Essentially, this is just replacing one or multiple outstanding loans with a new one that has better terms for you, the borrower. People refinance all kinds of loans; but it can be extra beneficial for individuals to refinance student loans for a few reasons. Let's take a look at why it makes sense to refinance student loans, as well as the best student loan refinance options.

Why Should You Refinance Student Loans?

It can be tough to know when to follow and when to avoid financial advice. There's so much conflicting information out there, sometimes it feels safer to just do nothing instead of pulling the trigger. It's time for you to see the light if you're in this boat.

These are a few of the top reasons why it makes sense to refinance your student loans:

-You can improve the terms of your student loans – Probably the most relevant reason refinancing student loans makes sense is you can drastically improve the terms of your loans. Even if you're able to repay your loan in its current form, wouldn't you rather pay back less? Getting a better interest rate is absolutely a huge motivation for people to bite the bullet and refinance their student loans. Especially if your credit has improved over time, you might be able to realize huge savings by refinancing.

-Change your repayment duration – The length of a loan can make a difference in terms of how much you end up paying over time. Generally, you're going to get better interest rates for shorter term loans, but lower monthly payments for a longer duration one. If you're financially ready to aggressively pay down your student loans, refinancing to a shorter duration loan might be a great move. On the flip side, those who are barely scraping by might want to refinance to a longer duration loan to give themselves more breathing room on a monthly basis.

-You can consolidate your payments – If you have several student loans from different lenders, it might make sense for you to refinance and consolidate them into a single new loan. This will simplify your repayment, as you'll only have to think about a single bill as opposed to many. Furthermore, you can improve your net interest rate and make your borrowing situation more affordable.

These are some pretty clear motivations to refinance student loans. But how should you find the best student loan refinance deals available out there?

Where Will You Find the Best Student Loan Refinance Options?

Assuming you have decent credit, there are lots of lenders out there who would be happy to refinance your student loans. But how are you supposed to find the best deal? You can start by knowing what to look for in a good offer.

One thing to keep in mind is you will need to have your credit checked in order to refinance your loans. Look for an organization that only needs to run a soft credit check to do this, as a hard inquiry can potentially hurt your credit score.

You're probably not going to find the best student loan refinancing deal by just checking every offer from individual lenders. It's worth looking at Juno, which, instead of being a lender itself, negotiates with a pool of lenders to find the optimal deals for their group members.

It's important to note refinancing federal student loans can lead to losing certain benefits, such as income-based repayment and loan forgiveness. Make sure you understand these implications before refinancing. For those with good credit and solid work prospects, however, refinancing student loans can be a huge win and free up more of your money for other uses.