Citizens Review

Citizens View Rates

Suitable For?

Student loan refinancing with Citizens is suitable for borrowers who are paying higher interest rates and want to refinance at current lower rates. Refinancing is also suitable for borrowers who want to consolidate multiple loans into one monthly payment.

Loan Features

Citizens offers student loan financing with these features:

• Fixed-rate financing from 5.89%-12.10% APR
• Variable-rate financing from 6.52%-13.44% APR
• Loan refinanced from $10,000 and up

The Application Process

You can apply online for the Education Refinance Loan in 15 minutes, with three easy steps:

1. Complete the application on your computer or mobile device. You can choose to add a cosigner to help you qualify, or to get the best rate.
2. Select a fixed or variable rate loan with the number of years you would like to take to pay it off.
3. Sign (with your cosigner, if applicable), and accept.

Loan Eligibility Requirement

To get student loan refinancing from Citizens, you must meet these requirements:

• Age of majority in state of residence (unless qualifying cosigner applies)
• Credit qualification
• Not currently enrolled in school
• For applicants with an Associate’s degree or no degree, must have made at least 12 qualifying payments after leaving school
• U.S. Citizen, permanent resident, or eligible non-citizen with qualifying cosigner

You may be able to have someone cosign with you if you do not meet all the requirements.

Repayment Terms

You can choose to pay off your loan in 5, 7, 10, 15 or 20 years. The faster you pay off your loan, the less total interest expense you will pay.

Fixed-rate student loan refinancing is from 5.89%-12.10% APR, and variable-rate financing is from 6.52%-13.44%.

The lowest interest rates apply to a 5-year repayment term and require the Loyalty and Automatic Payment discounts.

How Safe Is It? 

As one of the nation’s oldest and largest financial institutions, with total assets of $187 billion, Citizens Financial Group offers a safe, full-service banking experience. Citizens works to continually enhance and maintain security standards and procedures. They use state-of-the-art security technology, including Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology to transfer your information across the Internet to them.

You can help protect the security of your personal information by downloading the IBM Security Trusteer Rapport software. The download is free.

Help & Support

You can find help from Citizens in any of these ways:

• Call 1-800-600-0008 for questions about your application, or 1-866-999-3767 for questions about your student loan, 8:00 am to 7:00 pm Monday through Friday and 8:30 am to 5:00 pm Saturday.
• Message customer service via online chat.
• Visit one of 1,000 branches in 11 states in the New England, Mid-Atlantic, and Midwest regions. 
• Connect with Citizens on Facebook and Twitter.

Summary

Refinancing with Citizens combines the convenience and speed of online lending, with the security of dealing with one of the oldest and largest banks in the country. You can get competitive interest rates on your student loan refinance while consolidating multiple loans or removing a cosigner, if applicable. If you are paying a higher interest rate on your loans, refinancing at lower rates can lower your monthly payment and save you thousands of dollars over the life of your loan.

Physical Address

Citizens’ corporate headquarters are at:

One Citizens Plaza

Providence, RI 02903

Citizens View Rates

Methodology

This review was created with information from:

• Company website
• Using the company matching tool/quiz

Disclosures

Education Refinance Loan Rate: Variable interest rates range from Variable interest rates range from 6.52%-13.44% (6.52%-13.44% APR). Fixed interest rates range from 5.89%-12.10% (5.89%-12.10% APR).

Loyalty Discount: The borrower will be eligible for a 0.25 percentage point interest rate reduction on their loan if the borrower or their co-signer (if applicable) has a qualifying account in existence with us at the time the borrower and their co-signer (if applicable) have submitted a completed application authorizing us to review their credit request for the loan. The following are qualifying accounts: any checking account, savings account, money market account, certificate of deposit, automobile loan, home equity loan, home equity line of credit, mortgage, credit card account, or other student loans owned by Citizens Bank, N.A. Please note, our checking and savings account options are only available in the following states: CT, DC, DE, FL, MA, MD, MI, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, VA, and VT and some products may have an associated cost. This discount will be reflected in the interest rate disclosed in the Loan Approval Disclosure that will be provided to the borrower once the loan is approved. Limit of one Loyalty Discount per loan and discount will not be applied to prior loans. The Loyalty Discount will remain in effect for the life of the loan.

Automatic Payment Discount: Borrowers will be eligible to receive a 0.25 percentage point interest rate reduction on their student loans owned by Citizens Bank, N.A. when our loan servicer is authorized to automatically deduct payments each month from any bank account the borrower designates. Discount is not available when payments are not due, such as during forbearance. If our loan servicer is unable to successfully withdraw the automatic deductions from the designated account three or more times within any 12-month period, the borrower will no longer be eligible for this discount.

Co-signer Release: Borrowers may apply for co-signer release after making 36 consecutive on-time payments of principal and interest. For the purpose of the application for co-signer release, on-time payments are defined as payments received within 15 days of the due date. Interest only payments do not qualify. The borrower must meet certain credit and eligibility guidelines when applying for the co-signer release. Borrowers must complete an application for release and provide income verification documents as part of the review. Borrowers who use deferment or forbearance will need to make 36 consecutive on-time payments after reentering repayment to qualify for release. The borrower applying for co-signer release must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. If an application for co-signer release is denied, the borrower may not reapply for co-signer release until at least one year from the date the application for co-signer release was received. Terms and conditions apply. Borrowers whose loans were funded prior to reaching the age of majority may not be eligible for co-signer release. Note: co-signer release is not available on the Student Loan for Parents or Education Refinance Loan for Parents.

Education Refinance Loan Eligibility: Applicants must have attained a bachelor’s degree to refinance while enrolled in school. Applicants with an Associate’s degree or with no degree must have made at least 12 qualifying payments after leaving school. Qualifying payments are the most recent on time and consecutive payments of principal and interest on the loans being refinanced.

Education Refinance Loan for Parents: Eligibility The primary applicant must be the primary borrower or co-signer on the loan to be refinanced.

Medical Residency Refinance Loan Repayment Example with $100 Monthly Payment: Based on a 48 month residency, a fixed rate 5 year loan for $10,000 at 8.15% APR results in 54 monthly payments of $100 (includes residency period and 6-month grace period), followed by 60 monthly payments of $161.99. $100 monthly payment begins immediately after loan disbursement for the duration of the residency or fellow program period up to 48 months, plus 6 month grace period.