Earnest student loan refinancing review for dentists

Earnest is a direct lender: it makes the refinance loan itself. It stands out less for its rates than for its fine print. It charges no fees and publishes more hardship options than most private lenders. Everything below is from earnest.com, checked September 26, 2026.

The quick verdict

Earnest can fit you if:

• You’re an associate or owner who has ruled out PSLF and doesn’t need RAP’s income-based payment.
• You want a private loan with a written safety net: skip-a-payment, forbearance and a death and disability discharge.
• You owe more than $100,000 with a DDS, which may qualify you for Earnest’s health-professional pricing.

Skip Earnest, or wait, if:

• You’re in residency with federal loans. RAP waives the interest your payment doesn’t cover. Earnest’s resident loan doesn’t.
• You work, or might work, for an FQHC, the VA, a public hospital or a dental school. That’s PSLF territory.
• You’d refinance to get a lower payment rather than a lower total cost. RAP already ties your payment to income.

First, the federal trade-off

Refinancing turns federal loans into a private loan. For those loans you lose access to RAP, PSLF, federal forgiveness, and federal forbearance and deferment. Earnest’s own blog lists the same losses.

Read Should you refinance? before you check any rate.

Rates: read the fine print

Earnest’s rate disclosures, updated September 15, 2026, show fixed and variable ranges excluding its 0.25% autopay discount. Its refinance landing page shows lower “starting at” rates with autopay.

That matters when you compare. Many lenders in our rate table show ranges that already include autopay. Earnest’s row doesn’t, so it can look about a quarter point higher than it is.

The dated ranges are in the rate table at the end of this page. Your rate depends on your credit, income and term.

Health-professional pricing. Earnest’s medical refinance page lists lower starting rates for some health degrees. You need a DDS, DO, DVM, MD, PharmD or other graduate medical degree, and more than $100,000 of loans. The page names DDS but not DMD, so a DMD graduate should ask.

Variable rates. Earnest’s variable rate changes monthly, based on the 30-day SOFR. Each term has a rate cap, listed in its disclosures. Variable loans aren’t offered in several states, including Texas and Illinois; check Earnest’s list.

Terms

Earnest lets you choose among many term lengths and pay monthly or biweekly. A shorter term usually carries a lower rate and a higher payment.

Example: $300,000 at 6.0% fixed APR over 10 years is about $3,330 a month and $400,000 in total. At the same rate over 15 years, it’s about $2,530 a month and $456,000 in total. Not an offer; your rate depends on credit.

The longer term costs about $56,000 more. Pick the shortest payment you can carry with an emergency fund intact.

Minimum loan amount

Earnest’s eligibility page sets the minimum at $5,000 ($10,000 in California and $10,001 in New Mexico). We didn’t find a published maximum. Ask when you check your rate.

The resident program

Earnest runs a medical and dental residency refinance. From its August 26, 2026 blog post:

• Who: MD, DO, DDS or DMD graduates enrolled or matched in a residency of seven years or less.
• Payments: reduced during residency and for a period after.
• Unpaid interest: it still accrues, but Earnest “does not add that interest to the loan’s principal balance” when full payments begin.
• Where: not available in Mississippi.

Not capitalizing interest is better than what some resident loans do. But the interest is still yours to pay. On $300,000 at 8.07%, interest runs about $2,020 a month; RAP waives whatever your payment doesn’t cover.

In our example on Refinancing during residency, staying on RAP and refinancing afterward saves tens of thousands of dollars. For a long specialty program, read Specialty residency and your loans.

Protections

Earnest publishes more of a safety net than most private lenders:

• Skip a payment once a year, after six consecutive on-time payments. Interest keeps accruing, may be added to your balance, and your term gets longer.
• Hardship options: forbearance, interest-only or step payments, a temporary rate reduction, or a permanent term extension.
• Death and disability: Earnest lists “loan discharge” in the event of death or permanent disability. Confirm the exact terms in your promissory note.

These don’t replace RAP. Federal protections are set by law; Earnest’s are set by its contract and its judgment.

Fees

Earnest says you’ll “never pay any fees, not even late payment fees.” Its rate disclosures confirm no origination fee and no prepayment penalty.

No late fee is rare. It’s worth something if your income is lumpy, as it can be on production pay.

Eligibility

From Earnest’s pages:

• U.S. citizen or permanent resident (some other statuses qualify; see the page)
• Live in D.C. or one of the 49 states Earnest lends in (all but Mississippi), and be the age of majority in your state
• At least $5,000 of student loans from a Title IV school
• A minimum credit score of 650
• Employed, or with consistent income, in U.S. dollars

Earnest doesn’t publish a minimum income. It also looks at savings, spending and other debt. A cosigner is allowed; the cosigner needs a 650 score and you need at least 600.

How to apply

1. Check your rate. Earnest says this takes minutes and doesn’t affect your credit.
2. Apply online or by phone. Expect a hard credit pull at this step.
3. Compare offers side by side, same term and same rate type, with autopay treated the same way.
4. Keep paying your old loans until Earnest confirms they’re paid off.

Alternatives to compare

• ELFI charges no application or origination fee and pairs you with one contact. See our ELFI review.
• A marketplace such as Credible shows several lenders after one soft pull.
• Staying federal. If you’re on RAP with a high balance compared with your income, or in a PSLF job, keep your federal loans. See Refinance vs PSLF vs RAP.

What to do next

1. Run your numbers in the refinance vs forgiveness tool.
2. If refinancing wins, check your Earnest rate plus two or three others.
3. Compare autopay the same way. Earnest’s disclosed range leaves out its 0.25% discount; many others include theirs.
4. Get the death and disability policy in writing from every lender you’re considering.