Earnest
Reviews and Complaints

Earnest don't give the lowest rates like they say. I got a way better rate on Credible. Their refinance rate was more than what I'm paying for my student loan, even though my money situation got way better!

It's super easy to make extra payments with Earnest. I always know the exact day when the money is gonna leave my account. I managed to refinance my loan and remove my parents from it just six months after graduating. Now I'm hoping to refinance again and get a way better interest rate.

I heard great things about this company, unfortunately, after my application was reviewed, I was not approved due to my school not being accredited. On the other hand, 2 of the people that graduated with me got approved. They graduated from the same school, which makes no sense. I passed my state exam, and I'm a legal state DR. I will be getting in contact with corporate on this matter.

Horrible experience with this company. After submiting an application, I was bombarded with inacurate and threatning communications through text and email. When I tried to respond or ask questions, I never received answers. They said my credit would be impacted on several occassions. I was already nervous about refinancing my loans and Earnest has now put me into a state of fear.

I refinanced to save 2% on my current Earnest loan. I paid ahead 3 months because I was having a baby and didn't want to deal with it. Each time I called, they told me my due date would be advanced. I had to wait for my cycle to close. Cycle closed, still owed. Called, they said it's because I can't pay ahead because I signed up for auto pay, even though when I signed up for auto pay it said my option was to advance my due date. Earnest says I owe. Thank you, Earnest, for making it so I am short $3k during my maternity leave during a pandemic!

Earnest is a pretty good company, they got some cool stuff like biweekly payment, but some of their stuff is just not right when it comes to customer service. I refinanced my student loan with them last year and they gave me a fixed interest rate. Turns out, they messed up and had to make some changes in my favor. They lowered my interest rate by one little point and made adjustments to the interest and principal. But when I asked them to show me the proof of why they made those changes, they said they audited the calculations and had another team check it, but they can't share that info with me because of their company rules. Like, seriously? If you made the mistake in the first place (which I wouldn't have known about if you didn't tell me), then you should be happy to show me how and why you fixed it. The big banks do the same thing when it comes to mortgages. I couldn't put up with that, so I went and refinanced with SoFi instead.

Earnest sent me an ad in the mail to apply for refinancing my student loan. I filled out the app and got pre-qualified for a super low fixed rate, so I went ahead with the hard credit check to make it official. Today, I got an email from Earnest saying I can't refinance my student loan with them because I'm currently taking college classes. Nowhere on their site for student loan refinancing does it say students can't do it. They didn't need to check my credit when they already knew I couldn't refinance. They could've just rejected my app before checking my credit. When I told them I'm in school for a second master's and I'm already paying off a refi loan with SoFi, I gave them 2 choices: either make an exception and give me a loan or talk to the credit agency to remove the unnecessary credit check. They said no to both.

If I could give 0 stars, I would. I refinanced and had a great rate - but after three months, my account still hadn't been finalized, resulting in me missing 3 months of payments. It wasn't until I called did they actually realize I hadn't been paying on my loan due to their mistake. In 2022, I refinanced again and tried to set up biweekly payments. But Earnest had an issue on their end again, making my April payment late (correct card info). This made my biweekly payments void, and I had to set up the payments all over again since you can't set up biweekly payments for the month you're in. In May, I was told automatic payments wouldn't start until June, but Earnest took out a payment, on top of me making one manually. I noticed it 3 days after it was posted and immediately requested a refund. Being told Memorial Day would delay the refund, I was expected to receive it in about 10 business days. I still haven't received the refund. I've called on 3 separate occasions, each time being told that it was on the way. Calling today, I was told when a refund request is made, there's a ticket submitted so staff can track it. But my refund request was never officially made and there was no ticket. This company is the worst and has wasted so much of my time and money. Absolutely ridiculous and I highly recommend staying away from Earnest.

I refinanced my student loan with Earnest, my old servicer is unresponsive. Earnest said it should take 1-2 weeks for the payoff to happen. The check was sent out on September 28. My old servicer claims Earnest sent the check to the wrong address so they returned the check. Earnest is claiming the check has been cashed. I now have 2 student loans for the same amount and both are accumulating interest. I want this to be resolved because it's costing me additional money in interest every day that goes by.

I just refinanced my student loan with Earnest, LLC. They automatically take out my minimum payment every month. My employer also sends $50 directly to Earnest, LLC for my student loan. I called them to ask if the extra payment could go towards the main amount, but they said it doesn't have to according to the terms and conditions. It feels like they're taking advantage of me, and I need help fixing this so that my extra payment goes towards the main amount.

