Splash Financial Student Loan Refinancing Review

Pros Explained

• No loan maximums: Many lenders only allow you to refinance your loans up to a certain point, which is a problem for people who've completed spendy educations like law school or medical school, or if you want to combine your student loans with your spouse. In that case, Splash Financial is a good option since it has partner lenders with no limits on your refinance amount.
• Potential for excellent loan options: Some of Splash Financial's partner lenders offer very competitive rates, lower even than what you might expect by shopping on your own. The catch is you'll need excellent credit and to meet other criteria in order to get those low rates.
• Easier repayment plans for medical and dental school loans: Medical residents and fellows earn a fraction of what licensed doctors bring home, yet they're generally still expected to start making big-time payments on their loans. In these cases, Splash Financial offers refinancing options where you only have to make $100 monthly payments while you're in training and for a six-month period thereafter.
• May be able to refinance student loans together with spouse: If you and your spouse have combined finances, refinancing your loans together can simplify repayment and be cheaper too, if you can get a lower rate. This option is hit-and-miss among lenders if you're shopping on your own.
• No origination fees, application fees, or prepayment penalties: Splash Financial doesn't dictate the rates, fees, or terms of any agreements you sign with its partner lenders—except for guaranteeing that you won't have to pay any of these pesky fees.

Cons Explained

• May need to join a credit union: Some of the lenders in Splash Financial's partner network are credit unions, which means you may need to consider joining them if you're approved for a loan. It's not usually a big deal, but it does mean one more bank account for you to manage. 
• Loan options vary among lenders: Since Splash Financial isn't the one in charge of the loan terms, you'll need to read the fine print carefully if there are any important things you're looking for. For example, each lender will vary in terms of its late payment policies and options for loan discharge, forbearance, and deferment.
• Generally only available to people who've finished their degree: If you're done with school but you didn't finish your degree, you won't be able to refinance your loans with Splash Financial's partner lenders.

Lenders Available Through Splash Financial

Splash Financial doesn't offer student loans directly. Rather, it partners up with other lenders and compares your financial details with the requirements of each individual lender in its network to match you with the best options. If you like one of the offers, Splash Financial will facilitate your loan application with the lender, who'll take it from there after your loan is disbursed.

Unfortunately, Splash Financial is relatively tight-lipped about how many—and which—lenders are in its network. That makes things tough if you're still shopping on your own, because there's no way to know if you're reinventing the wheel by checking your rate with a lender you didn't match with in Splash Financial's network.

While we aren't sure of all of the lenders in Splash Financial's network, we can get clues about some of its partners from its website and various press releases over the years:

• Earnest
• Bethpage Federal Credit Union
• First Tech Federal Credit Union

Loan Eligibility and Approval

Specific loan eligibility requirements vary depending on each individual lender in Splash Financial's network. However, when you compile them all together, we do have some information about who is eligible to apply:

• Location: Available in all 50 states, plus Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands
• Residency: U.S. citizens and permanent residents
• Credit score: Recommended minimum of 640
• Types of loans: Private student loans, and student loan refinancing for federal and private loans; parents are able to refinance loans they took out for their child's education
• Degree completion: Required, unless you're getting certain associate degrees, you're in your last semester, and you have a related job offer 

Are Co-Signers Required?

Splash Financial is not currently offering co-signers. However, Splash continues to allow you to refinance your spouse’s loans under your own name to combine all student loans into one loan and one payment. 

Is Loan Pre-Qualification Available?

Yes. You can fill out a form on Splash Financial's website in a few short minutes and get a rate estimate from its partner lenders. Splash Financial uses a soft credit check for this part, so there's no impact on your credit score. 

Length of Time for Loan Approval and Disbursement

It only takes a few minutes to see if you're pre-qualified for a loan, but after that, Splash Financial doesn't say how long it actually takes to complete the loan approval process. Typically, with most lenders, it'll only take a few days at most unless they need to do extra work to verify your information. 

Once you're approved for a refinance, however, it could take between three days to two weeks before your old student loans are closed out and your new account is set up.

Loan Fees and Repayment Options

The specific details of the student loans available through Splash Financial vary, but they do have some commonalities. 

Loan Fees

Splash Financial itself doesn't charge any fees. Nor can you expect its partner lenders to charge any application, origination, or prepayment fees. However, after that, each lender may differ in terms of what loan fees they charge, if any (such as late fees, or returned payment fees). 

Loan Discounts

Since Splash Financial doesn't charge you anything for its service, there aren't any discounts it can offer. Some of the individual lenders may offer autopay or other discounts, but you'll need to verify that based on your lender match results.

