How Does Earnest Apply Payments?

In accordance with state law, all payments (including early and extra payments) on Earnest Private Student or Student Loan Refinance Loans are processed first to any interest that has accrued since the last payment. Earnest calculates interest at a simple daily rate, and you can find out more about that here. After the payment has been applied to the interest accrued, the remaining balance of the payment goes toward the principal balance of your loan.

On Personal Loans, payments will be applied first to any applicable fees or charges, then to accrued interest to the date payment is received, and then any remainder to the outstanding principal amount of your loan.

While the payment may not be debited from your payment account on your scheduled payment due date, its effective date will be applied to the earlier date that the payment was scheduled or received. Here are some things to keep in mind about payment processing times:

• If you are enrolled in Auto Pay, please allow 2 business days from the payment date for the payment to process. The payment effective date will be set to your due date or the date the payment was scheduled.
• Payments scheduled before 11:59 p.m. EST will be effective from the same date the payment was scheduled. This includes weekends and banking holidays.
• Mailed payments will be applied to your loan from the date the payment was received. Please note that mailed payments are only processed on business days and can take an additional two to five business days to be applied to your account once received.

Please note, if you are enrolled in Auto Pay, any manual payments or extra payments will not replace your scheduled monthly payment through Auto Pay. The same is true for manual or extra payments sent to Earnest by a third party on behalf of an Earnest client.