WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today CordiaGrad, a nationwide leader in student loan refinancing, announced that it has become an independent company. CordiaGrad’s parent company, Bank of Virginia, has sold the company to its Founder and Chief Executive Officer Jack Zoeller. The divestiture will enable CordiaGrad to execute a more aggressive strategy to transform the student loan market by delivering lower-cost loans to college graduates saddled by student debt.
“CordiaGrad has reached an inflection point at which we can best accelerate our growth as an independent company,” said Zoeller. “Student loans represent a $1.3 trillion burden on the U.S. economy, a greater volume of debt than either auto loans or credit cards. By helping more people proactively refinance their student loans, we can provide financial security for a generation of young adults weighed down by student loan debt, and play an even bigger role in fixing a student loan system everyone knows is broken.”
CordiaGrad is the only online student loan refinancing company with five-, eight- and 12-year loans. It also was the first in the industry to introduce up-front transparency, using an online application that shows the exact rates that borrowers will receive if their credit is approved.
In the coming months the newly independent company expects to introduce a number of product innovations, at highly competitive rates, to a broader group of individuals with good-to-excellent credit. The student loan refinancing leader will continue to work with customers in its hometown of Washington, D.C. and across the nation.
“It is outrageous that young professionals have been locked into rates for decades that many accepted while they were teenagers with no credit history,” said Zoeller. “CordiaGrad’s flexible approach helps graduates pay off their debts faster and gives them a desperately needed alternative to the traditional student loan system run by the federal government, which does not offer refinancing. Now more than ever, people need choices that help them break out of the student loan strait-jacket.”
Current and prospective CordiaGrad customers will be able to interact with their newly independent lender in the exact same way as before the divestiture.
CordiaGrad has been a pioneer in the rapidly evolving student loan refinancing industry, combining its customer-centric philosophy with cutting-edge financial technology to better serve its borrowers. Each CordiaGrad customer is assigned a dedicated personal loan advisor, available via email, text, phone or chat. Borrowers are never charged a fee and can complete the online loan application in 15 minutes.
“I’m very proud of what we accomplished with Bank of Virginia,” said Zoeller. “They’ve been a fantastic partner in what has been – and promises to continue to be – a truly exciting journey.” In connection with the divestiture Zoeller has stepped down as Chairman of Bank of Virginia and CEO of Cordia Bancorp in order to devote full time to CordiaGrad, his fifth start-up venture since leaving the U.S. Army in 1980.
About CordiaGrad
CordiaGrad is an online lender offering student loan refinancing in all 50 states. Its core philosophy is to help student loan borrowers, who have earned their degrees and launched their careers, to lower their interest rates and get out of debt faster. CordiaGrad has offices in Washington, D.C., and Richmond, Va. Its founder formed CordiaGrad to be more nimble, transparent and responsive to customers while offering a superior, lower-cost student loan refinancing solution.
For more information, visit the company’s award winning website at http://www.cordiagrad.com.
