Earnest growth playbook

Build a calculator on the graduate loan page and program pages: pick program type (MBA, law, medical, dental, other), years left, yearly cost of attendance and aid. It shows the federal maximum under the new rules, the gap, a payment estimate for a private loan covering it, and a "check my rate" button. Explain grandfathering for students who already had a Grad PLUS disbursement.

The rule change created a new, quantifiable need that federal aid no longer covers. A calculator answers the exact question students and financial aid offices are asking, ranks for searches that did not exist a year ago, and hands a pre-qualified number to the rate check.

Your program: [Law, 3 years]
Cost of attendance per year: [$95,000]  Aid and scholarships: [$15,000]
Federal loans you can still borrow: [$200,000 lifetime for professional students; $50,000 a year]
Your estimated gap: [$40,000 over 3 years]
If you had a Grad PLUS loan disbursed before July 1, 2026: [you may keep borrowing it for this program for up to 3 years]
Covering the gap with an Earnest private loan: [estimated payment range]
[Check my rate - no credit impact]
Maximize scholarships, grants and federal loans first. Estimates only.

• Students borrow more than they need

  Show the gap after aid and scholarships, and keep the federal-first disclosure prominent.

• Rules change again

  Date the calculator and review it every award year.

• Reads as financial advice

  Label results as estimates and link to studentaid.gov.

• Your websiteEarnest blog (August 6, 2026): "As of July 1, 2026, federal Grad PLUS loans are no longer available for new borrowers"; graduate students can now borrow "up to $100,000 total" and professional students "up to $200,000 total" in federal loans; "1 in 5 grad students already borrow more than the new caps allow".Source
• Search resultsFederal changes from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act: from July 1, 2026, Parent PLUS loans are capped at $20,000 a year and $65,000 per student; new borrowers get a standard plan or the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP); existing borrowers must move to RAP or a modified IBR by July 1, 2028.Source
• Your websiteThe private graduate loan page advertises cosigned rates "Starting at 1.99% APR" with a Rate Match Guarantee but does not mention the end of Grad PLUS or the new federal caps. The For Schools page still argues "The majority of graduate students signed a lower rate with Earnest than the federal Grad PLUS loan".Source
• Search resultsNavient owns Earnest. From January 1, 2026, the in-school lending business moved from Earnest to Navient, with loans still Earnest-branded. Navient targets about $4 billion of 2026 originations and expects refinance and in-school growth above 50% each.Source
• HiringDirector of Growth Marketing - Performance (posted October 2026): own SEM, paid social and SEO/AEO; "Aggressively Expand into New High-ROI Channels" (programmatic, OTT, OOH, streaming audio) with incrementality, geo holdouts or MMM; "Build the paid channel strategy for Personal Loans" as "the company shifts from single-product to multi-product lending in 2027"; make marketing "AI-first" within 90 days; "every new channel and personalization tactic needs to clear compliance before it ships".Source

Search the site for Grad PLUS, SAVE and 2023 references, rewrite each to the current rules (with the grandfathering exception), and add a dated "rules updated" line. Rewrite the For Schools comparison as "how Earnest fills the gap above the federal caps".

Out-of-date federal information in a lender's disclosures is a compliance problem first and a conversion problem second: financial aid officers who see it will not put Earnest on their lender lists.

• Grandfathered students still use Grad PLUS

  Say clearly who keeps access and for how long.

• Your websiteHomepage: NerdWallet "Best Student Loan Refinancing 2026", "420,000+ Happy clients", Trustpilot 4.6 from 7,961+ reviews, U.S. News "#1 Best Private Student Loan Lender 2026", and "our team typically answers calls in 2 minutes or less". Its disclosure 2 still tells students to fill out the FAFSA and describes "PLUS Loan for Graduate and Professional Students" as a federal option, with no mention that it ended for new borrowers.Source
• Your websiteThe private graduate loan page advertises cosigned rates "Starting at 1.99% APR" with a Rate Match Guarantee but does not mention the end of Grad PLUS or the new federal caps. The For Schools page still argues "The majority of graduate students signed a lower rate with Earnest than the federal Grad PLUS loan".Source
• Your websiteEarnest blog (August 6, 2026): "As of July 1, 2026, federal Grad PLUS loans are no longer available for new borrowers"; graduate students can now borrow "up to $100,000 total" and professional students "up to $200,000 total" in federal loans; "1 in 5 grad students already borrow more than the new caps allow".Source
• Your websiteThe Discover switch page says Discover "is exiting the private student loan business" and loans "will be transferred to a new servicer this year", and still carries copy that federal loans "resumed accruing interest starting September 1, 2023" and refers to the SAVE plan.Source

