Darien Rowayton Bank

Horrible experience so far!!! I refinanced my student loans with drb based on online reviews and friend’s recommendations. It started out great — I was promised a rate a 3.75% fixed (much better than the gov 6.8%). Anyways that was almost 3 months ago and no money has been sent to pay off my loans. This is unbelievable! Everytime I call to check on the status I get the same run around and false promises about the following week. I’m done, I’ll be trying another company such as Sofi.

Dbr did correct it mistake
Explained they have a lot of back log application and that was the reason it took them time
At last I am happy they did respond
I am looking forward to see when they get this done
Thank you drb

This bank has an unworkable online banking website and apparently no possible way to reach customer service. I can’t tell if customer service ever returns my voicemails (mandatory — I was cut off from waiting even though I actually would have waiting on hold for more than 10 minutes if it meant being able to access my account). One possible return call I got was so similar to spam/​phishing that I had to hang up and not take the chance. GET A BETTER CALL SERVICE. I don’t even know where to start with the website. I’ve been locked out every single time I’ve tried to log on. If you like banking exclusively by using the US Postal Service then this is the place for you.

Sent me approval by email saying paper would arrive in 10 days. It’s been 40 days. They say it’s because that are busy.
Sloooow.

Unfortunately, their process is one of the slowest I dealt with during my search for a student loan refinance. They requested documents and I uploaded them the day of. A couple of days later, they requested more documents. They then declined me but simply wasted my time as their reasoning makes it appear that their decisions was made before I uploaded the other documents requested. They also need to update their site as the application is one of the worse I dealt with in my search for a student loan refinance. In the end, I went with Sofi as their process was quick, easy and simple! If you want to help me out while putting a little money in your pocket also, just click on
and go through that link to apply. It’ll help us both while you earn something and save money on your student loans by refinancing!

Went through DRB to refinance some of my student loans after reading about them online. The loans I was refinancing were at AES (American Education Services). The application process was a bit of time — a couple months.
After giving DRB a detailed list of the specific loans that I wanted to refinance, they went and sent a payment through to AES without any information regarding how it was to be allocated. The result was the payment was distributed randomly to all loans by AES (great communication by both sides) and consequently closed out both of my federal loans (a big no-​no according to pretty much everybody) and several of my low interest loans at AES. AES had already reported the closed loans to the credit bureaus so it was too late to reverse anything.
I tried working with DRB after I noticed (a month or so after the payment was sent). After working my way up to one of their managers. she got back to me after following up several times over a couple months and told me there was nothing she could do because loan companies aren’t allowed to talk to each other on my behalf.
In the end I spent hours of research determining carefully which loans were worth refinancing. I spent hours and hours on the phone over 6 months between DRB and AES trying to figure out how to correct the blind payment sent by DRB. Both of these efforts resulted in a worse overall loan situation than when I started this process of trying to refinance my loans. And now I also have the extra paperwork/​account associated with the taxes and billing to deal with at DRB.
All because DRB was not organized and didn’t clearly communicate when doing their part of the agreement of paying off the correct loans for the refinance. Wish there was some way to recoup all of the wasted time, energy, and money from this group.
If you try to work with them, be prepared to follow up several times to get anything accomplished, and keep an eye out for how they communicate the loan payment info to your existing loan servicer.

Not sure how the govt can get away with charging 6−8% on student loans. No one on this planet is getting that kind of return on investment.
I searched long and far for my best refinancing option. DRB definitely offered the best rates. With a little patience, it has ended up being a nice move for me. They move at a snail’s pace over there. Six months after my loans were approved, I found that as an ADA member, I can get .25% off my rate. I thought it would just take a phone call. Nope, had to refinance again with them. That was 2 months ago. Still waiting for it to go through. Also, I signed up under a promotion when they were giving Amazon gift cards. Still waiting on that one, too. I ask about it every time I call and am told they’re looking in to it. Mr Rowayton, if you’re out there, I want my gift card!!!
Overall, for me, the hassle was worth it for the best rates out there.

