65% rate with auto-pay, while the loan disclosure says that 1.9% is the lowest rate including the auto-pay discount.
That’s certainly odd haven’t heard that before. Obviously they should be accurately quoting people rates. I’ll say 1.9 is really low right now but I understand you using someone else.