Juno Pupil Loans Assessment: Professionals, Cons, And Options

Juno scholar loans is a platform that helps match you with a private student loan lender, however with a twist. The method sometimes works by pre-qualifying, going by means of an inventory of lenders, after which hopefully selecting the one with one of the best fee. 

However what in case you might get with a gaggle of buddies and method a single lender for a mortgage? Would that lender be extra keen to decrease their fee?
Juno thinks the reply is sure as a result of that is precisely what its technique is constructed on. Juno takes a gaggle of debtors and presents them to its community of companion lenders. It then negotiates a decrease fee primarily based on a gaggle of debtors vs. a single borrower. On this article, we’ll overview how Juno works.

Who Is Juno?

Juno, previously LeverEdge, negotiates higher scholar mortgage charges for teams of scholar mortgage debtors. Its founders are Christopher Abkarians and Nikhil Agarwal, who pioneered the “group scholar mortgage” technique themselves throughout their years as Harvard college students. The corporate has raised $2.5 million by means of a seed spherical.
“Juno is the primary collective bargaining group for scholar loans,” Abkarians mentioned to KTEN TV. “Our mission is to assist college students decrease the price of training, from the day they take out their first mortgage to the day they end paying it off.”
“Juno is the final word workforce effort…The extra individuals concerned, the larger our skill to barter decrease charges. We’re dedicated to doing no matter we are able to to minimize the cost of student loans.”

What Do They Provide?

Juno affords private student loans and student loan refinancing. By working with its lending companions, Juno is ready to negotiate decrease charges on scholar loans. As Abkarians said within the above quote, the extra debtors which might be concerned, the extra negotiating leverage they’re going to have with lenders.
Conventional lender matching platforms pair up a lender with a borrower. Every mortgage is negotiated separately. It may be a gradual, boring, and really time-consuming course of. Some platforms will pre-qualify debtors, nonetheless, which may enormously pace up the method.
Juno takes a gaggle of debtors and submits their info to its companion lenders. This could doubtlessly be a win-win for either side. Lenders obtain a block of debtors, which is much extra environment friendly for them than working with only one borrower at a time. In return, the group of debtors receives decrease charges.

One downside of this course of is that it will probably take weeks and even months earlier than lenders finalize any deal. Lenders nonetheless want time to investigate the group’s general credit score threat, which is the place the lag is available in. College students trying to get higher charges with Juno ought to issue of their tuition due dates towards how lengthy it might take a deal to finalize. In fact, this doesn’t hold college students from purchasing round simply in case.

Which Mortgage Sorts Are Accessible?

Non-public scholar loans and scholar mortgage refinancing can be found from Juno. Listed below are the varieties of non-public scholar loans that it at present affords:

• Undergraduate Loans
• Graduate Loans
• MBA Loans
• Parent Loans
• DACA Loans
• Diploma Overseas Loans

Refinancing is obtainable as properly with phrases of 5-15 years from the next companion lenders — Earnest, Splash, and Nelnet Bank. When you’re refinancing medical loans, you may be routed to Laurel Street. All different mortgage sorts are made by means of Earnest or Splash.

Juno is at present constructing a negotiation group for international student loan refinancing. As soon as it is reached 2,000 sign-ups, it is going to start reaching out to lenders to barter a gaggle fee.

Money Again And Charge Reductions

Juno is at present providing as much as $1,000 cash back for debtors who refinance with Splash. For Earnest and Laurel Street debtors, it guarantees a fee discount of 0.25%. With Laurel Street, you can too make $100 funds when you’re in medical residency or fellowship.

Is Juno Higher Than Federal Pupil Loans?

The quick reply is not any. Federal scholar loans supply many benefits over non-public scholar loans. Some advantages of utilizing federal scholar loans embody:

• Decrease charges
• Versatile reimbursement phrases
• Eligible for Income-Driven Repayment (IDR)
• Eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)

In regard to the final two bullet factors, non-public scholar loans usually are not eligible. Additionally, in the course of the pandemic, federal student loans have been in a 0% interest forbearance period. For a lot of non-public loans, this selection has not been accessible.

