Citizens Education Refinance Loan Review

A large bank that does everything in house, with the highest loan ceilings here and the worst customer sentiment.

About Citizens Education Refinance Loan

A large bank that does everything in house, with the highest loan ceilings here and the worst customer sentiment. Citizens Education Refinance Loan is offered by Citizens Bank, N.A., a subsidiary of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. and currently holds an average rating of 1.4 out of 5 across 924 user reviews. It falls into the Student Loan Refinancing category and tends to be the strongest fit for very large balances, especially professional degrees, from a bank that keeps the loan.

Editorial grade: C+ (composite score 60/100).

Highlights

Terms of 5, 7, 10, 15 or 20 years, minimum $10,000
Maximum $300,000 with a bachelor's, $500,000 with a graduate degree, $750,000 for professional degrees
Up to 0.50 percentage points off, combining a 0.25 loyalty discount and 0.25 for automatic payment
No application, origination, prepayment or disbursement fees

What we like

Citizens originates, funds and services the loan itself, with no third party in the chain
The highest loan ceilings in this group by a wide margin, up to $750,000 for professional degrees
Refinances both federal and private loans, and states the federal trade-off plainly in its own disclosures
Genuinely no fees at origination

Where it falls short

Trustpilot 1.4 out of 5 across 924 reviews, by far the worst sentiment in this set
The loyalty discount requires a qualifying Citizens account opened 30 days before applying, and Citizens deposit accounts are only offered in 15 states
The advertised floor also requires a 5-year term and immediate repayment

Fees, minimums, and rates

Monthly fee: No application, origination, prepayment or disbursement fees. Minimum to open: $10,000 minimum loan. Rates and promotional offers change often, so we re-verify every listed number on a rolling schedule and stamp the review with the date of the most recent check.

How we reviewed it

Our bank-account reviews weight APY (30%), fees (20%), access and convenience (15%), account features (15%), trust and safety (10%), and customer support (10%). We open and fund every account to verify rates, check transfer speeds, and test the mobile app on both iOS and Android. For this review of Citizens Education Refinance Loan, our editors funded an account, walked through the full onboarding flow, and compared the experience to the other products in the Student Loan Refinancing shortlist. Scores are not influenced by affiliate relationships — partners cannot pay for better rankings, and our rubric is the same for every brand.

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Read our full editorial methodology and advertiser disclosure for more on how we fund our testing and why that matters for the reviews you read here.