Top 48 Reviews From Legit SoFi Student Loans Buyers (2024)

I wish there was a rating lower than 1 star. My mother refinanced a parent PLUS loan with them several years ago. When she passed away suddenly 7 months ago, I reported her death to SoFi Mohela and was told the loan was most likely eligible for discharge once I sent in the death certificate. I sent it in August 24th and didn't hear anything. Cut to 6 MONTHS later, they filed a claim against my mother's estate for the total balance of the loan. After countless attempts to speak to someone and find out why the loan wasn't eligible for discharge as I was told and as THEIR OWN WEBSITE SAYS- I was basically just told it was a private loan and the estate is liable for the full amount. I have spent weeks going back and forth with them just to get some answers at a time when I am already knee deep in grief. So AWFUL. I have asked for the original agreement that my mother signed so my own lawyer can review it and still have yet to receive it.

Pros: They are quick to respond. Cons: Do not expect compassion or flexibility from them. When considering refinancing with SoFi, I called and specifically asked about In-School Deferments as I am currently enrolled full-time in graduate school and cannot afford to make payments. The customer service agent assured me that SoFi would help me in this regard, so I decided to go through with the refinancing.

I made a rookie mistake: I didn't carefully read the contract. It turns out that they require interest payments from people enrolled full-time in school if that person refinanced their loan with them. I explained that I cannot afford this. I asked if I could pay a reduced amount. I explained that I was misled in my earlier communications about the terms of in-school deferments.

SoFi did not care and are still insisting that I pay the full amount, which is 20% of my meager income working 30 hours each week in addition to my full-time schooling. Now I have to figure out how I can come up with this money, and I honestly have no idea. As a note, I could remove the in-school deferment and then apply for economic forbearance, but they only allow a maximum of 12 months of economic forbearance for the life of the loan, and I have two more years of my PhD, so that is of little help.

Awful experience with this lender and I would encourage physicians and independent contractors to steer clear. As an attending physician I get paid several different ways but primarily my income is through a 1099 as an independent contractor. I recently purchased a new house and decided to refinance my student loans at the same time, since I would have all my up-to-date financial paperwork at my fingertips anyways.

Unfortunately, after starting the application process my rate was significantly increased because my income could not be “verified.” SoFi clearly thinks I can repay the loan, since they still offered me one, I just do not qualify for normal rates. This is despite producing two years worth of tax returns (2019 and 2020) supporting my income and a signed letter from our office manager with my stated guaranteed income.

After going back and forth with customer service for 13 days I was finally put in contact with an account specialist. They informed me that the only way I would qualify for their initial offer was if I could produce two years worth of End Of Year paystubs (the W2 was not sufficient). So, if you are a physician/independent contractor you will not qualify for their advertised rates unless you can also produce End Of Year paystubs, even if you have over 2 years worth of tax returns confirming you income. If you don’t happen to have End Of Year paystubs do not even bother checking your rate, it won’t be honored anyways.

The real salt in the wound was being approved for the mortgage (which is twice the amount of the student loan I am refinancing) with the same documentation and half the hassle. If you have ever purchased a house, think back on your mortgage application. Remember the frustration and headache? Now double it and you have an idea of what dealing with SoFi has been like. If you are a physician/independent I would strongly recommend looking elsewhere. I know that is what I will be telling the medical students and residents that rotate through my clerkship when they ask about student loan refinancing.

I started the harrowing process to refinance my student loans in November. I spoke at length to a representative explaining what the goal of this process was and ensuring I was completing the correct application. At every stage I was given conflicting information about what outstanding documents were needed. I contacted customer service no less than 10 times over the course of this process. Every requested document was provided in a timely manner. Because this process was taking so long, I requested an extension for the application end date and was told I had until January 12. I just logged in to provide what I was told, once again, would be the final documents needed to find my application had been declined due to the wrong product being selected.

I found SOFI through NerdWallet, which gives an aggregate of all the best financial lenders on one page. I was looking for a lower APR for my student loan, which was currently priced at 6,8%. SOFI seemed to have a better offer at 4.8%. I immediately pounced on that offer. What followed seemed like a promising start. They asked for proof of employment, W2s, paystubs, social, and other identification info, which I provided over a prolonged period due to them needing to contact my boss directly to prove where I worked. The problems began, however, when I added my father as a co-signer and he was laid off shortly after due to the COVID-19 fiasco.

This threw SOFI for a loop, and they didn’t seem to understand why he wouldn’t be able to provide proof of his employment eligibility. They told him to contact another customer representative to have him be taken off the loan, which he did but was still never removed as a co-signer. Weeks went by with no response and he even got an email asking for his experience with the customer service rep — what a joke! Eventually, I had to call SOFI myself and found someone to update my application, after finding out it was mysteriously canceled. The employee said it was just a glitch and assured me that my application was still being processed... About a month goes by with no reply, until I one day find an email saying my app had been approved.

Ecstatic to finally have a lower interest rate for my $25000 student loan, I open the email to find that I had to pay a small fee of an additional $5000 JUST to refinance my loan. Was this a joke??!! I would have to take out another loan to even refinance the original. Nowhere was it made clear by SOFI that I would need to pay a fee worth 20% of the original loan just to get a lower rate. It seemed like this company was giving me the cold shoulder the entire time, which was a waste of months of my time when I could have been looking for better offers. Lesson here is, look for a better company than this bargain-bin choice.

Please heed warning. Also please read comments by Anthony/FL, Michael/KY & Michael/NY here on this site - all from April 2020. Same thing. SoFi does NOT care if you are in hardship due to Covid-19. Their only concern is to make more money. At first, they offered no help/forbearance, but buckled under pressure in that Federal Student Loans did offer help and Private loans did not, and/or a marketing gimmick to make it seem like they "want to help". So they changed their tune to "help" by allowing a 2 month Forbearance, however on the caveat that you would still be accruing interest every day (that tells you something right there).

When I read Sara's review on Sofi, I kept agreeing with her words. "Yup, I've been there. Yup, I've experienced this. Yup, I had to continuously fight SoFi AND Mohela, and couldn't figure which company would resolve my issue." SoFi and Mohela would point me in the other direction because neither company wanted to help me.