What the advertised rate leaves out

Among lenders whose ceilings sit close together, the term you choose moves the interest figure more than the choice of lender does. On $30,000 at SoFi's 10.99% ceiling, 5 years costs $9,127 in interest and 20 years costs $44,269 (checked 2026-08-25).

Why does the term decide more than the lender?

Because the same ceiling, held for four times as many payments, produces roughly five times the interest. This site sorts the lender list by the interest at the top of the published range, and that figure changes with every term the lender lists.

The table below shows three direct lenders on a $30,000 balance, at the top of each published fixed range, across the terms they list. Navy Federal lists 5, 10, and 15 year terms only, so its 20-year cell reads n/a (checked 2026-08-25).

Lender, at the ceiling5 years10 years15 years20 years
SoFi Fixed, 10.99%$9,127$19,570$31,342$44,269
Laurel Road Fixed, 9.75%$8,024$17,077$27,206$38,293
Navy Federal Fixed, 11.80%$9,858$21,234$34,116n/a

^ Interest over the life of a $30,000 loan at the top of each published fixed range. Source: data/computed_for_articles.json, generated from each lender's rates page (checked 2026-08-25).

Read the table across a row before you read it down a column. SoFi at 5 years, $9,127, is below Laurel Road at 10 years, $17,077, even though Laurel Road's ceiling is the lower of the two (checked 2026-08-25). Read down a column, the three lenders sit close together at every term. Read across a row, each lender's 20-year figure is several times its 5-year figure. Why the ceiling is the number to sort by is covered in article 1; this article is about what the term does to it.

What does a longer term buy you?

A lower monthly payment, and nothing else. At SoFi's 10.99% ceiling on $30,000, the payment falls from $652.12 a month over 5 years to $340.79 over 15 years and $309.45 over 20 years (checked 2026-08-25). The 20-year payment is less than half the 5-year payment; the interest is nearly five times as much.

Here is the 5-year and 15-year comparison for one lender, worked through the site's formula (checked 2026-08-25):

SoFi Fixed at the ceiling, 10.99%, $30,000 5 years: $652.12 × 60 payments − $30,000 = $9,127 15 years: $340.79 × 180 payments − $30,000 = $31,342 Extra interest for the lower payment: $31,342 − $9,127 = $22,215

The same shape appears at every lender and every balance in the dataset. On $100,000 at Laurel Road's 9.75% ceiling, 5 years costs $26,745 and 20 years costs $127,644, with the payment moving from $2,112.42 to $948.52 (checked 2026-08-25). You can re-run any balance and term at any lender in the calculator.

Does the ceiling itself change with the term?

Yes, at lenders that publish a per-term table. Laurel Road's page lists fixed ranges from 4.74% to 9.35% at 5 years up to 5.50% to 9.75% at 20 years (checked 2026-08-25). Navy Federal's lists 4.20% to 10.50% at 5 years up to 5.85% to 11.80% at 15 years (checked 2026-08-25). This site records the widest published range for the product and computes every term at that ceiling. For those two lenders, the short-term figures therefore sit slightly above what their own per-term ceiling would give. Method explains that choice; the per-term tables are quoted in the lender's own words on Laurel Road's page and Navy Federal's page.

SoFi publishes per-term ranges too, from 3.99% to 9.80% at 5 years to 6.33% to 10.99% at 20 years (checked 2026-08-25). The direction is the same everywhere I could read: the floor and the ceiling both rise with the term. A 20-year loan is priced higher and runs longer, and both effects add to the interest.

Is the range printed with autopay or without?

It depends on the lender, and the difference is a quarter point. Of the 24 computable products in the dataset, 16 state that the published range already includes the autopay discount, and 8 do not say (checked 2026-08-25). The 8 are Citizens Fixed and Variable, MEFA Fixed, Yrefy Fixed, Credible Fixed and Variable, and Purefy Fixed and Variable.

A quarter point matters less than a term choice, but it is not nothing. SoFi's 0.25% discount is already inside its 3.99% to 10.99% range, so a borrower priced at the ceiling who does not enroll in autopay would pay a quarter point above the printed ceiling (checked 2026-08-25). Citizens says only that a loyalty discount and an automatic payment discount together can cut the rate by up to 0.50 percentage points (checked 2026-08-25). Whether its 5.90% to 10.65% range is before or after them is not stated (checked 2026-08-25). The lender list labels each range "with autopay" or "autopay basis not stated" so that you can see which kind of number you are looking at. What refinancing costs covers the discount in more detail.

Do origination fees change the order?

No, not in this dataset. No product states a non-zero origination fee (checked 2026-08-25). SoFi, Laurel Road, Navy Federal, RISLA, LendKey, and Brazos each state that there is no origination fee; Credible states that none of its partner lenders charge one (checked 2026-08-25). Where a lender says nothing about fees, the lender list says so rather than assuming zero. A stated fee would be added once to the interest figure.

Which published limits drop a lender out?

The term list and the loan minimum, in that order of frequency. RISLA lists 5, 10, and 15 year terms; MEFA lists 7, 10, and 15; Navy Federal lists 5, 10, and 15 (checked 2026-08-25). None of the three appears at 20 years, and RISLA and Navy Federal do not appear at 7 years. A 20-year comparison therefore has fewer rows than a 10-year comparison, and the lender with the lowest ceiling at 10 years may simply be absent at 20.

Minimums matter at the small end. Citizens and MEFA set a $10,000 minimum, RISLA $7,500, and Laurel Road, LendKey, ISL Education Lending, and INvestEd $5,000 (checked 2026-08-25). LendKey's minimum rises to $50,001 in Connecticut and $10,001 in Arizona, and ISL's to $10,000 for California residents (checked 2026-08-25). Maximums bite at the large end: RISLA stops at $250,000 and Citizens and ISL at $300,000 (checked 2026-08-25). How to read the n/a cells that result is in reading the interest at the ceiling column.

Where the answer changes

Who this article is not for

If you already know the term you want and the lender you qualify with, this article adds nothing. Go to that lender's page on this site and read its per-term row. It is also not for anyone holding federal loans who has not yet checked what refinancing them privately gives up. Refinancing federal loans with a private lender gives up federal repayment options, and studentaid.gov is the place to confirm what those are for your loans.

Sources

How this article was made. Written by Kaz, an independent publisher. All figures come from the companies' own published documentation or regulator publications; each figure carries the date it was last checked. I have not borrowed from these lenders, and nothing here is a personal result. The arithmetic is shown so you can recalculate with your own numbers. Found an error? Use the contact form; corrections are logged on the Editorial policy page.

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Written by Kaz (pen name). Figures are copied from the sources' published pages on the dates shown. We have not used these products. Corrections: contact form.