Variable Rates	5.90% – 7.26% APR
Fixed Rates	5.79% – 7.16% APR
Loan Amounts	$2,000 as much as the entire cost of attendance
Loan Terms	Flexible repayment options

Loan Eligibility

CommonBond’s minimum loan amount is $2,000 but you’ll be able to borrow as much as the fee of attendance determined by your school’s financial aid office. This cost includes tuition and charges, books and supplies, room and board, transportation, and private expenses.

To be eligible for a CommonBond private student loan you have to meet a couple of requirements:

• be a U.S. citizen or everlasting resident
• be currently enrolled no less than half-time at an eligible school.
• have a minimum credit rating of around 660

To find out eligibility, CommonBond also looks closely at an applicant’s free money flow, meaning how much disposable income you have got after paying your monthly debt obligations.

Is Loan Prequalification Available?

CommonBond does offer loan prequalification, meaning you’ll be able to get a fast preview of your eligibility and what kind of terms you’d qualify for—without it impacting your credit rating. To ascertain, click the “Apply Now” button and choose “View my rates” under the coed loans section. CommonBond will perform a soft inquiry of your credit to estimate your rates.

Loan Fees

CommonBond doesn’t charge application fees or prepayment penalties on any of its loans. Late payments incur a fee of 5% of the unpaid amount of the payment due or $10, whichever is less, and there is a $5 fee for returned checks.

There is no such thing as a hidden fee on undergraduate and regular graduate loans. MBA, medical and dental school loans do have a 2% origination fee, nevertheless it is reflected in CommonBond’s advertised rates.

Loan Discounts

All loans are eligible for a 0.25% rate of interest reduction (reflected in CommonBond’s advertised rates) once you enroll in auto-draft payments.

Repayment Options

CommonBond offers 4 in-school repayment options valid through a loan’s six-month grace period:

• Full: Full monthly payment of the coed loan, principal and interest, starting when you’re at school.
• Interest-only: Pay only the interest that accrues. This selection is barely available to undergraduate, graduate, and MBA students.
• Fixed: Permits you to make low fixed payments every month when you’re at school. There is no such thing as a fixed option for MBA students.
• Deferred: Postpone making payments until the top of your grace period, at which period all interest will likely be capitalized.

CommonBond offers flexible repayment options on all loans.

Rewards

CommonBond has a referral program where you’ll be able to earn $200 each time someone takes out a student loan or refinances using your referral link.

Are Co-Signers Required?

Co-signers are required for undergraduate and graduate loans. A co-signer can also be required for MBA loans unless you are enrolled in one in every of CommonBond’s partner schools and other given criteria.

After graduation and 12 consecutive months of full payment, the borrower can apply to release their co-signer. The coed have to be the age of majority (16 to 21 years old, depending on which state by which you reside) and any period of forbearance interrupts the consecutive payments.

Forbearance and Loan Discharge Options

Within the case of monetary hardship or medical impairment, you’ll be able to put your loan payments on pause for 3 months at a time as much as 12 months over the lifetime of the loan.

And within the event of death or total and everlasting disability, your CommonBond loan is canceled and won’t be passed on to anyone else.

Length of Time for Loan Approval and Disbursement

Loan disbursements are paid on to your school after CommonBond confirms your enrollment. Confirmation can take anywhere from five days to a few weeks. When you took out greater than required for official expenses (tuition, room and board), your school will send a refund check.

Is Student Loan Refinancing Available?

CommonBond refinances federal, private, Parent PLUS, and previously consolidated loans with no application, or prepayment fees. You may refinance as much as $500,000 with repayment terms of 5 to twenty years. Rates are currently:

• Variable: 4.60% to eight.25% APR
• Fixed: 4.49% to 7.74% APR
• Hybrid: 4.52% to 7.65% APR

Advertised rates include a 0.25% discount for enrolling in auto-draft and refinanced loans are eligible for as much as 24 months of forbearance.

Student loan refinancing can also be available to international students with any major U.S. visa who’ve graduated from a U.S. university. 

Customer Service

CommonBond’s U.S. based care team is accessible by phone and live chat Monday through Friday, 9 am to eight pm EST. You may as well access them quickly by live chat on their website or email with a response time of lower than 24 hours.

In keeping with the Annual Report of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Student Loan Ombudsman, CommonBond received three complaints in 2019, mostly about its refinancing service.

Applying for a CommonBond Student Loan

CommonBond uses an internet application and every approved application is valid for one academic 12 months. To use you will need:

• Your Social Security number
• School information
• Loan amount requested
• Expected financial aid
• Financial information, including rent or mortgage payments and income

Paying for College

CommonBond encourages students to exhaust all their free and low-cost federal and state financial aid options before taking out a non-public student loan. Submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid every 12 months to see your eligibility and use a non-public student loan to fill within the gap.

Methodology

Investopedia is devoted to providing consumers with unbiased, comprehensive reviews of student loan lenders. We collected over 45 data points across greater than 15 lenders—including rates of interest, fees, loan amounts, and repayment terms—to be certain that our content helps users make the correct borrowing decision for his or her education needs.