Reserve fixed space for the rate counters (or render the final number first and animate only colour), check fonts and banners for shifts, and confirm in field data after two weeks.

Layout shift lowers conversion and quality scores on paid search. Fixing it is cheap and lifts every channel at once.

• The animation is a brand choice

  Keep the motion, remove the shift.

• programmable.infoThe iOS app "Earnest Mobile" is rated 1.9 out of 5 from 40 ratings (updated October 6, 2026), against 4.6 on Trustpilot. Chrome field data: cumulative layout shift 0.3 at the 75th percentile (above the 0.25 "poor" line), LCP 1.9s. Optimizely is installed; no newsletter sign-up found.Source
• Your websiteRefinance page: fixed from 4.20% APR and variable from 5.88% APR (with the 0.25% Auto Pay discount), no fees and one skipped payment a year. Rate figures on the page animate as rolling digits ("0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9") before settling. SoFi advertises refinancing "from 4.49% APR" fixed with autopay.Source
• HiringDirector of Growth Marketing - Performance (posted October 2026): own SEM, paid social and SEO/AEO; "Aggressively Expand into New High-ROI Channels" (programmatic, OTT, OOH, streaming audio) with incrementality, geo holdouts or MMM; "Build the paid channel strategy for Personal Loans" as "the company shifts from single-product to multi-product lending in 2027"; make marketing "AI-first" within 90 days; "every new channel and personalization tactic needs to clear compliance before it ships".Source

Rewrite the page for today: what happened to Discover student loans, how to find the current servicer, what refinancing changes, and Earnest's in-house servicing promise ("No switches, ever"). Run search ads on "Discover student loan servicer" terms.

Borrowers moved to an unknown servicer are actively looking; a current, helpful page meets them at that moment.

• Brand terms of other companies

  Bid on generic servicer questions; follow trademark rules.

• Your websiteThe Discover switch page says Discover "is exiting the private student loan business" and loans "will be transferred to a new servicer this year", and still carries copy that federal loans "resumed accruing interest starting September 1, 2023" and refers to the SAVE plan.Source
• Your websiteRefinance page: fixed from 4.20% APR and variable from 5.88% APR (with the 0.25% Auto Pay discount), no fees and one skipped payment a year. Rate figures on the page animate as rolling digits ("0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9") before settling. SoFi advertises refinancing "from 4.49% APR" fixed with autopay.Source

Write three triggers with one sentence each: a refinance client asking about paying down other debt (personal loan with Rate Drop Reward), a parent with Parent PLUS loans (parent refinancing), and a client finishing a loan early (a personal loan for the next goal). Log every mention and outcome.

Relevant offers at the right moment convert and keep the "Client Happiness" reputation; scattershot offers do neither.

• Clients feel sold to

  Only on the three triggers, never on hardship calls.

• HiringClient Happiness Servicing Associate: answers clients by chat, email, SMS and phone, explains repayment and relief options, and should "proactively promote, and cross-sell company products to eligible customers during servicing calls, contributing to overall business growth targets".Source
• Your websitePersonal loans page ("Introducing Earnest Personal Loans"): no required fees, "Rate Drop Reward" (lower the rate by up to 0.75% as the loan is paid down on time), skip one payment a year, funds "in as little as 24 hours", up to 72 payment options. It lists phone hours of 6:00 am - 4:00 pm PT; the homepage says 6:00 am - 5:00 pm PT.Source
• Search resultsFederal changes from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act: from July 1, 2026, Parent PLUS loans are capped at $20,000 a year and $65,000 per student; new borrowers get a standard plan or the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP); existing borrowers must move to RAP or a modified IBR by July 1, 2028.Source

Add an in-app review prompt after positive moments (a payment completed, a rate drop earned, a question resolved), reply to every App Store review, and fix the top three complaints in the next release.