I kept getting calls from this company all the time. One day, 'cause they called so much, I ended up talking to one of their reps. They talked about refinancing my student loans. They kinda tricked me into giving them my info, so they could log in to my FAFSA account and get my debt details. Then they tried to pressure me into agreeing to their refinancing plan, but I said no 'cause I was worried about how they got my info. Now I see their name on my credit report as a hard inquiry, even though I never said they could do that.

On June 11, I wanted to see if I could refinance my private student loan (loan $46,000). After filling out the information, I was pre-approved for loan refinancing. A day later, my loan was denied. Then, on June 4th, 2022, I wanted to see if I could get approved again. I got pre-approved. This time, I was asking for $35,000 to refinance. I was hoping that a year later and asking for less money would get me approved. This didn't happen. My loan was denied. There isn't a point to get pre-approval. It makes my credit worse because of the hard inquiry on my credit. If it's pre-approved, then it should be approved. Instead, they lie to consumers and ruin their credit. Please remove the hard inquiry from my credit.

So, I was tryna get a loan online, right? Late at night, and then the next morning, I got this text from this company called Earnest. They said they could help me out, so I was like, cool. They asked for all my info, and I sent 'em everything they wanted. Then, this lady tells me I gotta put up $150 'cause I use this third-party thing called Current to get my paycheck. She said I had to pay it in a Target gift card. We went back and forth for like a week 'cause I had this feeling telling me not to do it, but I ended up sending the money anyway.

She said it would only take 45 minutes, and then I'd have my loan. But after the first 45 minutes, I hit her up and asked what was goin' on. She tells me it's gonna be another 45 minutes. So I wait, right? And then she texts me again, talkin' about I need to send her $300 more for some insurance or somethin'. That's when I had enough. I told her to just give me my money back. But now she's sayin' she can't do that. She says I gotta pay the rest of the money or I ain't gettin' a single dime back.

I don't get it, man. Why can't I get my money back? I ain't got $150 just to throw away like that. I want my money back, plain and simple!

I'm a healthcare worker, a hospital pharmacist new graduate, and I work hard to help treat COVID patients and critically ill patients during this Pandemic. But my workplace department decided to cut down my hours, so I'm losing income and barely able to pay back my loans monthly. After paying all my bills, I'm left with just a few hundred dollars a month. I asked Earnest, my current loans provider, to refinance my loans to a lower rate, but they denied my request. They told me to request Loan Forbearance instead. I followed their instructions and submitted my Request through email on 7/21. I decided to check the status on 7/27, and the rep said it usually takes 2 days to process the request. It's been more than 3 days now, and they told me to check back again. So, I checked back on 7/28, and now they're saying I still have to pay my August payment because it would take them 5 days to process the request. This is unfair. I need to check the documents.

I was tryna get my private student loans refinanced with Earnest, ya know? I wanted a lower rate and the rep told me I could do it after 4 payments. So I made those payments and applied for a new loan. But guess what? The application ended up in the spam folder and nobody bothered to call me back to say it was approved. They're sayin' the application expired, like seriously? That's some messed up stuff they just threw together. How does an application just expire and I miss it by 12 days? Now my payment is late and they won't let me refinance my loans. This company is a scam, man. They better reach out to me and approve my already approved application that I filled out but forgot to sign. I ain't playin' around with this, I'm gonna contact the attorney general if they don't fix this mess. I filled out the application, it got approved, so it should be in effect. I ain't makin' another 4 payments at this rate, no way.

After I switched my student loan to Earnest, I've had nothing but problems. My husband was initially added as a third party, but every time he calls, they say he's not authorized. The biggest issue is that my last payment wasn't credited to my account. I always make payments that are way more than the minimum, but Earnest doesn't credit my account. I've contacted them, but they just keep going in circles about my information and never actually fix the problem. Recently, my husband called again to report the last payment that wasn't credited, but once again, he wasn't authorized, even though we authorized him before. They didn't even bother to look into the account or the payment. They take the money and cash the check, which can be proven, but they don't credit it to your account. Earnest was supposed to be a reputable source for student loan refinancing, but they've only caused trouble. I'm owed two *** payments at this point, and they just keep adding fees without ever addressing the actual problem or where my money is going, even though I have proof that the checks were cashed.

