Can you negotiate federal student loan interest rates?
You cannot negotiate federal student loan interest rates because the government lends the money without individual underwriting, leaving borrowers with zero bargaining power. Banks and financial institutions simply issue a take-it-or-leave-it offer, knowing they face no real consequence or incentive if an individual loan gets lost.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Getting private loans if competitive, such as doctor loans.Did this help you?
- 2Coming up with an extra $50 per month to put towards the current loan instead of refinancingDid this help you?
- 3Letting credit history recover from a recent home purchase before attempting to shop around or refinance laterDid this help you?
- 4Sticking with the current loan terms to avoid the hassle of refinancingDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Borrowers don’t have ANY. The Feds loaned the money with no real underwriting and the tradeoff for that is that you can’t bankruptcy out.”source ↗
“The bank/finacial institution will say take it or leave it, and I bet they don't really care much about individual loans they lose.”source ↗
“I think you'll find if you run a loan amortization, that you're not going to be saving as much as you think.”source ↗
“is it worth the extension of term for ~$35/month in “savings”.”source ↗
“Would you take the offer? I was hoping the rate savings would be bigger.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 2Why does loan paperwork show two different interest rates?
- 2How to pay down student loans on a low income
- 6Should I use my savings to pay off my partner's student loans?
- 6Should I give up my low mortgage rate to move?
- 3Are repayment assistance plans a good idea?
- 6How to negotiate a salary for the first time