App ratings rise quickly when happy users are asked at the right time, and the rating shows up whenever someone searches for Earnest on a phone.

• Prompt fatigue

  Ask at most three times a year per user, as Apple allows.

• programmable.infoThe iOS app "Earnest Mobile" is rated 1.9 out of 5 from 40 ratings (updated October 6, 2026), against 4.6 on Trustpilot. Chrome field data: cumulative layout shift 0.3 at the 75th percentile (above the 0.25 "poor" line), LCP 1.9s. Optimizely is installed; no newsletter sign-up found.Source
• Your websiteHomepage: NerdWallet "Best Student Loan Refinancing 2026", "420,000+ Happy clients", Trustpilot 4.6 from 7,961+ reviews, U.S. News "#1 Best Private Student Loan Lender 2026", and "our team typically answers calls in 2 minutes or less". Its disclosure 2 still tells students to fill out the FAFSA and describes "PLUS Loan for Graduate and Professional Students" as a federal option, with no mention that it ended for new borrowers.Source

Set a separate personal loan budget and targets, build search campaigns by use (debt consolidation, home improvement, moving, medical), lead with Rate Drop Reward and no required fees, and test placement on loan marketplaces against direct search.

A separate plan avoids personal loans being judged on student loan economics and gives the 2027 multi-product launch a working channel mix.

• Volume with poor credit quality

  Judge by funded loans and early delinquency, with risk.

• HiringDirector of Growth Marketing - Performance (posted October 2026): own SEM, paid social and SEO/AEO; "Aggressively Expand into New High-ROI Channels" (programmatic, OTT, OOH, streaming audio) with incrementality, geo holdouts or MMM; "Build the paid channel strategy for Personal Loans" as "the company shifts from single-product to multi-product lending in 2027"; make marketing "AI-first" within 90 days; "every new channel and personalization tactic needs to clear compliance before it ships".Source
• Your websitePersonal loans page ("Introducing Earnest Personal Loans"): no required fees, "Rate Drop Reward" (lower the rate by up to 0.75% as the loan is paid down on time), skip one payment a year, funds "in as little as 24 hours", up to 72 payment options. It lists phone hours of 6:00 am - 4:00 pm PT; the homepage says 6:00 am - 5:00 pm PT.Source
• Competitor researchSallie Mae says its student loans "can help cover up to 100% of college or graduate school costs" at "over 4,000 eligible schools"; SoFi refinances from 4.49% APR fixed; LightStream (Truist) sells personal loans "for practically anything" to good and excellent credit.See the research Source

Build three journeys: refinance clients nearing payoff, clients with steady on-time payments and rising income, and parents after refinancing. Each sends one useful message (a Payoff Path plan, a rate check with no credit impact) and stops when a client opts out.

Existing clients cost nothing to reach, already trust the servicing, and convert better than paid traffic.

• Unsubscribes

  Few messages, clear value, holdout measurement.

• HiringSenior Marketing Operations Specialist: primary owner of Braze, CDP integrations and unsubscribe governance; "end-to-end Ad Operations" (event passback to ad platforms, pixels, server-side tracking across Search, Social, Display, OTT); UTM rules; delivery monitoring; CAN-SPAM and deliverability; "advanced personalization" in lifecycle messaging.Source
• Your websitePersonal loans page ("Introducing Earnest Personal Loans"): no required fees, "Rate Drop Reward" (lower the rate by up to 0.75% as the loan is paid down on time), skip one payment a year, funds "in as little as 24 hours", up to 72 payment options. It lists phone hours of 6:00 am - 4:00 pm PT; the homepage says 6:00 am - 5:00 pm PT.Source
• Your websitePayoff Path: a free, personalised debt payoff plan from "2 questions", with which debt to pay first and next steps; the FAQ asks "Do I need to be an Earnest customer to use Payoff Path?"Source
• Your websiteHomepage: NerdWallet "Best Student Loan Refinancing 2026", "420,000+ Happy clients", Trustpilot 4.6 from 7,961+ reviews, U.S. News "#1 Best Private Student Loan Lender 2026", and "our team typically answers calls in 2 minutes or less". Its disclosure 2 still tells students to fill out the FAFSA and describes "PLUS Loan for Graduate and Professional Students" as a federal option, with no mention that it ended for new borrowers.Source

Promote Payoff Path in paid social and search ("how to pay off credit card debt"), and when the plan shows a consolidation loan would save money, show the saving and a rate check with no credit impact. Send a monthly progress email.

