Sweet! Thanks! Signed up for Earnest and have a message out to Citizen's. Crossing my fingers! This 6.25% is just painful and rude.
I looked at SoFi, but I was denied. SoFi will only refinance law-school loans if the applicant has taken (& passed) a bar exam.
Instead, I tried out Earnest. The application process was interesting—the company wanted to connect to my LinkedIn account & my financial accounts. Since I was paying 6.62% on my existing student loans, I gave them a shot. Overall, I was pleased at the 2-day turnaround & I was pleased that Earnest seems to put considerable weight on balance-sheet assets. i.e. The company gave me "credit" for all of my retirement savings during its underwriting process. Earnest didn't want to see any household (read: wife's) income or tax returns; it only looked at my personal assets & income.
After getting my approval, I was presented with a sliding bar that let me choose an initial monthly payment amount. Beneath, it summarized what a Floating & a Fixed rate option would look like, given the selected monthly payment. I thought that was a pretty neat touch. My wife & I decided to maintain our existing payment level, but switching to a floating rate. This let me shave about 4 years off of the scheduled repayment. Of course, I am hopeful that I'll pay off sooner!
Overall, I was very pleased with the process. For anyone who doesn't fit into SoFi's "box," I would encourage you to take a look at Earnest. If you're interested in learning more, I would be happy to share details.
Of course, Earnest does have a referral program ($200 to me per referral, unfortunately nothing to the applicant =\ ). I couldn't find someone else's link on MMM, or else I would've used it. If anyone wants to apply, here is my link:
http://bit.ly/1eHjggV