What a published variable range and cap tell you

A published variable range tells you the rate band on the day the page was read, and the cap tells you the highest rate the contract allows, which at Navy Federal is tied to the legal maximum. Neither tells you where the rate will go, and this site does not model that movement.

What does the top of a variable range mean?

It means the highest rate the lender printed on its page for that product on the check date, and nothing more. SoFi's variable range is 5.74% to 10.99%, and Laurel Road's is 5.04% to 10.05% (checked 2026-08-25). Each of those ceilings is the starting rate a borrower at the top of the band would receive. It is not a promise about the rate a year later.

Method treats a variable ceiling exactly like a fixed one. The site takes the printed number, applies it to $30,000 over 10 years, and reports the interest over the life of the loan. That is a deliberate choice, and it has a limit. A fixed ceiling is the rate for the whole term; a variable ceiling is the rate on day one.

The index behind the variable rate is sometimes stated. Splash Financial's page says its variable rates are based on 30-day SOFR plus a margin (checked 2026-08-25). Most of the other pages do not state the index in the text the checker read, and I do not fill in what the page leaves out.

What does the cap tell you?

The cap is the ceiling above the ceiling: the highest rate the loan can carry at any point in its life. SoFi's page states that "5, 7, and 10 Year terms are capped at 13.95% APR, 15 and 20 Year terms are capped at 13.95% APR to the extent permitted under law" (checked 2026-08-25). Laurel Road states "Variable rates will never exceed 15.00%" (checked 2026-08-25).

INvestEd and Navy Federal state a higher cap. INvestEd's page says "The maximum variable interest rate is 18.00%" (checked 2026-08-25). Navy Federal states its variable rate "will not exceed the maximum permissible by law, currently 18.00%" (checked 2026-08-25). Brazos states a 9.90% cap on its variable product, though that product publishes only a floor of 3.62% and so cannot be ranked here (checked 2026-08-25).

The gap between the published ceiling and the cap is the room the rate has to move. For SoFi that is 10.99% to 13.95%; for Laurel Road it is 10.05% to 15.00%; for INvestEd it is 10.67% to 18.00% (checked 2026-08-25). The site does not compute interest at the cap, because the cap is a limit, not a rate anyone is quoted.

How do fixed and variable ceilings compare on $30,000 over 10 years?

The two ceilings are close at every lender that publishes both, and at SoFi they are identical. SoFi's fixed ceiling and variable ceiling are both 10.99%, so both produce $19,570 in interest on $30,000 over 10 years (checked 2026-08-25). The other three lenders in the table publish fixed and variable ceilings that sit close together.

LenderFixed ceilingInterest at fixed ceilingVariable ceilingInterest at variable ceiling
SoFi10.99%$19,57010.99%$19,570
Laurel Road9.75%$17,07710.05%$17,674
Navy Federal Credit Union11.80%$21,23411.32%$20,244
INvestEd9.88%$17,33510.67%$18,920

^ Interest over the life of the loan at the top of each published range, $30,000 over 10 years, from data/computed_for_articles.json; lenders' rates pages checked 2026-08-25.

Navy Federal is the one lender in the table whose variable ceiling sits below its fixed ceiling. Its 15-year fixed top of 11.80% is higher than its 15-year variable top of 11.32%, so the variable figure comes out lower on this case (checked 2026-08-25). That does not make the variable product cheaper; it makes the day-one ceiling lower.

Laurel Road variable, ceiling 10.05%, $30,000 over 10 years (checked 2026-08-25) $397.28 × 120 payments − $30,000 = $17,674 Laurel Road fixed, ceiling 9.75%, same balance and term (checked 2026-08-25) $392.31 × 120 payments − $30,000 = $17,077

The calculator runs the same arithmetic on your own balance and term. Laurel Road vs SoFi puts the two pairs of figures side by side.

Why does the site not model future rate movements?

Because no published page states a forecast, and this site prints only what a page states. A variable-rate loan at 10.05% on August 25, 2026 could carry a different rate at the next reset. The direction and size of that change are not on any rates page, so they are not on this site either.

The consequence is that a variable figure on the lender list is a day-one figure. It is comparable across lenders on the same day, which is the comparison the site is built for. It is not comparable to a fixed figure as a prediction of what you will pay. Article 03 shows how much the term moves the same ceiling, which is a larger effect than the fixed-versus-variable difference in the table above.

Per-term tables sharpen the point. Navy Federal publishes variable ranges of 4.52% to 10.87% for 5 years, 5.07% to 11.22% for 10 years, and 5.57% to 11.32% for 15 years (checked 2026-08-25). Laurel Road's variable table runs from 5.04% to 9.65% at 5 years to 5.80% to 10.05% at 20 years (checked 2026-08-25). The site records the widest band as the product's range. Navy Federal's page and Laurel Road's page show the full tables.

Where is a variable rate not offered at all?

Earnest states that variable rates are "not available in AK, IL, MN, MS, NH, OH, TN, and TX" (checked 2026-08-25). Its variable floor of 5.88% therefore applies only outside the states it lists. Earnest publishes no ceiling for either product, so it does not appear in the table above.

RISLA and MEFA publish no variable product, and College Ave's page does not separate fixed from variable for its refinance range (checked 2026-08-25). SoFi's fixed product notes it "may not be available in all states, such as MS and MT" (checked 2026-08-25). State availability is a condition on the range, and what refinancing costs lists the other conditions worth reading before the rate itself.

Whether the range already includes an autopay discount is a separate condition. SoFi, Laurel Road, Navy Federal, and INvestEd all state that their variable ranges include it (checked 2026-08-25). Citizens' page offers up to 0.50 percentage points of Loyalty and Automatic Payment discounts and does not say whether the published range already includes them (checked 2026-08-25). Article 07 takes the autopay question on its own.

Where the answer changes

Who this article is not for

If you already hold a fixed-rate refinance loan and are not planning another, nothing here changes your payment. The variable cap and the day-one ceiling apply only to a loan whose rate can still move.

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.