A useful free tool earns attention without a hard sell and finds the people for whom a personal loan actually helps.

• Pushing loans on people who should not borrow

  Only show a loan when it saves money on the user's own numbers.

• Your websitePayoff Path: a free, personalised debt payoff plan from "2 questions", with which debt to pay first and next steps; the FAQ asks "Do I need to be an Earnest customer to use Payoff Path?"Source
• HiringDirector of Growth Marketing - Performance (posted October 2026): own SEM, paid social and SEO/AEO; "Aggressively Expand into New High-ROI Channels" (programmatic, OTT, OOH, streaming audio) with incrementality, geo holdouts or MMM; "Build the paid channel strategy for Personal Loans" as "the company shifts from single-product to multi-product lending in 2027"; make marketing "AI-first" within 90 days; "every new channel and personalization tactic needs to clear compliance before it ships".Source
• Your websitePersonal loans page ("Introducing Earnest Personal Loans"): no required fees, "Rate Drop Reward" (lower the rate by up to 0.75% as the loan is paid down on time), skip one payment a year, funds "in as little as 24 hours", up to 72 payment options. It lists phone hours of 6:00 am - 4:00 pm PT; the homepage says 6:00 am - 5:00 pm PT.Source

Give each partner a co-branded version of the gap calculator, a short article on the new caps for their audience, and a partner-specific offer, then report results to each partner monthly.

Trusted voices in medicine and law are where these students learn about financing; giving them timely content keeps Earnest in their recommendations.

• Partners favour other lenders

  Exclusive timely content and better reporting.

• #1 A "federal gap" calculator for grad and professional students: how much the new caps leave you short, and how to cover it

• Your websiteSitemap: 682 URLs, 564 of them blog posts, plus partner landing pages for White Coat Investor, Physician on Fire, Your Financial Pharmacist, Above the Law, Big Law Investor, Student Loan Planner, GMAT Club, Magoosh, CalBar, NerdWallet and Chime, school pages (UChicago, Brown, Berkeley), program pages (MBA, law, medical, dental) and a /switch-from-discover page.Source
• Your websiteEarnest blog (August 6, 2026): "As of July 1, 2026, federal Grad PLUS loans are no longer available for new borrowers"; graduate students can now borrow "up to $100,000 total" and professional students "up to $200,000 total" in federal loans; "1 in 5 grad students already borrow more than the new caps allow".Source
• Search resultsFederal changes from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act: from July 1, 2026, Parent PLUS loans are capped at $20,000 a year and $65,000 per student; new borrowers get a standard plan or the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP); existing borrowers must move to RAP or a modified IBR by July 1, 2028.Source

Publish a kit for aid offices: a one-page summary of the new caps, the gap calculator with the school's cost of attendance pre-filled, how Earnest handles certification, and a contact. Send it to aid offices at graduate and professional schools.

Aid offices shape which lenders students see; being the lender with the clearest material on the new rules earns a place on their lists.

• Rules on school-lender relationships

  Follow preferred lender list rules; give no inducements.

• Search resultsNavient owns Earnest. From January 1, 2026, the in-school lending business moved from Earnest to Navient, with loans still Earnest-branded. Navient targets about $4 billion of 2026 originations and expects refinance and in-school growth above 50% each.Source
• Your websiteThe private graduate loan page advertises cosigned rates "Starting at 1.99% APR" with a Rate Match Guarantee but does not mention the end of Grad PLUS or the new federal caps. The For Schools page still argues "The majority of graduate students signed a lower rate with Earnest than the federal Grad PLUS loan".Source
• Your websiteEarnest blog (August 6, 2026): "As of July 1, 2026, federal Grad PLUS loans are no longer available for new borrowers"; graduate students can now borrow "up to $100,000 total" and professional students "up to $200,000 total" in federal loans; "1 in 5 grad students already borrow more than the new caps allow".Source

Rewrite the employer pitch around the permanent tax break: how an employer can pay up to $5,250 a year tax-free toward employees' loans, how Earnest refinancing adds lower payments, and the setup in under a week. Target HR leaders at employers with many young professionals.

