Discover Student Loans Review

The benefits explained

• Various loan options available: Instead of general graduate loans, Discover offers several specialized graduate and professional loans with different interest rates that might help MBA, law, and medical students save money on interest.
• Rewards for good grades and discount for pure interest payments: If you achieved a GPA of 3.0 or higher in high school or your undergraduate program, you may be eligible for a cash award equal to 1% of the balance of your loan. In addition, students who choose to only pay interest while they are in school receive a 0.35% interest reduction.
• No late fees: It’s common for private student loan companies to skip the application and closing fees, but Discover takes it a step further and also waives late fees.

Disadvantages explained

• Only one term is available for debt loans: While other lenders can offer a range of repayment terms, Discover only offers 15 years for student and parent loans and 20 years for all other loans. Borrowers who refinance can select a term between 10 and 20 years.
• No prequalification option: Many private student lenders allow you to get a quote with a simple credit check, but Discover doesn’t offer this feature; You must submit an official application to receive a comparable offer. Discover’s multi-year endorsement option allows students with a co-signer to pre-qualify for future college appointments.
• No co-signer release program: If you need a co-signer to help you approve a loan, you’ll need to refinance the loan later to get it out of obligation. Some other lenders allow you to release a co-signer without refinancing if you meet specific criteria.

Student loans offered by Discover

Student loans for students

Discover the offers of loans for students with no fees, multi-year recognition, bonuses for good grades, and discounts for automatic payments and interest payments during college. Eligible students may borrow up to the full cost of attendance, but total limits apply.

Student loans for college graduates

If you are pursuing a master’s or doctoral degree, you can take out a student loan to cover the full cost of your studies (total limits apply). Like student loans, there are no fees, and you can enjoy bonuses for good grades and discounts on automatic payments and interest payments.

Student loans for law

Law school students may take advantage of law school loans to cover the full cost of attendance (global caps apply). You get the same bonus benefits as other Discover Loans, plus no fees.

MBA-Student first

If you are pursuing a Master’s in Business Administration, you may qualify for an MBA student loan.

Student loans for healthcare professionals

If you visit or wish to visit an allopathy, dentistry, nursing, occupational therapy, optometry, osteopathy, pharmacy, physical therapy, physician assistant, podiatry, or medical program veterinarian, you may be eligible for a Discover Health Professions Loan.

Residential loan

As an applicant for a residency in an eligible health career program, you can use a free student loan to cover the cost of your residency, internship, relocation, and exam for your exam through counselling. Credit limits depend on your field of study, and you can receive an interest rate reduction for automatic payments and interest-only payments during your residency program.

Ready for the bar exam

If you have graduated from law school within the last six months or are in your final year of law school, you can use a student loan for the bar exam to help pay for your bar exam costs and living expenses.

Parent loan

If you are a parent and want to help your child complete their education, you can take out a free parental loan. Parents must start payments immediately, but may qualify for an automatic discount.

Refinance loans

If you have graduated or are a parent looking to refinance parental loans, you can apply for Discover’s no-fee consolidation loan. Automatic payments are discounted on the loan.

Creditworthiness and approval

Discover offers private student loans and refinances loans to borrowers in all 50 states. To qualify for a private student loan, you must meet the following criteria:

• You must be at least half enrolled in a bachelor’s or associate’s degree (or another eligible program if pursuing a graduate, MBA, law, or health professional degree) at an eligible school.
• You must intend to graduate.
• You must make satisfactory academic progress as defined by your institution.
• You must be a US citizen, permanent resident, or eligible international student with a qualified co-signer.
• When you apply, you must be at least 16 years old.
• You must pass a credit check.

If you apply for a consolidation Loan, you must meet the following conditions:

• You must be a permanent resident or US citizen and have a US address.
• Having reached the age of 18 at the time of application.
• Pass a credit check.
• Have no more than $150,000 in total student debt. For some fields of research, higher restrictions can be necessary.
• Have sufficient proven income to pay for your debt and show a positive repayment history.
• Be the primary borrower of the loans you want to consolidate.

Are co-signers required?

US citizens and permanent residents do not need to have a co-signer if they can meet Discover’s eligibility criteria themselves. However, if this is not possible, a solvent co-signer is required for approval. To be eligible, international students must have a creditworthy co-signer who is a US citizen or permanent resident. However, keep in mind that Discover does not offer a co-signer release program.

Is credit pre-qualification available?

Discover does not offer a general offer possibility of prequalification for interested borrowers. However, students may be pre-qualified for future credit requirements through the lender’s multi-year approval capability.

Loan fees and repayment options

Loan fees

Discover does not charge loan fees for its personal student loans or consolidation loans; which do not include late fees.

Loan discounts

Discover offers a 0.25% interest rate reduction when you set up automatic payments. For school loans, students can also benefit from an interest rate reduction of 0.35% if they choose the Interest Payment Scheme while in school.