Why Earnest’s Client Happiness Team is not your standard customer service department

By Kassondra Cloos | Published on February 16, 2026

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Choosing to borrow from a private student loan lender or refinance your existing loans is a big decision. And while getting the lowest interest rate possible is one of the best ways to get out of debt faster, it’s far from the only metric to consider. You might be with your lender for 5 to 10 or even 20 years — you want to trust who you’ll be working with.

How Client Happiness can help you through the loan process

I remember being in this position myself. I graduated from college with thousands of dollars in private and federal student loan debt, and as a recent grad, the interest payments felt unbearable. I made so little money as a newspaper reporter for the first year or two after graduation that I wasn’t required to make payments on my federal loans, thanks to an income-based repayment plan. But even still, I couldn’t stop thinking about how quickly the interest was accruing, adding to the overall cost. I wanted to refinance, but I couldn’t do it without a cosigner, which wasn’t an option for me at the time.

When I found Earnest three or four years after graduating, I saw something different. I read that Earnest evaluates potential new customers based on more than just their credit score, and I was intrigued. When I called to ask questions, the team member who answered didn’t try to churn through the conversation and push me off the phone quickly. Instead, I got off the call feeling like the customer support team had walked me through exactly what I needed to do. Overall, it was an excellent customer service experience — the kind of positive experience that should be standard when you’re making such a big decision.

If you’re currently shopping around for loans, or using old-fashioned word of mouth to gauge brand reputations for the lenders in the running, understanding the customer experience is a big part of the equation. So, I did a “ride-along” with Earnest’s Client Happiness team, sitting in on phone calls much like the ones I made myself 7 or 8 years ago to understand what makes Earnest different. Then, I had a chat with Sara Luft, who manages the team.

Q&A with Sara Luft, manager of Earnest Client Happiness

What is Earnest’s Client Happiness team? What do you do?

Earnest Client Happiness is a team designed to support, educate, and advocate for all Earnest clients, including prospective clients and loyal customers with current loans. Our team works hard to have the most up-to-date information about our products and processes, and it provides valuable feedback about the customer experience to our internal teams so we can improve. We’re passionate about educating people on refinancing and private student loans so they can make better financial decisions and feel confident about how they manage student debt.

What does Earnest do differently from other student loan companies during this customer journey?

One of the most immediate things you might notice as a client is that our team doesn’t rush you off the phone. We don’t incentivize them to keep calls under a certain period of time. Call centers often set metrics like calls shouldn’t be longer than 8 minutes, which is not the best way to meet customer expectations. That’s how you end up with unhappy customers that don’t get a resolution or a way to move forward. We want our team to stay on the phone with clients as long as necessary for ultimate customer satisfaction.

Tell us a bit more about who’s on the Client Happiness team. What are your team members’ experiences like?

Most of us went to college at one point in time, and no one held our hand. No one walked us through that process. So when we’re hiring our team members and asking about their experiences, that often comes up — they want to do this job because they want to help someone in the way that no one was able to help them. Like, “I would have loved to have had somebody help me understand what I was signing up for, because now that I’ve graduated, I have all this debt.” The fact that we get to have some control over helping other people understand the process and what they’re walking into, that’s really empowering.

Shopping around for loans can feel so overwhelming. How can you help make the process easier for people to understand?

There are so many options, and these loans are worth being very thoughtful about since most people get a loan with repayment terms around 10+ years. People have a tendency to look for the lowest interest rate, which is a good place to start, but shouldn’t be the sole decision driver. Consider the value you receive throughout the entire loan repayment journey, loan options, and protections offered. Who will service the loan once it’s funded? Do they offer any discounts, like for AutoPay? Do they charge fees? Do they offer the ability to refinance again if you want to change your loan terms?

We often advise you to check out third-party sites that offer comparison charts across a few lenders. This can make it easier to see who fits your values for repayment on one page. You should also always check the lender’s eligibility page before applying. Often you can tell if you are a good fit before taking the hard credit inquiry when you submit an application.

When would you want to choose a lender who isn’t the cheapest?

People often are rate shopping and comparing lenders. If the rate is slightly different and slightly lower with another lender, there’s an automatic association that the customer is going to take the incentive to save more money. That’s not incorrect, but we try to discuss the bigger picture. We try to think about the lifetime value of this partnership.

Some of these loans, you’re signing for as long as a 20-year loan term. You really have to think about forecasting your life for 20 years. You don’t know everything that’s going to happen. What happens if you do hit hardship? Does the cheaper lender offer protections for that? Your interest rate is not just this one singular number that’s going to save you money over the long term. You should also consider whether the lender offers the ability for you to re-refinance with them — as Earnest does — if rates go lower. You need to research and think about what you’re walking into for the entire term that you’re signing up for.

What can people really just call you up and ask for help understanding the process, even if they’re not sure whether borrowing or refinancing is a fit for them right now?

Absolutely. We are really passionate about educating people and helping them make the best decision. We’re not salespeople. We want you to do the best thing that makes the most sense for your finances and your goals. We try to approach that from a neutral standpoint. We’ve had customers who sign with us, and then find a cheaper interest rate elsewhere and refinance, and then come back to us later for another refinance later on. That makes sense — these opportunities can come up as time goes on and you continue to improve your credit. We’re just excited to educate people on how they can squeeze the most out of federal grants and funding and use the different protections behind those loans. Being able to really walk someone through some of that and point them in the right direction is something we all enjoy doing.

Earnest has a new over-the-phone application option. Walk us through that — what does that look like, and why might you want to use it?

This is an exciting addition for us because it’s our first time being able to really drive the application on behalf of the client and educate along the way. We’re currently able to submit for a private student loan over the phone for both cosigned and independent applications. After reviewing some basic eligibility, we’ll collect all the necessary details for your upcoming semester or academic year and get the application submitted for you.

What if you’re already a happy customer? You can afford your payments, you’ve got AutoPay set up.

People often wait until there’s a catastrophic life event to pick up the phone. Some people might not even want to look at their loan debt, let’s be honest. But I do think there’s still value in picking up the phone and talking to us anyway.

Even if you don’t think you need to make any changes, there could be an opportunity to educate yourself further. Maybe your credit score has increased and you’re eligible to apply to refinance for a lower rate, or maybe you didn’t realize you can set up a biweekly AutoPay. That’s an opportunity to cut your payments in half and pay twice a month, every other week, which might be easier for you financially if you’re getting paid bi-weekly. A lot of people also don’t know that they have the opportunity to re-refinance with us.

Learn more about refinancing and student loans

Whether you’re a current college student, a recent grad, a parent of someone heading off to college soon, or just figuring out your options in case you might want to go back to school in the future, Earnest can help.

Give the Client Happiness team a call and someone will walk you through your options.