A permanent tax rule is a stronger reason for HR to act than retention claims alone, and each employer brings a group of refinance-ready employees.

• Tax advice

  Describe the rule and point employers to their advisers.

• Your websiteEmployer page: a corporate student loan program with "Quick setup with zero IT requirements", special rates or a bonus for employees, a claim that "only 39% stay with their employer versus 61% of those without debt", a mention of "Secure 2.0" tax-advantaged student loan assistance, and "$26 billion Total Student Loans Refinanced". Separately, the 2025 tax law made tax-free employer student loan payments under Section 127 (up to $5,250 a year) permanent, indexed for inflation after 2026.Source

Build a library of pre-approved claims, disclosures and formats (15-second audio, 6-second video, billboard copy) with compliance once, then assemble new creative from approved parts. Test streaming audio on refinancing with a geo holdout.

The bottleneck in fintech marketing is usually review, not ideas; approved building blocks let the team test new channels at startup speed.

• Library goes stale

  Review quarterly and after rate changes.

• HiringDirector of Growth Marketing - Performance (posted October 2026): own SEM, paid social and SEO/AEO; "Aggressively Expand into New High-ROI Channels" (programmatic, OTT, OOH, streaming audio) with incrementality, geo holdouts or MMM; "Build the paid channel strategy for Personal Loans" as "the company shifts from single-product to multi-product lending in 2027"; make marketing "AI-first" within 90 days; "every new channel and personalization tactic needs to clear compliance before it ships".Source
• HiringSenior Marketing Operations Specialist: primary owner of Braze, CDP integrations and unsubscribe governance; "end-to-end Ad Operations" (event passback to ad platforms, pixels, server-side tracking across Search, Social, Display, OTT); UTM rules; delivery monitoring; CAN-SPAM and deliverability; "advanced personalization" in lifecycle messaging.Source

Turn the top 20 questions into short, dated answer pages with a clear summary, a table and a source link to studentaid.gov, then link each to the calculator or a rate check. Keep them current every award year.

AI answers favour clear, dated, sourced pages; Earnest has the expertise and just needs the format.

• Giving the wrong answer on federal rules

  Source every answer to studentaid.gov and date it.

• HiringDirector of Growth Marketing - Performance (posted October 2026): own SEM, paid social and SEO/AEO; "Aggressively Expand into New High-ROI Channels" (programmatic, OTT, OOH, streaming audio) with incrementality, geo holdouts or MMM; "Build the paid channel strategy for Personal Loans" as "the company shifts from single-product to multi-product lending in 2027"; make marketing "AI-first" within 90 days; "every new channel and personalization tactic needs to clear compliance before it ships".Source
• Your websiteEarnest blog (August 6, 2026): "As of July 1, 2026, federal Grad PLUS loans are no longer available for new borrowers"; graduate students can now borrow "up to $100,000 total" and professional students "up to $200,000 total" in federal loans; "1 in 5 grad students already borrow more than the new caps allow".Source
• Search resultsFederal changes from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act: from July 1, 2026, Parent PLUS loans are capped at $20,000 a year and $65,000 per student; new borrowers get a standard plan or the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP); existing borrowers must move to RAP or a modified IBR by July 1, 2028.Source
• Your websiteSitemap: 682 URLs, 564 of them blog posts, plus partner landing pages for White Coat Investor, Physician on Fire, Your Financial Pharmacist, Above the Law, Big Law Investor, Student Loan Planner, GMAT Club, Magoosh, CalBar, NerdWallet and Chime, school pages (UChicago, Brown, Berkeley), program pages (MBA, law, medical, dental) and a /switch-from-discover page.Source

Add the cap to the parent loan page, build a parent version of the gap calculator, and target parents during the spring aid season with "what if Parent PLUS is not enough".

