Forbes Recommends:

1. RISLA
2. CommonBond
3. PenFed Student Loan
4. SoFi
5. MEFA
6. Citizens Bank

US News Recommends:

1. Earnest.com
2. Laurel Road
3. Splash Financial.com
4. Citizens Bank
5. Education Loan Finance
6. SoFi
7. College Ave
8. CommonBond
9. PenFed Student Loan
10. LendKey

CNBC Recommends

1. Best overall:
   SoFi
2. Best for having a co-signer:
   CommonBond
3. Best for fair credit score:
   Earnest
4. Best for parent loan refinancing: 
   Education Loan Finance
5. Best for medical school loan refinancing: 
   Laurel Road

There’s a difference between refinancing and consolidating your student loans, and you need to know the difference:

According to CNBC (emphasis is ours): 

Refinancing your student loans is an effective way to simplify your finances by combing your various monthly payments into one new monthly bill with just one lender.

Those who qualify for refinancing are also able to shorten or lengthen their loan repayment term according to what works best for their finances, and they may score a lower interest rate to boot.

Sound too good to be true? For federal student loan borrowers specifically, there is a catch.

For borrowers who have loans that are owned by the U.S. Department of Education, the only option is to refinance through a private lender, like a big bank, credit union or online lender. The government does not offer refinancing options, just a Direct Consolidation Loan program.

Once a federal student loan borrower swaps in their loans for a refinanced loan through a private lender, however, they lose all of the federal loan protections they once had.

If you’re a federal student loan borrower, you need to be aware ahead of time what you will miss out on by moving over to a private company. These unique governmental protections set in place for federal borrowers offer peace of mind you may not be willing to give up — most notably the federal student loan freeze that’s in place freeze through September 2021 and a current interest rate of 0%.

Here are some of the additional protections:

• Deferment and forbearance for up to three years (and with subsidized federal loans, you aren’t charged interest during deferment)
• Access to income-driven repayment plans that recalculate your monthly bill based on any changes in income
• Forgiveness programs for certain jobs through Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) and Teacher Loan Forgiveness

Plus, if the Biden administration does end up moving forward with any type of widespread student loan forgiveness, borrowers who chose to refinance with a private lender will no long qualify for cancellation.

Beware of some sites that offer a list of “best” refinance lenders.

For them, “best” might mean the sites that give them the best payout vs. sites that actually offer you a list of the objectively best lenders. 

How can you tell?

1. Look for explanation of their methodology for determining which sites are best. Do they offer their methodology? If no, you should be suspicious. If yes, take a quick look to see if it makes sense to you. We’re offering lender recommendations here from Forbes, US News and CNBC because we think their methodologies make sense. 
2. Look at the site’s Advertiser Disclosure, which should be clear about how they pick the companies they highlight and whether payouts from those companies can influence their rating or position on the page. Click here to find out more.
   

Always read the fine print in ads.

Between the time you click on a link to visit a website and when you actually consider putting your trust in the information offered by that website, you should make sure you read the website’s “Advertising Disclosure.”

Our recommendation is that you look for an advertising disclosure statement that not only clearly explains the website’s relationship with advertisers but also makes clear that the content you’re reading is in no way influenced by their relationship with advertisers.

A great advertising disclosure, from radio personality Clark Howard:

Compare this Bankrate.com disclosure below with the Clark Howard disclosure above and ask yourself which source seems more trustworthy:

The Bankrate.com disclosure above is weak because it includes phrases like “This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site, including, for example, the order in which they may appear within the listing categories.”

You’re going to get screwed if you don’t pay attention to advertiser disclosures.

Between the time you click on a link to visit a website and when you actually consider putting your trust in the information offered by that website, you should make sure you read the website’s “Advertising Disclosure.”

Our recommendation is that you look for an advertising disclosure statement that not only clearly explains the website’s relationship with advertisers but also makes clear that the content you’re reading is in no way influenced by their relationship with advertisers.

For instance, we keep singling out BankRate.com because we think their policy outlined on their advertiser disclosure is terrible since it contains language like this:

The offers that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site, including, for example, the order in which they may appear within the listing categories.

We’ve also given Dave Ramsey’s website our lowest rating. Although the content can be terrific it can also deceptive because, like here, there is no advertiser disclosure and it’s not clear until you get to the bottom of the page that the entire page is a setup for their advertiser Zander Insurance.

For an example of a great Advertiser Disclosure, take a look at the language here from consumer advocate Clark Howard’s website:

We only write about companies and products that we want you, the consumer, to know about.  We do however make money from links and offers from some companies and deals on our sites. For example, you may see a deals roundup or a credit card comparison/review page with links to particular products or cards in a story. After the story is written, our advertising team will look and replace links to those products/sites that will pay us a commission if they gain a customer. Many of the retailers/banks on that page may have no relationship with us, in which case we receive no compensation.

Although we didn’t include them here, there are a TON of government sites that can also be a great source of information.

Here are a few tips: 

Repeat the same search and add “site:.edu” and then “site:.gov” at the end, and then scroll past the ads: 

Also try the search while adding your state named and then your school name.