Sofi: different rates between my spouse and I

[adventure]

If I check Sofi for a 50k student loan refinance I get (slightly) different rates than my spouse.

Per Sofi, credit hasn't been pulled yet.

Is this solely due to years of work experience (more years = lower rates), being a physician (higher rates), earning more (higher rates!), having more existing debt with Sofi (higher rates), or being from different graduate/medical schools (east coast = higher rates than west coast). Previous known credit (higher score from 2 years ago = lower rate)

Any ideas?

 

Me (lower rates):



Spouse (higher rates):



 

[CordMcNally]

Hard to say what kind of formula they use for their pre-approvals. It would be interesting to see how they compare to their final offers.

[The White Coat Investor]

They won't reveal their exact formula, I've asked. That leaves us to speculate as you are doing. But a higher income means a better debt to income ratio, and thus lower rates.

[Anesthesia84]

My husband and I got slightly different rates also when we refinanced a couple of years ago - although it made no sense to me since I was an attending while he was a fellow (who was doing enough moonlighting at the time to make refinancing feasible). My loan balance was slightly higher but it was about 250k vs 280k which didn't seem like it should matter. Either way, our rates were 2.2 vs 2.5 so we took them and moved on with our lives.

[adventure]

The White Coat Investor wrote:

They won’t reveal their exact formula, I’ve asked. That leaves us to speculate as you are doing. But a higher income means a better debt to income ratio, and thus lower rates.

Click to expand...

Right, I'd agree with that, which is why I was surprised when (lower income) received a better rate than spouse (higher income). Who knows.

Now on day two, after we've formally applied together - the rates are lower applying together

Moral of the story: It may be better financially to apply as a couple for student loan refinance, than separately. (it may not either, and there are some downsides if you ever want to split up!)

 

Has anyone else seen this? Or refinanced with a spouse? We both work and earn respectable incomes.