Refinancing your medical school debts can help you save money while you pay them back. The most important thing is to look for the lowest interest rate.
More than $200,000 in student loan debt is common for U.S. doctors when they graduate, and many will spend years, even decades, paying it back.
Refinancing can lower your interest rate and shorten your repayment period, but it also means losing federal protections like income-driven repayment and Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF).
This information helps medical professionals figure out if and when refinancing is a good idea, as well as which lenders currently have the best terms.
Best Medical School Student Loan Refinancing
- Credible
- ELFI
- Student Choice
- Splash
Here are our top choices to medical school student loan refinancing. These choices may vary slightly from our regular list of student loan refinancing companies because physicians typically have higher incomes and higher loan balances.
Our team checks the rates below every weekday, Monday through Friday. These rates are accurate as of February 11, 2026.
Credible
Credible is our favorite marketplace for comparing student loans. They have almost a dozen different lenders that you can easily shop and compare on their platform. As a result of being a marketplace, you can get great rates and terms because you’re seeing the best offers from a variety of lenders.
Right now, they offer the following rates:
- Fixed Rate: 3.99% – 10.15% APR
- Variable Rate: 3.69% – 11.11% APR
And as a College Investor reader, no matter what lender you actually choose – if you refinance on their platform you’ll get:
- $1,000 gift card bonus if you refinance at least $100,000 in student loans.
- $300 gift card bonus if you refinance less than $100,000 in student loans.
ELFI
ELFI has helped doctors and other medical professionals refinance their school loans for a long time. They are also always at the top of customer service and “best rate” lists.
For people who want to refinance, the minimum loan amount is $10,000, and the maximum is the amount of your current loan. This can be a major win for people who have a lot of student loan debt, like doctors.
ELFI doesn’t list exact credit minimums, but they do want borrowers to have good credit (or a cosigner with good credit). One of the few bad things about ELFI is that it doesn’t have a cosigner release programme, which is something that only a few other lenders on this list do.
Right now, they offer the following rates:
- Fixed Rate: 4.88% – 8.44% APR
- Variable Rate: 4.74% – 8.24% APR
ELFI is offering an awesome bonus to our readers:
- $599 bonus when you refinance at least $100,000 in student loans.
- $550 bonus when you refinance less than $100,000 but at least $50,000 in student loans.
Student Choice
Student Choice is a platform that connects students with credit union student loan opportunities. It originally opened in the late 2000s with a group of credit unions looking to provide a resource for students to find more affordable student loan options.
One of the things we really like about them is since they are credit union backed, they tend to offer some of the lowest rates in the marketplace.
Right now, they offer the following rates:
Splash Financial
Splash Financial is a student loan refinancing marketplace that works with a few major lenders including Nelnet Bank, Laurel Road, and PenFed.
We highly recommend Splash to medical residents as they offer $100 payments on your refinanced loans during your residency and for up to 6 months afterward.
They also consistently have some of the lowest rates. Right now, they offer the following rates:
- Fixed Rate: 4.24% – 10.24% APR¹
- Variable Rate: 4.74% – 10.24% APR¹
Splash is currently offering College Investor readers a $500 bonus if you refinance a loan over $50,000⁴.
Before You Refinance Medical School Loans
Before you consider refinancing your medical school loans, you need to figure out what type of student loans you have so that you can create a plan. If you don’t know where to start, check out this guide on where to find your student loans. You might find that you have a combination of both federal and private student loans.
Depending on your loan type, and your current career (and future career goals), you can make a plan. If you’re going to be looking at student loan forgiveness for doctors, you typically don’t want to refinance your student loans.
However, if you have private student loans, it can make sense to refinance as often as possible to lower your interest rate.
To recap, before you refinance your student loans from medical school, you should:
- Know what loan types you have – Understand the difference between federal and private student loans.
- Understand your current and future career goals – Know if you’re going to be working in public service or private practice, as this can impact your loan forgiveness options.
- Check for loan forgiveness or loan repayment assistance – Some states will offer loan repayment assistance even if you have private loans.
- Know your financial numbers – You should also make sure you have a good idea of your credit score, as well as proof of your income.
Should You Refinance Medical School Loans?
Remember, student loan refinancing is when you take out a new private student loan to replace your existing loans. Your existing loans could be federal or private (or likely a combination of both).
Because you’re replacing your old loans with a new loan, it might not make sense to refinance. For example, if you’re working in public service (at a non-profit hospital or health group), it’s likely a better option to go for public service loan forgiveness.
However, if you have any private student loans, it’s always a good idea to refinance into a lower interest rate if you can save money.
Here’s when it could make sense to refinance medical school loans:
- You have private student loans – It always makes sense to refinance private student loans to try to get the lowest rate possible (to save you money).
- You are 100% positive that you will not qualify for any loan forgiveness program like PSLF – If you have federal loans but work in private practice and are sure you won’t qualify for any loan forgiveness program, it could make sure to refinance.
- You will pay off the loans in 5 years or less (without loan forgiveness) – The best rates on student loans are typically for 5 year or less loan terms. This could be an option to save money. However, don’t jeopardize loan forgiveness if you’re eligible.
Don’t Forget To Consider Alternative Physician Student Loan Repayment Options
If you have Federal loans but aren’t sure if you should refinance them into private loans, you might have other options that could be beneficial as well.
First, you should look at getting on an income-driven repayment plan. The main plan choices for physicians will be between PAYE and SAVE. You’ll need to do some math and see which is best, but generally, SAVE is great for the interest subsidy, which can be helpful. However, if you also have a high-earning spouse, you must use your combined AGI – which could drive up your payment plan.
If you do have a high earning spouse, you could look at filing your taxes separately and taking advantage of PAYE. While you might pay a little more in taxes, the savings on your student loan payment could be substantial.
And if you don’t know where to start with your plan, check out Student Loan Advice by the White Coat Investor. Their expertise with doctors and student loans is top notch as that’s all they focus on.