borrowers to swap student loans for mortgage
debt at today’s low interest rates,” said Ann
Carrns in The New York Times. The program,
called the Student Loan Payoff ReFi, is offered
by nonbank lender SoFi and mortgage giant
Fannie Mae. It allows homeowners who have
student loans, or home-owning parents who
cosigned student loans with their children, to
refinance their mortgage and take out additional
home equity as cash to pay off student
debt. “The borrower is left with a new, larger
mortgage, but at a lower interest rate.” However,
borrowers with federal student loans
will lose protections like the option to defer
payments and the repayment programs that tie
monthly payments to income.