Student loan marketplace lender CommonBond announced today they have increased the number of schools in its student loan refinancing program to more than 2,000 from 200. Both undergraduate and graduate loans are eligible.
Given that roughly 40 million Americans are affected by more than $1.2 trillion in student debt, CommonBond expects a robust market for its service, and recent numbers support that. Through June 30, the platform had increased its loan originations by more than six-fold as it progresses to what it expects to be total originations of more than $500 million for 2015.
They expect to double that to more than $1 billion in 2016.
CommonBond’s core philosophy is a personal one for its co-founder and CEO.
“I personally faced the painful process of taking out student loans to fund my business school degree at Wharton, and have been fixated on creating a better experience for those with student debt ever since,” David Klein said. “Since the very beginning, we’ve wanted to have the broadest impact possible to lessen the burden of student loans.”
CommonBond also announced a Parent PLUS refinancing program. Parents who have borrowed from the federal Parent PLUS program to finance their children’s education can refinance with CommonBond.
“While student loan debt weighs heavily on millennials, we also saw a big need in the market to provide a new option for parents who carry student debt on behalf of their children,” Mr. Klein said.
