For online lenders, the business model of targeting Ivy League student borrowers is starting to backfire. The problem isn’t that graduates of these and other prestigious universities are deadbeats. Rather, these customers, who the lenders covet for their superlow default rates, are proving savvier and more anti-debt than anticipated. Borrowers are prepaying their student loans at a quicker pace—in some cases three times faster—than some companies expected, a potentially bad outcome for the lenders and investors that wanted to collect higher interest payments over time, according to people familiar with the industry. Not only are customers aggressive about refinancing at lower rates, some are paying more than required each month in an attempt to get rid of their debt faster.

May 8, 2016 ・ From The Wall Street Journal