SoFi Student Loans

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.

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.

My credit was run on November 12. That is how long this process has taken only to be denied when I had been in touch with customer service several times throughout the application. I am grossly disappointed in the lack of communication and service from Sofi. The platform is not user friendly, many customer service representatives citing a “technical glitch” in the platform and advising I wait for them to contact me with a solution (which never came.) I strongly suggest looking elsewhere for any financing needs.

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.

The SoFi reps (2 reps, 2 calls) were very clear that the interest would be paid over the length of the loan. Today we find out - surprise! Interest payments to be upfront over the next 3 months to the tune of an add'l ~ $1400! They flat out lied to us. Be cautious. We have been with them for 5 years (2015), with 1 large & 1 medium student loan(s). We have seen the progression from a Company with Stanford founders, that seemed to really want to help (Social Financing) to another greedy large scale Corporation, making more money off the backs of our youth and future of this Country. Maybe that's how you pay for a new NFL Stadium in LA and for all those commercials on TV. Shame on them!

It's been a horrible 4 years and I regret ever refinancing my student loan with SoFi. Signing up was easy.....and they make it easy because they want you (need you) as a customer. However, once you sign the contract, you're nothing but another customer with a SoFi balance. They don't care about you or job loss. SoFi is a glorified Sallie Mae. I'm basically paying an extra month's rent on top of my actual rent, car, insurance, and other bills with no other support.

1. Unfortunately, the representative at SoFi lied to me re student loans not accruing interest. Currently, under SoFi all of my student loans at the moment are accruing interest. This switch from federal to private loan repayments was based on a lie and has cost me thousands of dollars.

2. My loan was transferred to a partner company, Mohela, as it is a student loan. As a result, I am currently having two work with two bureaucracies, two policies and two systems. When I have an issue, a representative from one company blames the other company and vice versa. This lack of accountability and transparency is beyond frustrating. One SoFi representative even tried to argue with me and tell me that the loan is solely under Mohela. My monthly bill has the SoFi logo and the Mohela logo on top of it. Therefore, this representative was clearly lying to me and trying to blame the other.

3. The first and most stressful year of my doctorate studies was made even worse due to SoFi/Mohela's policy and required documentation. Despite the fact that my status as a student did not change throughout the semester and throughout the year, I was required to provide verification of enrollment every three to four months. This verification process would not be in sync with the bill generating process, thereby resulting in me getting a high bill every three to four months in which I would have to make a call to ensure that SoFi/Mohela received my school enrollment verification and that I would, in turn, get a revised bill.

During this very stressful time for me, I had to make continuous calls to resolve these issues and make sure that I was not penalized for any potential late payments due to the fact that the company may not have received the documentation before the bill was generated. By the time the issue would be resolved, it would start all over again a month later due to the need to requirement of illustrating the fact that I was a student.

4. Over the summer, I was not "officially" enrolled in classes and the University provided me with a small stipend. However, as I could not provide "official" enrollment verification, I had to file for unemployment. As such, I had to create an account, talk with a career counselor, and illustrate that I was trying to find a job. Of course I was not trying to find a job as I was returning to school in the fall. This farce of an endeavor cost me hours of my time and created such a paperwork mess.

5. This last one really flummoxed me. Fall classes ended December 31. Spring classes started January 21. SoFi/Mohela sent me a bill that was generated December 22 and was due on January 16. I sent them half a payment in addition to paperwork verifying enrollment for spring semester. However, according to SoFi/Mohela, because spring semester started after the bill was due, I needed to pay the entire bill. Despite the fact that my status as a student did NOT change from December to January, I magically earned $200 more dollars within a two week timeframe to pay the entire bill. Once more, after countless of hours on the phone calling SoFi and Mohela, I just paid the extra $200 and will not eat for the next two weeks.

My level of frustration and anxiety related to these issues over the past year and a half are incredibly high. Not only has this affected my studies but it has also affected my mental health, especially as I am someone with an impeccable on-time payment history and really amazing credit. I regret transferring my loan to them and would vehemently NOT recommend this company to anyone.