The main advantage of refinancing your student loan is that it usually lowers the interest rates of student loans written with variable interest rate. But some of the students simply wish to extend the repayment period because the monthly payments are too high. This means that the monthly payments will be lower, thus more manageable but the rates will probably be higher. Sometimes if you have troubles paying your loan, you might want to contact your current lender and ask about securing a hardship deferment instead of refinancing your loan.
Regardless of what option you decide for, the most important thing is to do your research. There are many lenders with various terms and conditions so take your time to compare various to find what best suits your needs. Online lenders are also pretty competitive and they often give best interest rates, but you must be twice as careful when choosing a lender online. Qualification requirements differ from lender to lender, but they usually consider your payment and credit history. The better your credits are the lower the rates and the approval will be much easier. That is why it is best to start planning your refinancing before you have finished college so you will have time to work on your credit score. You can refinance only once in the lifetime of a loan, unless you are adding a new loan, so plan it carefully.
There is one important fact to know when refinancing your student loan - grace period. After graduation, every student has a 6 month long grace period after which they must start the repayment. If you decide to refinance during this period the rates will be up to even 60% lower and they apply to the entire repayment period.
Another thing you should know is that you never mix federal and private loan into one.The reason is simple, most of federal student loans have low interest rates, unlike the private ones so combining these two will only end up with higher interest rates than they would be if you have refinanced separately. Also when you merge Perkins loan you lose its benefits such as interest-free deferment.
Also sometimes it is not a good idea to merge various small loans into one big loan. It might create a minimum monthly payment but on the long run it will extend your repayment period. Take your time to look into all of this; after all, it is your money.