LendKey: Enabling Dreams – Student Loan Payoff

Have you ever fantasized about a stranger walking up to you in public while you were minding your own businesses, maybe having lunch at Starbucks, and handing you one of those giant checks like lottery winners get?

If you have student loan debt, the answer is probably yes. Well, fantasies do sometimes come true, and Liz Herlihy’s fantasy came true in pretty much that exact manner.

Like many of us, Liz had student loan debt, a lot of it. And like many of us, she was worried about how she would ever get it all paid off.

Dreams Deferred

If you have student loan debt, you certainly aren’t alone. Forty-four million Americans are in the same boat. We owe $1.48 trillion in student loan debt, outpacing even credit card debt.

The average total student loan debt is $26,700 making the average monthly payment $351. When such a big chunk of money is going to paying off that debt, it can really hamper our dreams.

We can’t afford to leave a job we hate to start the business we have always dreamed of. We can’t afford to get married and start the family we’ve always dreamed of. We can’t afford to buy the home we’ve always dreamed of to raise that family in.

When debt burdens us, our dreams are deferred.

Lucky Liz

So just how did Liz win that $50,000 check? She downloaded Givling, a trivia app that lets users compete for cash prizes. Users can play Givling for free twice a day. You can also buy tokens to continue playing.

At the end of each round, your accumulated points enter you into the random drawing. You can earn additional entry points by watching ads on the Givling app.

LendKey has partnered with Givling to fund the student loan payoffs. Each time the pot reaches $100,000 two winners are chosen. Each receives up to $50,000 to pay off or pay down their student loans. Players without student loans receive up to $25,000 they can put towards buying a home.

Liz played on Givling several times a day for a few months. Like those of us who buy a lottery ticket, she had a vague notion that she could win the big prize but she didn’t really expect to be chosen.

She Had an Inkling

Givling played a coy game with their users leading up to the prize being rewarded, offering tantalizing clues to the location of the soon to be winner. Liz kept waiting for a clue that would prove she had been eliminated but it never came.

What did come was a Facebook message asking for help in finding the winner who was not at home when Seth from Givling and Broc from LendKey came calling. Liz let them know she was heading to Starbucks to grab lunch and that’s where her dream came true.

Seth and Broc walked in and handed over a check for $50,000 to a trembling and still slightly disbelieving Liz.

You Don’t Have to Count on Luck

Liz got lucky to be sure. But most of us can’t count on luck to pay off our student loans. So how can we get our loans paid off quickly so we can start working towards our dreams?

LendKey can help make your dreams come true.

Not Your Traditional Refinancing Company

LendKey is not a traditional student loan refinancing company. There are several things that set them apart from other players in the same field. LendKey does not make the new loans directly, rather they have partnered with more than 300 community banks and credit unions.

What does this mean for you? The most important benefit for borrowers is choice. If you were going to buy a car would you buy the first one you saw or would you shop around and compare prices until you found the best deal? Of course, you would shop around for such a major purchase.

Why should shopping for student loan refinancing be any different? It shouldn’t be, and with LendKey, it isn’t.

LendKey lets you shop around. You can “window shop” among dozens of student loan refinancing offers and choose the best fit for you. Your new loan will be from a community bank or credit union, not a traditional bank. This is another benefit of working with LendKey.

Community banks are locally owned and operated. They are part of their community and have a vested interest in helping the members of that community. Credit unions are not-for-profit businesses. The owners are the members of the credit union, not far away stockholders.

Because community banks and credit unions prosper when their customers prosper, they want those customers to succeed. They work closely with members to help them succeed. You aren’t just a number on a spreadsheet; you are a known entity.

It’s Not All Warm and Fuzzy

That’s great, working with community banks and credit unions is a better experience than working with a big, impersonal bank. But warm and fuzzy doesn’t pay off debt. So let’s talk numbers.

Part of the reason it’s so hard to pay off student loan debt is because of the interest rate. You keep making payments, but the balance grows and grows. The key to paying off student loan debt faster is to lower that interest rate.

That’s what refinancing through LendKey does. You could save as much as 25% on your monthly payments. Variable rate loans with LendKey’s partners start at just 2.67% and fixed at just 3.25%.

Even a 1% reduction in your interest rate can save you thousands of dollars over the life of a loan. But don’t take our word for it. You can use our handy calculator to see how much you could save when you refinance through LendKey.

Dreams Do Come True

LendKey believes that everyone should have the chance to pursue their dreams unhampered by crippling student loan debt. LendKey makes it simple and affordable to refinance unaffordable student loans so that they are a manageable part of your budget, not something that is holding you back from pursuing your dreams.

When you work with LendKey and one of their community bank or credit union partners, you have a strong team behind you, helping make your dreams come true. Just ask Liz.