On 12/6, I put in a request for forbearance for another 3 months 'cause I ain't got no job right now and I'm in the middle of lookin' for a new one. They let me go 'cause the company's cuttin' back on hours and hirin' newbies for way less money. They ain't even given me any written proof 'cause they're so unprofessional. All I'm askin' for is another 3 months of forbearance, which I'm allowed 12 months total for my private student loans. I'm a pharmacist workin' in a rural area where there ain't enough staff to take care of COVID-19 patients. I've been workin' crazy hours 'cause of the high turnover rate. But the company wants to save money by cuttin' back on the financial support for my department. They even got rid of all the doctors and replaced 'em with people who ain't got no experience in critical care. This has made the quality of patient care go down. Earnest is tryin' to deny my forbearance request again, and this will be my second complaint to the ComplaintsBoard.com. Right now, I only got a little bit of savings to cover my rent, loans, bills, and groceries. Plus, I gotta send money to my parents every month.

Things with Earnest started off great - the process was simple and painless. Not to mention everyone was extremely friendly. The issues began to arise when I was modifying my payments. I have now had 5 SEPARATE issues where the information that I've been told by a representative was completely wrong. I've also now had two separate instances where I have been told different things by different representatives. Most recently, I called to change the amount of my monthly payment. This was on June 22nd. I was told the new payment amount would come into effect on July 12th. It is now July 13th, and my payment has not changed. Additionally, when I checked upcoming payments, the payments that are "processing" are for the old amount. When I called the representative said he was "trying to figure out what happened". Now I'm finding out that apparently that the day of the week my payments occur have changed - something I did not do and the representative could not explain why the change occurred. The issue is that this has happened a total of 5 times - someone on the phone assures you that a change has been made, and you find out this hasn't occurred. I have never worked with any company that deals with consumers' money so flippantly. Do not be fooled by the ease of the application process and the niceties offered by the customer representatives. If you want to do anything more advanced than paying the exact minimum every month, they are absolutely clueless and will charge your account with complete disregard to whatever conversations you may have had with them. I understand that mistakes happen, but no one at Earnest will be able to provide you with a solid answer. To make matters worse, if you are able to ever chat with a manager, it will be over email... not a manager's email... but the general email that anyone can email with basic questions. Stay away. Look at other options.

I'm an Army Soldier deployed overseas in support of Operation Joint Guardian. My Title 10 orders are under a specific operation. As such, I applied for a military DEFERMENT for my refinanced student loan held with Earnest. I have encountered the following 2 problems with Earnest since JAN 2, 2022: 1) I was denied the military service deferment to which I'm entitled, and was instead enrolled into a forbearance, leading to unnecessary interest accrual on my loan balance. When I called to inquire, I was redirected to Navient without a satisfactory answer; 2) Despite wanting to continue payments during forbearance, Earnest altered my automatic payment setup, causing late payments and additional interest on a higher principal. After reporting the issue, the representative was unable to resolve it or reach a Navient specialist. I was only recently informed that autopay isn't available during forbearance, which was not communicated initially. I request that a deferment be applied to my account, retroactive to JAN 2, when my qualifying military service started. If I'm deemed ineligible for a deferment, I ask for a refund of the interest accrued due to the changes in my autopay setting.

On June 10, 2022, I sent EARNEST a letter disputing a debt account under my name and asked for five (5) specific things to prove this debt. They didn't answer. On June 28, 2022, I sent a Sworn Affidavit saying that since EARNEST didn't prove this debt was mine, they should delete it. EARNEST replied with a letter saying my documents were part of a "fraud scheme." On July 22, 2022, I sent a notice of fault telling EARNEST that they didn't give me any of the things I asked for and had a chance to fix this mistake. After no response from EARNEST, I sent a notice of default on August 8, 2022. This document explained all the previous communication and said that their failure to provide evidence and their silence meant they agreed to my terms. EARNEST kind of accepted the terms: Deleting the debt, Reporting it to the credit bureaus, and Paying for violating my consumer rights. The company didn't respond or do anything honorable to fix this problem. After the time for them to respond was way overdue as said in the notice of default, I finally filed a CFPB complaint explaining the case. EARNEST replied with a copy of an electronic agreement and a letter saying the account was valid without any proof. I sent another CFPB response and challenged this contract because it didn't follow the law and had fraud since the finance charge was different from the total payments. EARNEST replied again saying the account was valid because of the agreement with an e-signature and nothing else. EARNEST broke a lot of FDCPA and TILA rules and didn't respond properly to my documents. According to the 10 Maxims in Commercial Law, if an Affidavit isn't challenged, it's considered true in business and an unchallenged Affidavit becomes the judgment in business.