Laurel Road Student Loans Review

Laurel Road Student Loans: Quick Look

Pros Explained

• Low cap on interest rates: The low rates you see most lenders advertise aren’t what you'll actually be paying unless you're a stellar refinancing candidate. Some people will end up paying much more, especially if they’ve got bad credit. If that's the case, Laurel Road may be a good option because the maximum rate you'll pay, if approved, is a lot lower than most other lenders. 
• Abundant perks and rewards programs: Laurel Road offers way more incentives than most lenders. If you open a Laurel Road checking account and meet direct deposit requirements, you can lower your student loan rate. It also offers discounts with partner companies like Brooklinen and Taskrabbit, a referral program, and even a student loan cash back rewards credit card (though this is available with other student loans too).
• Children can take over parent student loans: Normally, once you've taken out a parent student loan for your kid's education, that's it—it's your loan to pay off. But unlike most student loan refinancers, Laurel Road will let your child take over responsibility for paying off the loan you took out for their education, if they're willing and able to qualify on their own. 
• Special benefits for healthcare professionals: If you're a doctor, physician assistant, optometrist, or dentist, Laurel Road will knock a few points off the normal refinance rate for you. If you're a resident or a fellow, Laurel Road offers a $100/month payment plan while you're finishing your studies.   

Cons Explained

• Requires a degree in most cases: If you didn't finish your degree, you generally aren't eligible for refinancing with Laurel Road. The only exception is if you're in the last semester of your studies and you have a signed job offer, or if you're a parent who's refinancing student loans you took out for your child's education. 
• No longer offering graduate student loans: Laurel Road began offering private student loans for people still in graduate school starting in 2019, but they've since suspended the program for the 2023–2024 school year. 
• Limited refinancing available for people with associate degrees: Laurel Road doesn't offer refinancing on student loan debt you took out for an associate degree unless you can meet some pretty strict criteria. Only certain healthcare-related associate degrees are eligible, and you'll have to have been working in that same field for at least a year. 

Student Loans Offered By Laurel Road

Student Loan Refinance

Laurel Road flirted with offering private student loans for graduate students still in school in 2019, but it recently shut the program down for the 2023–2024 school year. Stay tuned to see if it relaunches again.

In the meantime, here are the details for its student loan refinancing options.

Loan Eligibility and Approval

Laurel Road has similar loan eligibility requirements to other lenders.  

• Minimum credit score: Not disclosed, but generally looks for good credit
• Residency requirements: U.S. citizens and permanent residents in all of the 50 states plus Puerto Rico
• Requires a degree: Laurel Road requires a degree unless you're in the last semester of studies and have a signed job offer, or you're a parent refinancing loans you took out for your child's tuition. 

Are Co-Signers Required?

No. If you're not able to meet the eligibility requirements on your own, though, Laurel Road does allow you to add a co-signer to your loan.

Is Loan Pre-Qualification Available?

Yes. You can easily get pre-qualified and check your rate online in just a few minutes on Laurel Road's website. 

Length of Time for Loan Approval and Disbursement

Laurel Road doesn't disclose its process to approve and send out loans. 

Loan Fees and Repayment Options

Loan Fees

As long as you pay off your loan as scheduled, you won't have to pay any fees with a Laurel Road private student loan. If you miss your payment, however, you'll pay a late fee of either 5% of your payment amount, or $28—whichever is less. If you make a payment but it's returned by your bank because of insufficient funds, you'll pay a $20 fee. 

Loan Discounts

One of the nice things about Laurel Road is that you'll get multiple opportunities to save money as you pay off your loan. Like many lenders, Laurel Road offers a discount off your rate if you sign up for autopay—a 0.25% rate discount, to be precise. 

Since partnering up with Key Bank, Laurel Road also offers an online checking account. If you sign up for a new checking account during your student loan refinance, Laurel Road will knock another 0.25% off your rate for the first three months. After that, you can keep that rate discount in place if you have more than $2,500 in direct deposits per month, or even bump the discount up to 0.55% if you have more than $7,500 in direct deposits per month. 

If you're a medical professional trying to refinance your student loans, Laurel Road also offers a rate discount. This discount may vary, and you can see what it is for your situation by filling out the student loan refinance calculator on Laurel Road's Healthcare Banking page. 

Finally, Laurel Road also offers a unique cash back credit card: 2% of every purchase will go toward paying down the balance of your student loan, rather than as cash in your pocket. (If you do want cash, you'll only earn 1% cash back, not 2%.) However, you don't necessarily need Laurel Road student loans to take advantage of this credit card, since it works with 95% of other student loan issuers too.  

Repayment Options

Laurel Road only offers two repayment options: a fixed-rate loan with set payments, or a variable-rate loan with payments that can fluctuate up and down according to the whims of the economy, within the limits of your loan contract. 

If you're a medical resident or fellow, however, you can choose an affordable repayment plan with $100 monthly payments while you're finishing your training. Keep in mind this may not be enough to fully cover the amount of interest each month (especially if you have a very large balance). In that case, interest will pile up in a separate ledger and won't capitalize (i.e., be added to your main student loan balance where it spawns more interest) until you've finished your residency or fellowship. 

Rewards

Again, Laurel Road goes above and beyond, offering discounts at popular lifestyle merchants like Brooklinen through its Perks program. It also offers a refer-a-friend program where you can earn $400 up to 10 times if people successfully use your referral link to take out a personal loan or complete a student loan refinance. 

Loan Forbearance and Discharge Options

If you run into problems making your payments, Laurel Road is willing to grant you forbearance on a case-by-case basis. This postpones your due date until later, but interest will continue adding to your balance during this time. There is no fee to enter student loan forbearance. 

Is Student Loan Refinancing Available?

Yes. Laurel Road almost exclusively offers student loan refinancing. You can refinance any combination of federal and private loans, although keep in mind you'll lose any protections on federal loans by doing so. Parents are also eligible to refinance parent student loans, and your child can even take them over as their own if they can meet Laurel Road's loan requirements. 

Customer Service

Laurel Road has a few customer complaints on file with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but not as many as other major lenders. If you need to get ahold of customer service, you can reach them as follows:

• Online: Through a message form on its website, live chat, or your online account portal
• Email: help@laurelroad.com
• Mail: 3 Corporate Drive, 4th floor, Shelton, CT 06484
• Hours: Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern Time. Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET

Applying for a Laurel Road Student Loan

You can easily check your rates by filling out a quick form on Laurel Road's website. You'll need to provide your contact information, Social Security number, employment information, and student loan information. 

From there you'll get a custom quote, and if you decide to proceed with the application you'll need to upload supporting documentation, including a current loan payoff statement, into an online portal. Laurel Road will finish the underwriting process, verify your final loan options, and ask for a signature on the contract. Once you've signed the agreement, Laurel Road will send the funds to your old lender and your first loan payment will be due in one month. 

Alternative Choices

Final Verdict

If you're a graduate looking for good rates on loans and you have a penchant for fun and interesting ways to save money—especially if you're a professional in the healthcare field—then Laurel Road could be a good choice. It's also one of the few lenders that let children take over their parent's student refinance loans. But if you didn't complete your degree or you're looking for the absolute lowest rates possible, then we might suggest that you keep looking.

Methodology

Investopedia is dedicated to providing consumers with unbiased, comprehensive reviews of student loan lenders. We collected thousands of data points across 30 lenders—including loan types, interest rates, fees, loan amounts, and repayment terms—to ensure that we help readers make the right borrowing decision for their education needs.