My experience with this bank was truly a nightmare and still is. My experience with them is in attempt to consolidate my student loans.
I started the application process with them in August and it is now mid way through December. It took them 45 days and plenty of unreturned calls to get back to me with an offer. As anyone else would do — I also applied to a bunch of other consolidation firms. DRB’s reply took so long that I missed by deadline to sign with any other firm that I applied to and got offers from. Honestly, it’s not the amount of delays they have, it’s how much their reps lie when you call. Many times, I would call for a simple update and every rep would guarantee that I would have an answer by end of week.
After they got back to me with my first offer, I was surprised because it was higher than the others offers I got — I lost out on these because of the amount of time I mistakenly waited on an answer from DRB. I almost think these is a scheme with the way they act when I call. When I got my initial offer, I immediately called DRB and asked why it was so high compared to my other offers. They looked at the results (on their end) and told me on 4 separate occasions that they would «send it back to under writing and have them see if they can do lower». This was a false promise given to be multiple times. I waited weeks and called about once a week for an update from this and they had no answer from underwriting.
Finally, my wait brought me to the week before November 28^th which was the last day I could sign for my initial offer. After dealing with this terror for the past few months, at this point, I just wanted to sign and start my consolidation payments. I immediately signed on about November 23^rd. It is now December 15^th and I still have not heard from them. I again called today to ask why my payments haven’t start and the rep told me they should move forward by the end of the week. I don’t believe that one bit after the past few months. This has truly been a nightmare and I have no idea where my student loans stand now. I’ve been closing my usual high payments for months now, since I started the application process. I’m honestly scared what this is going to turn into.
I’m not sure what steps to take next. If you are considering to consolidate with DRB — please be careful.

I have been informing people with student loan debt for almost 5 years now, somewhat of an expert in the field. In most of my guidance, it ends in pointing borrowers towards refinancing their student loans through Darien Rowayton Bank for their excellent customer service and incredible rates. DRB has a hidden gem in the fact that they can pay off your student loans, consolidate into a lower payment and interest rate, and allow you to choose your term without a fee. It breaks my heart that more people don’t know about this option and are blindly paying on their student loans without touching the principal balance. You CAN refinance your federal and private student loans through DRB, you just have to make the call or submit an application!

My loans were to close ¹¹⁄₂₀ and as of ¹²⁄₉ they have failed to do so. I am trying to consolidate my student loans and it is becoming a mess because DRB can’t honor their own closing documents.
I’ve heard a lot of people, including DRB, say that they are just a small bank and are having growing pains. I must say, that every time I’ve heard a company say they are ‘just as small business’ it is to try and excuse their bad behavior. I just want a company that will honor their own documents.

I’m beginning to wonder if this is a real organization or some scam. I was approved for student loan refinancing two months ago, was alerted that funds were being disbursed but the website has said «pending disbursement» for over a month. After calling several times, I was told that they have too many checks to send out right now and that’s why there’s a delay! Is this bank even solvent? What kind of bank can’t execute the most fundamental operations for their industry?
Potential customers BEWARE.

I had an unpleasant experience with this bank. I received a letter in the mail stating that I was pre approved to refinance my student loans. I had previously refinanced half of my loans (50k) through Lendkey (–which satisfied me). I attempted to refinance my other 48k with DRB. They pulled a 756 Credit Score on me and I make close to 100k/​year. There should be no reason to deny me. I will take my business elsewhere. Thanks for wasting my time
–They have a monthly $ 3,500 «liability requirement” — Which means you must have an EXTRA $ 3,500 a month after all of your bills … $ 42,000 extra net??? They are INSANE

I learned about DRB after reading an article in the Wall Street Journal about graduate student loan refinancing for young professionals who make steady incomes and shouldn’t be paying 6+% interest rates on federal loans. It’s pretty sad that’s the best the government can offer, but with the rise of small companies such as DRB, I no longer have to pay 6%. I was paying 6% exactly with a small company called SoFi, which was also mentioned in the WSJ article. But that 6% was down from 6.25% with auto debit. The loan DRB offered me was 6%, but with auto debit, I’m down to 5.75%. I submitted applications with all the other lenders the WSJ article mentioned, including SunTrust and Citizens Bank, but DRB offered the best rate.
I have thus far been happy with the customer service. Submitting all the paperwork to get the loan refinanced was a bit of a headache, and their web site is not the greatest, but when I had questions, a real human answered my calls usually within minutes.

Hi all, I’m glad my review is useful to so many people. Apologies that I don’t respond back to the Unilocal messages as quickly as I should. However, to alleviate waiting, this referral link will assist in putting money into both of our pockets. Unfortunately, they’ve done away with the $ 200 referral — it’s down to $ 100. But that’s still better than nothing!
Link here —

I don’t know what kind of people this company is supposed to be helping.
I am a 29 year old woman, married (and my husband and I both bring in our own income) with student loans from Sallie Mae/​Navient and Nelnet, a mortgage and a car loan. You know, the sort of debt that’s expected at my age. No crazy high credit card debts or department store card balances. I’ve always made my payments on time and even made so many extra payments on my smaller Nelnet student loans that it is now paid off. Also, I have good/​excellent credit.
I was denied by this company to consolidate my Sallie Mae/​Navient student loans because my debt to income ratio was too high.
This, I could understand if I had a ton of unexplained debt, poor credit, a history of late or missed payments, if I was single with one income, ANYTHING that would show that I would be a bad fit for a consolidation loan or prove that I was unlikely to be able to make the payments.
When I contacted the company to explain that, in addition to my income, my husband also works full time and our paychecks go into a shared bank account which we use to pay off ALL our debts (my student loans included) they didn’t care. They said unfortunately, at this time, they don’t consider that as an additional source of income.
I just don’t get it. I’m a responsible adult with high credit scores and two incomes that gives me more than enough money to pay for a consolidation loan. What else is this company looking for?
Totally unreasonable.
So in the end, I took the time to apply for one of their loans and all I have to show for it is a hit on my credit report now because of their hard inquiry into my credit.
Don’t waste your time.