Nonetheless, in case you’ve already hit your annual or lifetime federal borrowing cap, Juno’s non-public scholar loans supply nice advantages and aggressive charges. Additionally, in case you aren’t making the most of IDR and are not pursuing PSLF forgiveness, refinancing your federal loans to a decrease fee with Juno might make sense.

Are There Any Charges?

No, Juno does not cost any software or origination charges. There additionally no prepayment penalties if repay your loans earlier than the top of your reimbursement time period.

How Does Juno Evaluate?

Since Juno is not truly a lender, its “secret sauce” is its fee discount and money again offers. However it’s necessary to know that you simply may be capable of discover a decrease fee or much more money again by making use of with a person lender straight or utilizing one other comparability platform like Credible.

This is a fast take a look at how Juno compares:

What Borrower Protections Are Accessible?

There’s a 9-month grace interval after graduating or withdrawing from college earlier than reimbursement begins. However all different advantages equivalent to forbearance and deferment intervals will range by lender. You’ll be able to learn our critiques of Splash, Earnest, and Laurel Street to be taught extra about the advantages they supply.

How Do I Open An Account?

You’ll be able to go to Juno’s website to get started. Anticipate to offer the next when filling out an software:

• Title
• E-mail Tackle
• College / College Data
• Instructional Program Data
• Commencement Yr
• Immigration Standing
• Social Safety Quantity
• Mortgage Stability
• Employment info (if relevant)
• Annual Revenue (if software)
• Cosigner Data (if relevant)
• Cosigner’s Immigration Standing (if relevant)

How Do I Contact Juno?

Juno might be reached by telephone or e-mail from Monday – Friday, 8 AM to five PM (EST). Their telephone quantity is 201-482-1269 and their e-mail handle is hi there@joinjuno.com. You may also schedule a Zoom assembly with a Juno workforce member here.

Why Ought to You Belief Us

I’m America’s Pupil Mortgage Debt Knowledgeable&commerce; and have been actively writing about and protecting scholar loans since 2009. Myself and the workforce right here at The Faculty Investor have been actively monitoring student loan providers since 2015 and have reviewed, examined, and adopted nearly each supplier and lender within the area.

Moreover, our compliance workforce critiques the charges and phrases on these itemizing each weekday to make sure they’re correct. That means you might be positive you are taking a look at an correct and up-to-date fee whenever you’re comparability purchasing. 

Who Is This For And Is It Price It?

If you could take out non-public loans otherwise you’re trying to refinance your present scholar loans, Juno may very well be value it. They cost no charges, supply versatile phrases, and might be able to give you a decrease fee than conventional lenders. Nonetheless, Juno’s software course of could also be extra time-consuming so that you’ll need to apply properly earlier than your tuition deadlines. 

Earlier than making use of with Juno, just remember to’ve filled out a FAFSA for federal loans first as they provide extra protections than non-public loans. And, as with all mortgage, it is necessary to buy round for one of the best deal. Evaluate Juno with our top private student loan companies and student loan refinancing lenders.

Juno FAQs

Listed below are a couple of of the questions individuals ask most frequently about Juno scholar loans:

Is Juno legit?

Sure, since its founding in 2018, Juno has already had greater than 78,000 members signal as much as be a part of one its negotiation teams and it has secured over $420 million in loans.

Does Juno supply scholarships?

Sure, it affords a month-to-month no-essay $1,000 scholarship in addition to a $1,000 essay/video scholarship.

Are you able to refinance international student loans with Juno?

Not but, however it is best to be capable of quickly. It is at present constructing a negotiation group and over 1,000 members have already joined. As soon as there are 2,000 members within the group, Juno will start operating bids with lenders.

Does Juno supply any money again bonuses?

Sure, it is at present providing as much as $1,000 again to debtors who refinance.

Juno Options