Which Private Loan Did You Get?

[Adedoyinpi]

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Hi everyone!
After discussion with my school's financial aid I have accepted that I will need to apply for private loans (institutional scholarships will not be enough to cover the gap between tuition/living expenses and the federal loan amount). Thankfully, I was able to use need-based scholarships to avoid having debt from my undergraduate education.

I asked my school about which private lenders students have trusted in the past, but they said they were unsure because students mostly did not need private loans in the past. Which private lenders do you trust and why? I've tried applying for ELFI, but they insisted that I didn't meet their requirements even though my credit score (according to Equifax) exceeds their minimum requirement. ELFI customer service said the algorithm they use to calculate/evaluate scores is a company secret so there's no way to know if one qualifies without undergoing a hard inquiry.

Thank you in advance!

 

[glycolysister]

I’ve several friends claim Juno has gotten them where they want to be. Check them out!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I’ve several friends claim Juno has gotten them where they want to be. Check them out!

Yeah, and mention HPSA/SDN for a referral.

 

[polymerization]

I was approved for 60k at SoFi yesterday, no cosigner, at ~7%. I do have an extensive, positive credit history, though.

I went through Juno initially and it did not recommend the loan I ended up being approved for from SoFi directly. I don't know why, but I'm reticent to keep investigating because you have a hard inquiry on your credit every time you apply.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I was approved for 60k at SoFi yesterday, no cosigner, at ~7%. I do have an extensive, positive credit history, though.

I went through Juno initially and it did not recommend the loan I ended up being approved for from SoFi directly. I don't know why, but I'm reticent to keep investigating because you have a hard inquiry on your credit every time you apply.

Yeah, I hate those hard checks.

I had asked on the Spring 2026 survey whether accepted students had started looking at their private loan options, and at the time we distributed the survey in May, most hadn't started. I guess it's good to know when people start looking...

 

[mintydaisy13!]

I second Juno!

It’s free to students to review their loan options, and they've gotten lower interest rates for a lot of students this year (including me) for my grad program.
Juno link