What refinancing costs
On $30,000 over 10 years, the published fixed ranges we hold cost $9,949 to $25,874, median $17,077 in interest at the top of the range, and $151 to $11,781, median $6,791 at the bottom.
Those figures use each lender's published range exactly as printed and add a stated origination fee once; they do not include the rate you would actually be offered.
What do the published ranges come to?
The spread below is across the products we hold, not a market average.
| Product type | Products | At the ceiling | At the floor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed | 15 | $9,949 to $25,874, median $17,077 | $151 to $11,781, median $6,791 |
| Variable, as printed on the day read | 9 | $16,072 to $20,244, median $19,427 | $5,802 to $10,932, median $8,254 |
A worked example
Take the fixed product with the widest published range and put $30,000 on it over 10 years.
Navy Federal Credit Union Fixed, from its published rates page. checked 2026-08-25 This is an example, not a quote.
What does the advertised rate leave out?
- The top of the range. The banner figure is the bottom, available to the strongest files on the shortest term. The published top is the only number that bounds what you could be offered, and on the products we hold the gap between the two is $9,658 in interest at the median.
- Autopay. 16 of the computable products state that the range already includes the discount; without autopay the real range sits above the printed one.
- A ceiling at all. 6 products publish only a “from” rate. Nothing about the worst case can be computed from those pages.
- Fees. 0 products we hold state an origination fee; it is added once where stated and left out where the page is silent.
- The term. The same top-of-range APR costs several times more interest over 20 years than over 5, and the lender's name does not change that.
What can you negotiate, and what can you not?
Movable in practice: where in the range you land, by adding a cosigner, shortening the term, or enrolling in autopay where the lender prices it. Not movable: the published minimum loan, the published top of the range, and the arithmetic of the term.
Questions worth asking before you apply
- Does the advertised range already include the autopay discount?
- What is the top of the range for my term, in writing?
- Is there an origination fee, and what else is charged in my state?
- If I refinance federal loans, which protections do I give up, and is that in writing?
Who this is not for
If you need a recommendation, this page will not give you one. It describes what the published numbers are and what they leave out. We have not borrowed from these lenders and we do not rate them. Nothing here is financial advice.
Sources
- Every figure above is computed from the rows in data.json, each carrying its own source URL and check date.
- The method page gives the formula in full and the four reasons a figure can be missing.
Related
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.