<prompt> Human: I recently had been in deferment and then default on my student loans. I was offered a settlement see other post, but am most likely not going to take it as it will effect my credit and taxes for the following year. My question is once I start making payments on my student loan can I refinance them with another companybank? Not sure exactly how it works entirely, but I would assume I would be making payments to this new company if I am approved and they would be buying out the loan? Is this how it works? Someone please explain. I would be using another company such as SoFi or Earnest to do this. But their websites arent super helpful or I cant find what Im looking for in explaining this. Also trying to figure out if I would be declined because my loans went into default.  <response>: I hate it say it but if you have defaults on your credit report, youre probably not going to qualify for refinancing. You usually have to have a good income and very good credit to qualify for refinancing. Maybe if you have a co-signer it would be possible, but even then Im not sure. 