Repayment Options

The specific repayment options available to you depend on the lender that Splash Financial matches you with, and they could vary. However, we do have some information about what you might be able to expect.

• Grace period: If you're applying for new private student loans, you'll benefit from a nine-month grace period before you have to start repaying your loans after you graduate (six months is the norm). During this time, your payments are deferred, but interest will still accrue.
• Term lengths: You may be able to choose loan term lengths of 5, 7, 10, 12, or 15 years if you're applying for private student loans while you're still in school.
• Medical and dental school repayment: Refinance your med or dental school loans and you'll only have to make fixed monthly payments of $100 while you're in a residency or fellowship, and for a six-month period after you leave those programs.

Rewards

If you like Splash Financial and you have some friends or family members who might benefit from it too, you can give them a custom referral link. 

If they check their rate and get pre-qualified for a refinance student loan (with no obligation to apply), you'll get paid between $10 and $20 per person, depending on how many people use your referral link. If they use Splash Financial to refinance at least $30,000 in student loans, you and your friend will be paid an additional $200. 

Loan Forbearance and Discharge Options

Each partner lender that Splash Financial matches you with will vary in terms of their forbearance and discharge policies. You'll want to make sure to understand under what circumstances your loan will be discharged, if any, and what your forbearance options are before you sign on any dotted lines.

If you're applying for new private student loans, Splash Financial's partner Earnest will discharge your student loans in case you die or become permanently disabled. Earnest offers options for loan forbearance if you run into financial problems, and you can also skip a payment once a year if you've regularly been making on-time payments. 

Is Student Loan Refinancing Available?

Yes. Although Splash Financial does allow you to apply for private student loans through Earnest if you're still in school, it's mainly used by people looking to refinance the student loans they already have. 

Splash Financial's partner lenders offer the following terms on student loan refinances:

• Fixed rates: 4.999%–9.99% APR (includes autopay discount)
• Variable rates: 5.28%–9.99% APR (includes autopay discount)
• Term lengths: Varies by lender; you'll need to apply and see what you're offered
• Loan amounts: $5,000 minimum, no upper limit on loan amount

Customer Service

It's fairly easy to get ahold of a live person with Splash Financial. Customer service hours are 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern Time, which is quite a broad range. There are also plenty of ways to contact customer service.

• By phone: (800) 349-3938
• By email: contact@splashfinancial.com
• By mail: Splash Financial, 812 Huron Rd E Ste 350, Cleveland, OH 44115
• By live chat: On Splash Financial's website

It's important to note that Splash Financial is not who you'll be working with the entire time you have the loan. Its customer service team will only be able to really help navigate the sometimes-tricky process of getting the loan in the first place. After that, your main contact will be whoever services your student loan.

Reviews for Splash Financial are mixed. The company has a great reputation on Trustpilot, where it maintains a 4.8 rating out of 5, based on over 600 reviews. However, the company has had three formal complaints filed against it in the past two years with the CFPB.

Applying for a Splash Financial Student Loan

To get started, you'll create an account and fill out a brief pre-qualification form on Splash Financial's website. From there, Splash will present you with a range of pre-qualified offers from lenders within its network. You can keep shopping around on your own, or you can start an application for one of your pre-qualified offers.

The specific information and documents you'll need to provide in your application depend on the lender. However, most lenders will require the same few items. Take a few minutes to get these documents together before you apply so you can speed up the application process:

• Most recent pay stub
• Copy of your official photo ID
• Most recent tax return, if you're self-employed
• Payoff Verification Statement from your current student loan lender

If you're still in school and looking for private student loan options, remember to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) before getting any private loans. This lets you apply for federal student loans first, which usually offer much better terms and benefits than private student loan lenders. 

Alternative Choices

Final Verdict

Splash Financial is a great option if you're short on time and want to see your student loan refinance options. It's also an especially good choice if you're a medical or dental student looking for affordable loan options while you're finishing up your training. However, it's still a good idea to shop around on your own, too, so you can be sure you're getting the full picture, rather than just seeing the lenders that happen to partner up with Splash Financial. 

Splash Financial, Inc. (NMLS # 1630038) Terms and conditions apply. Products may not be available in all states. Splash reserves the right to modify or discontinue products and benefits at any time without notice. Rates subject to change without notice.

Refinancing or consolidating private and federal student loans may not be the right decision for everyone. Federal loans carry special benefits not available for loans made through Splash Financial, including, but not limited to, public service loan forgiveness and economic hardship programs, fee waivers and rebates on the principal, which may not be accessible to you after you refinance.

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.