Don’t waste your time with this company. I applied back in March to refinance my 6 private student loans from college which were about $ 55k. After spending a ton of time sending docs (transcripts, job letters, multiple bills with my address, paystubs, passport, payoffs of all student loans, interest rates, first born child) and a hard credit inquiry, they discriminated against me because I was a base/​commission employee with a base of $ 45k, even though the pay stub I submitted showed a gross of $ 8300 for the previous month of February. They said I need to make at least $ 50k base. I should’ve stopped right there and told them to go fuck themselves but I kept them in mind in case I changed jobs. Well I did a few months ago. Now my base is 55k so I figured now I can qualify. Again, hard inquiry (my credit score is a 738 btw) and ridic documents.
This time I got the answer — Cancelled — Borrower Debt-​to-​Income Ratio Exceeds Allowable Limit — Reapply Option .
When I first submitted the app they knew my income and debt, but still proceeded to do another hard inquiry and run me through hoops of documents where they even asked for a second set of documents. They can really go fuck themselves

As my earlier review stated, I asked for forbearance for a 2 month period during part of my maternity leave. AS EXPECTED, they withdrew the money ANYWAYS. My husband and I PREPARED for them to mess this up and saved up accordingly (which really defeats the purpose of forbearing this in the first place… but we knew we had no choice). That is sad when you actually prepare for a banks with ALL YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION to mishandle your money.
I am waiting to hear back from a manager, and my husband and I will be looking elsewhere to pay off the rest of our loans.
I don’t know if any money in the world is worth the stress of knowing what these people are really doing with my money.
If you want peace of mind, look elsewhere.
Update: Spoke to manager. She apologized for my multiple complaints. Her explanation was that they are a growing bank/​company and many of my issues were because they were transitioning to becoming a bigger company. She was professional, but I am still worried to remain with DRB. You can decide for yourself if you are willing to take the risk.

One word: Patience.
DRB is a small bank that specializes in student loan refinancing. That’s why I went with them, and I assume a lot of other people have, too. With so many applications to such a small bank, processing is slow.
DRB is not flashy, their website isn’t super nice, and they won’t give you an instant rate quote. The time from the application, to approval, to first disbursement is about a month.
It’s worth it.
I got the lowest rate through DRB, by far. Even though it took a while, I was easily able to access their customer service, who was beyond helpful and friendly. When something happened with Navient and the transfer, DRB got me on a three-​way call with them to straighten the problem out.
My loan payments went down by roughly $ 100/​month, which lets me pay more than my monthly payment. They are fantastic.
So, yeah – you’ll wait a month, but if you’re patient, you’ll get the best interest rate around and be a very, very happy camper.

I refinanced my student loans through DRB and overall had a good experience. I will save a lot of money over the course of my loans.
I did take off 1 star in the rating because 1) the timeline they advertise is not realistic, expect to spend 45 days or so getting approved at the least 2) the lowest rates they advertise seem to be impossible to really achieve.
Pros: Lower rate, friendly communication when you would speak with someone
Cons: The «campus door» website is old and can be slow to update, The timeline they state to refinance your loan is greatly underestimated. The lowest rates seem to be impossible– on many websites people have great credit scores with tremendous cash flow and can’t qualify for the best rates.
Overall the experience is worth it but it would be a little easier if they laid out a realistic timeline and rates from the beginning.

I just refinanced $ 66k, and released my old co-​signer. I’m happy with DRB.
Everyone needs to know WHAT DRB IS, in order to understand why some people on here are having issues. This is the only way you will understand how to deal with them.
The fact is DRB is a small bank, and I presume that resources are spread thin. You will have to wait, and call them a few times to ensure that the process is progressing forward. Their systems that they have are currently not functioning properly (i.e. it will keep sending you emails indicating that documents were due when they were not, in fact, due). They seem to have bottle necks in underwriting.
If you get past this and politely stay on top of them… you will get a good rate. Learn to deal with people and politely drive results. This is an important trait for everyone to have in your professional career, anyway.