Parents facing a new cap are searching for answers; a clear page and calculator meet them first.

• Over-borrowing by parents

  Show total cost and payment clearly.

• #1 A "federal gap" calculator for grad and professional students: how much the new caps leave you short, and how to cover it

• Search resultsFederal changes from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act: from July 1, 2026, Parent PLUS loans are capped at $20,000 a year and $65,000 per student; new borrowers get a standard plan or the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP); existing borrowers must move to RAP or a modified IBR by July 1, 2028.Source
• Your websiteThe private graduate loan page advertises cosigned rates "Starting at 1.99% APR" with a Rate Match Guarantee but does not mention the end of Grad PLUS or the new federal caps. The For Schools page still argues "The majority of graduate students signed a lower rate with Earnest than the federal Grad PLUS loan".Source

Build one account that shows every Earnest loan, the Payoff Path plan, rate drop progress and pre-qualified offers for other products, with one-click applications using known details.

A shared account is how multi-product lenders grow: each new product launches to an audience that already trusts the brand and does not need to re-enter data.

• Data use concerns

  Clear consent for pre-qualification.

• HiringDirector of Growth Marketing - Performance (posted October 2026): own SEM, paid social and SEO/AEO; "Aggressively Expand into New High-ROI Channels" (programmatic, OTT, OOH, streaming audio) with incrementality, geo holdouts or MMM; "Build the paid channel strategy for Personal Loans" as "the company shifts from single-product to multi-product lending in 2027"; make marketing "AI-first" within 90 days; "every new channel and personalization tactic needs to clear compliance before it ships".Source
• Your websiteHomepage: NerdWallet "Best Student Loan Refinancing 2026", "420,000+ Happy clients", Trustpilot 4.6 from 7,961+ reviews, U.S. News "#1 Best Private Student Loan Lender 2026", and "our team typically answers calls in 2 minutes or less". Its disclosure 2 still tells students to fill out the FAFSA and describes "PLUS Loan for Graduate and Professional Students" as a federal option, with no mention that it ended for new borrowers.Source
• Your websitePersonal loans page ("Introducing Earnest Personal Loans"): no required fees, "Rate Drop Reward" (lower the rate by up to 0.75% as the loan is paid down on time), skip one payment a year, funds "in as little as 24 hours", up to 72 payment options. It lists phone hours of 6:00 am - 4:00 pm PT; the homepage says 6:00 am - 5:00 pm PT.Source
• Your websitePayoff Path: a free, personalised debt payoff plan from "2 questions", with which debt to pay first and next steps; the FAQ asks "Do I need to be an Earnest customer to use Payoff Path?"Source

Staff a peak-season team (July to September and January) for phone-assisted applications for graduate and professional borrowers, schedule it with the new workforce platform, and promote "talk to a specialist" on the calculator and program pages.

For large loans and confusing rules, a fast human answer converts better than another form, and the workforce platform makes the cost predictable.

• Staffing costs

  Forecast-based scheduling and clear targets.

• HiringPersonal loan operations hires: a Senior Manager, Collections to "Build, hire, and lead Earnest's Personal Loans collections team" (roll rates, cure rates, FDCPA); a Senior Manager, Strategic Finance (Personal Loans); and an Operations Workforce & Capacity Planning Manager to roll out a new workforce management platform for the contact center (Verint, Talkdesk, HubSpot).Source
• Your websiteHomepage: NerdWallet "Best Student Loan Refinancing 2026", "420,000+ Happy clients", Trustpilot 4.6 from 7,961+ reviews, U.S. News "#1 Best Private Student Loan Lender 2026", and "our team typically answers calls in 2 minutes or less". Its disclosure 2 still tells students to fill out the FAFSA and describes "PLUS Loan for Graduate and Professional Students" as a federal option, with no mention that it ended for new borrowers.Source
• Your websiteEarnest blog (August 6, 2026): "As of July 1, 2026, federal Grad PLUS loans are no longer available for new borrowers"; graduate students can now borrow "up to $100,000 total" and professional students "up to $200,000 total" in federal loans; "1 in 5 grad students already borrow more than the new caps allow".Source

Build pages for the top 200 programs: published cost of attendance, the federal maximum, the typical gap, and a pre-filled calculator, refreshed every year.

