Borrower tip: Refinancing federal student loans into a private student loan can make you ineligible for certain types of protections, such as income-driven repayment plans, federal debt forgiveness programs and forbearance/deferment options through the Department of Education.
Find the Best Student Loans for You
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Student loan options from Discover are:
- Undergraduate.
- Graduate.
- Parent.
- MBA.
- Law school.
- Medical school.
- Residency.
- Bar exam prep classes and living expenses.
- Student loan refinancing for students and parents.
Discover offers fixed- and variable-rate student loans. You can apply for a loan from $1,000 up to your total cost of attendance, minus other financial aid.
There are no application, origination or late fees.
Discover does not disclose minimum FICO credit score, minimum credit history or maximum debt-to-income ratio requirements for loan approval, and preapprovals are not available. You’ll need to apply before you can find out about approval and loan terms.
Co-signers are accepted. Discover will evaluate individual student borrowers first and will then recommend the co-signer option if needed.
To qualify for a student loan, you must fill out an application and submit, after which you will undergo a hard credit check to receive your offer. Discover doesn’t disclose its minimum required credit score. If you don’t have enough credit history, you may need to apply with a co-signer who has appropriate credit for the loan. You may borrow from $1,000 up to the amount your school certifies for that school year for most student loans. Discover offers an option to prequalify for loans for future school years to simplify the application process.
Discover doesn’t publish the minimum credit score for student loans. You’ll likely need good credit to qualify, and if you don’t have it, you’ll need a co-signer to get a loan. The company also evaluates applications based on field of study, additional sources of financing, grades and other information from the application.
While your application can be completed in as little as 15 minutes, school certification time frames vary by school but typically take three to five weeks to process. Once your school certifies your loan, the school will schedule the disbursement.
Discover student loan borrowers can decide whether to make payments while in school. Repayment options include:
- Interest-only payments while in school.
- Flat $25 monthly payments while in school.
- Deferred payment, with no in-school payments required.
Discover does not disclose specific requirements or policies regarding its forbearance or deferment due to financial hardship options. However, the lender offers options for borrowers experiencing financial difficulty.
If the primary borrower dies or is permanently disabled, the loan is forgiven for both borrowers and co-signers. However, Discover won’t release a co-signer if, for example, the primary borrower makes a certain number of on-time payments or builds their own credit.
Undergraduate and graduate students can earn a one-time award equal to 1% of each new Discover student loan when they earn at least a 3.0 GPA or equivalent.
Customers can also lower their student loan interest rate by 0.25 percentage point while enrolled in automatic payments.
Discover has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau and is a BBB-accredited business.
In 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau received 125 student loan complaints about Discover. The most common issues were related to dealing with the lender or servicer, and struggling to repay the loan. Discover provided a timely response to the CFPB for all complaints but one. Discover closed 113 with explanation, seven with nonmonetary relief and five with monetary relief.
Discover’s U.S.-based representatives are available to assist 24/7.
- Students who want to be rewarded for good grades.
- Students who want multiple loan options.
- Students who don’t want to pay loan fees.