Does Discover still offer student loan refinancing?

Discover Financial Services operated a private student loan business for over a decade — offering undergraduate, graduate, and consolidation loans. That business is now closed. Discover's student loan page states clearly: "Discover no longer offers or services student loans." The company stopped accepting new applications and exited the servicing business entirely.

What happened to existing Discover student loan accounts

Discover sold its student loan portfolio. Borrowers with existing Discover student loans had their accounts transferred to a new servicer. If you had a Discover student loan, your loan agreement, payment history, and terms transferred with the portfolio — the underlying loan terms do not change when a servicer changes, but your payment address and account login do. If you are unsure who now services your account, call the number Discover directs former borrowers to: 1-800-211-9112.

The scale of the deal is worth knowing. Discover's own 2024 disclosure put the sold portfolio at roughly 10.1 billion in loans (principal balance), with the purchase price expected up to about 10.8 billion in loans — sold to investment vehicles managed by Carlyle and KKR, with Firstmark Services, a division of Nelnet, taking over servicing. That is the full private student loan book Discover had built over more than a decade of lending, gone in a single transaction.

What a servicer change means for your loan

A servicer change does not alter the interest rate, balance, or repayment terms on a private student loan — those are set by your original loan agreement. What changes is who you pay, how you log in, and who handles customer service. Under federal consumer-protection rules, servicers are required to notify borrowers of a transfer at least 15 days before it takes effect and provide the new servicer's contact information. If you did not receive that notice, contact the new servicer directly using the number on your most recent statement.

Should you refinance now that Discover is gone?

A servicer change is a reasonable time to review whether refinancing makes sense for your situation — but refinancing a student loan is a permanent decision with trade-offs that depend on whether your loans are federal or private.

• Federal loans: refinance with caution. Refinancing federal student loans into a private loan permanently eliminates federal protections — income-driven repayment (IDR) plans, Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), federal deferment and forbearance, and any future federal forgiveness programs. The Department of Education's studentaid.gov explains what you give up. For most federal borrowers, exhausting federal options (IDR, consolidation, PSLF) before refinancing is the right sequence.
• Private loans: compare rates directly. For private loans already with a private servicer, refinancing to a lower APR is generally lower-stakes — you are not giving up federal protections you already don't have. Compare offers from multiple private refinance lenders. The key metric is the difference in total interest paid over the remaining loan life, not just the monthly payment.
• Weigh the remaining term. Refinancing resets your loan. Extending the term reduces monthly payments but increases total interest. Running both scenarios side by side (same rate, different terms) clarifies the real cost.