When you take out student loans, you typically have 10 years to repay them. But if that’s not enough time, refinancing is one way to get more.

Refinancing your student loans can potentially lower your monthly payments, and extend your loan term up to 30 years. There are two ways to refinance your loan term over three decades, but it’s important to understand the ramifications of making such a major change to your loan repayment plan. 

Unfortunately, there’s no way to refinance your student loans directly into a 30-year term. Federal student loans typically come with the standard 10-year loan term. Private lender terms vary between five and 20 years.

But, there are ways to extend your loan term that long with a little extra work.

If you have multiple federal student loans, consolidating them into a single Direct Consolidation Loan could allow you to extend your repayment term, while retaining federal loan benefits such as access to loan forgiveness and other repayment plan options. Note that you can’t consolidate private student loans this way.   

There are pros and cons to Direct Consolidation Loans. Here are a few to keep in mind:

Pros

Cons

Refinancing your student loans is a way to lower your monthly payments or potentially cut thousands of dollars off your student loan bill. As mentioned earlier, the longest loan term for refinancing offered by private lenders is usually 20 years. But there’s no limit on the number of times you can refinance your loans. 

Here are a few benefits and drawbacks to consecutive refinances:

Pros

Cons

You can easily compare student loan refinance rates through Credible.

Refinancing federal student loans with a private student loan can save you money, especially if your credit’s good enough to secure a lower rate than offered with federal loans. It also allows you to extend your loan term beyond federal limits. 

With the passing of the CARES Act in March 2020, people with federal student loans have had their interest rate set to zero. You won’t find a private student loan with 0% interest, so it probably doesn’t make sense to refinance federal student loans right now.

Refinancing private student loans is another way to extend your loan term. This is a good option if your credit’s good enough to qualify for a lower interest rate, you want to switch your rate structure, or you want to switch lenders. 

As with any financial decision, refinancing has advantages and disadvantages, so it’s important that you understand how refinancing to a longer repayment term could affect your long-term finances. 

When you apply for student loan refinancing, lenders perform a hard credit pull. They do this to assess your creditworthiness or your risk level for lending. Hard credit pulls can temporarily lower your credit score.

Most private lenders allow you to check interest rates or prequalify for refinancing before applying for a loan. Checking your rates doesn’t affect your credit because it employs soft credit pulls. 

Credible makes it easy to compare student loan refinance rates from multiple lenders.

When shopping around for the best refinancing rates, your best bet is to do this during a short period (two weeks to 45 days) instead of stretching it out over several months. Your credit is less impacted this way, because multiple inquiries will be treated as one this way. 

In addition, when you refinance, you’ are closing out an account — this can cause your credit score to take a hit because you may be closing an account with a long history, and your credit history is part of what makes up your credit score.

Extending your student loan debt for three decades is a significant financial commitment. That kind of long-term debt will have a lasting impact on your credit and finances. Before you commit to a 30-year student loan refinance, here are some alternatives to consider:

The federal government offers four income-driven repayment repayment plans for federal student loans: 

 The government bases income-driven repayment plan payments primarily on adjusted gross income, family size, and your federal student loan balance. Provided you qualify, and depending on your income, you could end up with a monthly payment as low as $0. 

Deferment and forbearance are ways to temporarily pause your student loan payments if you have a hardship. 

You’ll need to submit a request and get approval before your payments are paused. Several types of deferment and forbearance are available, depending on your specific circumstances. But there are rules for who can get deferment or forbearance, and often interest continues to accrue on the loan balance while payments are paused.  

Refinancing is one way to deal with student loan debt. While a 30-year student loan refinance can help lower your monthly payments and give you more time to repay your student loans, it’s likely the longer term will also result in higher lifetime interest costs for your loan. 

You can use Credible to compare student loan refinance rates from multiple lenders.