Programmatic pages answering "how do I pay for [school] law school after the new caps" rank for searches with high intent, and each feeds the calculator.

• Thin pages

  Real data and a working calculator on each page.

• #1 A "federal gap" calculator for grad and professional students: how much the new caps leave you short, and how to cover it

• Your websiteEarnest blog (August 6, 2026): "As of July 1, 2026, federal Grad PLUS loans are no longer available for new borrowers"; graduate students can now borrow "up to $100,000 total" and professional students "up to $200,000 total" in federal loans; "1 in 5 grad students already borrow more than the new caps allow".Source
• Your websiteSitemap: 682 URLs, 564 of them blog posts, plus partner landing pages for White Coat Investor, Physician on Fire, Your Financial Pharmacist, Above the Law, Big Law Investor, Student Loan Planner, GMAT Club, Magoosh, CalBar, NerdWallet and Chime, school pages (UChicago, Brown, Berkeley), program pages (MBA, law, medical, dental) and a /switch-from-discover page.Source
• Your websiteThe private graduate loan page advertises cosigned rates "Starting at 1.99% APR" with a Rate Match Guarantee but does not mention the end of Grad PLUS or the new federal caps. The For Schools page still argues "The majority of graduate students signed a lower rate with Earnest than the federal Grad PLUS loan".Source

Use payment signals (late in the window, partial payments, servicing calls about money) to offer the skip-a-payment and other options before delinquency, and measure cure rates against a control.

Helping clients before they miss a payment lowers losses and keeps them as future customers.

• Encouraging skipped payments

  Offer only on risk signals.

• HiringPersonal loan operations hires: a Senior Manager, Collections to "Build, hire, and lead Earnest's Personal Loans collections team" (roll rates, cure rates, FDCPA); a Senior Manager, Strategic Finance (Personal Loans); and an Operations Workforce & Capacity Planning Manager to roll out a new workforce management platform for the contact center (Verint, Talkdesk, HubSpot).Source
• Your websitePersonal loans page ("Introducing Earnest Personal Loans"): no required fees, "Rate Drop Reward" (lower the rate by up to 0.75% as the loan is paid down on time), skip one payment a year, funds "in as little as 24 hours", up to 72 payment options. It lists phone hours of 6:00 am - 4:00 pm PT; the homepage says 6:00 am - 5:00 pm PT.Source

Track lender and servicer changes, keep a template switch page ready, and launch within days of an announcement with a clear explanation and a refinance rate check.

Being first with a clear, helpful page when borrowers are moved is cheap and wins many of the people looking.

• Trademark issues

  Generic servicer-change wording.

• Your websiteThe Discover switch page says Discover "is exiting the private student loan business" and loans "will be transferred to a new servicer this year", and still carries copy that federal loans "resumed accruing interest starting September 1, 2023" and refers to the SAVE plan.Source
• Your websiteRefinance page: fixed from 4.20% APR and variable from 5.88% APR (with the 0.25% Auto Pay discount), no fees and one skipped payment a year. Rate figures on the page animate as rolling digits ("0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9") before settling. SoFi advertises refinancing "from 4.49% APR" fixed with autopay.Source

Record 20 one-minute answers from associates on the most common questions (new caps, refinancing federal loans, cosigner release), publish on YouTube and in the help center, and use them in ads.

Real people answering real questions builds trust in a category where borrowers worry about servicers.

• Associates uncomfortable on camera

  Volunteers only.

• Your websiteHomepage: NerdWallet "Best Student Loan Refinancing 2026", "420,000+ Happy clients", Trustpilot 4.6 from 7,961+ reviews, U.S. News "#1 Best Private Student Loan Lender 2026", and "our team typically answers calls in 2 minutes or less". Its disclosure 2 still tells students to fill out the FAFSA and describes "PLUS Loan for Graduate and Professional Students" as a federal option, with no mention that it ended for new borrowers.Source
• HiringClient Happiness Servicing Associate: answers clients by chat, email, SMS and phone, explains repayment and relief options, and should "proactively promote, and cross-sell company products to eligible customers during servicing calls, contributing to overall business growth targets".Source