Student Loan Refinance Calculator – New Payment and Savings

Refinancing your student loans can lower your monthly payment, reduce the interest you pay, or change how long you stay in debt. But it can also cost you money if you stretch the term or give up federal protections without much savings. This student loan refinance calculator helps you see the tradeoffs before you apply.

How to use the student loan refinance calculator

This calculator is built to mirror how lenders and major refinance tools estimate payments, but in a simple, plain-English format. You enter your current student loan details and the refinance offer you are considering, and the tool compares the two.

Here is how each input works:

• Current loan balance ($): The total remaining principal on the loans you want to refinance. If you have several loans, you can use your combined balance.
• Current interest rate (APR %): Your weighted average annual percentage rate across those loans. Many refinance calculators and lender tools use this as the benchmark for savings.
• Years remaining on current loan: How long you expect to keep paying under your current plan. If you are not sure, you can use the remaining years on your main loan or a simple estimate.
• Refinance interest rate (APR %): The quoted rate on the new private refinance loan. This should include any autopay discounts the lender offers.
• Refinance term (years): The length of the new loan. Shorter terms usually mean higher monthly payments but less interest overall, while longer terms do the opposite.
• Origination fee on new loan (% of balance): Some lenders charge a one-time fee for setting up the loan. If the fee is rolled into the new loan, it affects both your monthly payment and total cost.

As you change the numbers, the calculator updates automatically and shows three key things: your new monthly payment, how much you might save or lose in interest and fees, and how your payoff timeline changes. If any input is outside a reasonable range, the tool shows an error message instead of misleading results.

Reading your results: payment, total interest and payoff time

The results panel is organized to answer the most important questions about student loan refinancing: what happens to your monthly payment, how much you pay in interest and fees overall, and how long you will be in debt.

Here is what each metric means:

• New monthly payment: What you would roughly owe each month on the refinance loan, assuming a fixed rate and standard amortization.
• Monthly savings vs. current payment: The difference between your current estimated payment and the new refinance payment. A positive number means lower monthly costs; a negative number means your refinance payment is higher.
• Total interest savings (or extra cost): The difference in total interest and fees paid between your current plan and the refinance scenario. This is where you see whether refinancing truly saves money over the full term.
• Total interest with current loan: The amount of interest you are projected to pay if you keep your current loan and pay it off on schedule.
• Total interest and fees with refinance: The interest on the new loan plus any origination fee you finance. This reflects the true cost of switching.
• Change in payoff time: How much sooner or later you are expected to be debt-free if you refinance, based on the terms you entered.

Below these numbers, a comparison bar shows your total interest under each plan. If the refinance bar is clearly shorter than the current-plan bar, refinancing is likely saving you money over the life of the loan. If it is longer, the refinance could cost more overall even if the monthly payment goes down.

When refinancing student loans makes sense (and when it does not)

Student loan refinancing is not automatically good or bad. It depends on the type of loans you have, your credit profile, and your financial goals. Many private refinance lenders focus on borrowers with strong credit, stable income, and a history of on-time payments, and they may offer lower rates than your original loans if you qualify.

Refinancing can make sense when:

• You have high-rate private student loans and can qualify for a meaningfully lower fixed rate.
• You want to lock in a lower payment while keeping the payoff timeline similar or shorter.
• You are consolidating several private loans into one payment for simplicity.
• You do not rely on federal programs like income-driven repayment or forgiveness for the loans you refinance.

Refinancing can be risky or a poor fit when:

• You are refinancing federal loans into a private loan and would lose access to income-driven repayment plans, government forbearance, and potential forgiveness programs.
• You extend your term significantly just to reduce your monthly payment, which can increase the total interest you pay over time.
• You accept a variable rate that could rise in the future, making payments less predictable.
• Your credit profile is not strong enough to qualify for a competitive rate, so there is little or no interest savings compared with your current loans.

Federal Student Aid warns that when you refinance federal student loans with a private lender, you permanently give up federal protections and benefits on those loans, including income-driven repayment options and access to certain forgiveness programs. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau also advises borrowers to weigh the loss of federal safeguards carefully before moving federal loans into the private market.