I see all sorts of advice on the internet about refinancing student loans, but very few stories about folks who’ve refinanced multiple times and the benefits of constantly seeking better rates.

Student loans gave me a chance at a better education than my parents were able to obtain, but they came at a financial and emotional cost that the paperwork surely didn’t explain.

As someone who just refinanced $100k+ in student loans for the 5th time in as many years, here’s what I’ve learned along the way.

My Student Loan Story

I spent my early to mid 20s after law school launching a small business. I had left law school with $150,000 in student loans at a variety of interest rates, and had not really given much thought to how I would pay off these loans at the time. Figuring out how to pay off those pesky loans seemed like future me’s problem

By the time I started to pay serious attention to my student loans (around the time I turned 28), I realized my potential total cost including interest had skyrocketed to $220,000+.

After the initial stomach-churning reaction, I decided to do something about it. I didn’t have a particularly strong credit history when I was 28 so I only able to refinance my highest interest loans (some were at 9.75%!!!) in 2016.

Refinance 1: August 2016: SoFi/Mohela – $31,878 at a 6.25 rate with projected payable interest of 10k+ over 10 years.

Once I had improved my credit a bit, and was able to show a bit more income on the books, I consolidated the remainder of my high-interest loans in April 2017.

Refinance 2: April 2017: Sofi/Mohela – $105,510 at a 6.625 rate with projected payable interest of $66,000+ over 15 years.

If the story ended there, and I stuck with the 2016 and 2017 loans interest rates and minimum payment terms, I’d have ended up paying out $209,698 ($166,746 + $42,952)

The next refinance took place in 2018. I knew I’d potentially be starting a new business soon, and I wanted to lower my interest rates and consolidate my first two refinances while I still had steady income on the books.

Refinance 3: Nov. 2018: Commonbond/Firstmark – $138,307 at a 4.510 rate with projected $33,780 in interest (total of $172,087 over 10 years).

This was almost $40,000 in potential interest savings from my past loans. Considering I was making only the minimum payments on the first two refinances, this was a no-brainer move.

In February 2021, came refinance number 4 on a much more aggressive payment timeline (5 years vs 10) as I had the resources to start paying these loans down in earnest.

Refinance 4: Feb. 2021: $112,000 for 5 years at 3.465% (3.25 with the autopay discount) with projected interest of ~$10,000.

Since refinance 4 I’ve been paying between $1,000 to $1,500 over the minimum payments as I’d really like to clear these loans out in the next 2-3 years.

I decided to refinance for the fifth time to take advantage of the low rates currently being offered before they creep back up, and also lower my monthly payment should I decide I want to take the throttle off on paying above the minimums.

Refinance 5: Nov. 2021: $86,717.94 for 5 years at 2.74% (2.49 with the autopay discount) with projected interest of ~$6,000.

My loans aren’t gone yet, but I at least feel like I see a path to paying them off someday soon.

As background, I’m a ~35 y/o male and my annual income has varied from $50k – $175k during this time period (I work in product as my day job, and have a small business on the side).

For anyone dealing with student loan debt, you aren’t alone and you will get through this!

Things I wish I knew earlier:

• Your credit matters even more than you think
  • Leaving law school, I didn’t do much to build credit. Without a credit history, it was very hard to get good loan rates at first.
• Refinance private loans as soon as possible
  • Even the first refinanced rates were better than what I had on my private loans with Sallie Mae / Navient. I would’ve saved money to refinance all my private loans as soon as I graduated law school into a 15/20 year loan. Instead, I waited ~4 years to refinance for the first time, and by then incurred a whole bunch of interest I could’ve at least mitigated.
• It doesn’t hurt your credit score to keep checking on refinance rates.
  • I’ve started at least 11 applications over the years just to check in on what rates are available. As long as you are just browsing rates, and don’t consent to a hard credit inquiry this doesn’t hurt your credit and you can hop on great interest rates as soon as they are available.
• High interest means your minimum payment get’s absorbed by the principle
  • I was absolutely stunned when I saw how much of each monthly payment went towards simply paying down interest month to month. Getting yourself a lower interest rate on your loans means more money goes towards the principal balance (the actual loan amount).

Other resources I found useful

• I Don’t Want to Die Poor by Michael Arceneaux
  • A great read for anyone who has struggled with the emotional side of student loans.