Residency Relocation Loans 2026: Who Offers Them, Rates and Whether to Take One

A residency relocation loan is the private loan many fourth-year medical students take out between interview season and the first resident paycheck. The need peaks at the Match: on March 19, 2027 you learn which city you're moving to, and within about three months you need a lease, a deposit, movers or a truck, a state training license and enough cash to live on until payroll catches up. Federal loans stop when you graduate, and a resident stipend doesn't start until you're already there.

This guide covers who offers these loans in 2026, the terms each lender publishes, what the Match season costs according to the AAMC and NRMP, and what a $10,000, $15,000 or $20,000 loan grows to by the end of a 3- or 5-year residency, computed from each lender's published APR range. It also compares a credit card, federal loans, school funds and family help, and explains when you shouldn't borrow at all. Lender terms are as published on the lenders' own sites on November 2, 2026.

What a residency relocation loan is (and isn't)

"Residency loan" gets used for three different products, and only one of them is what this guide is about:

1. Residency and relocation loans (also called medical residency loans): new money, usually a few thousand to $30,000, borrowed in the final year of medical school or shortly after graduation for interviews, moving and the gap before the first paycheck. This guide.
2. Resident refinance loans: Earnest, Laurel Road and Citizens offer refinancing that replaces existing student loans with a private loan and lets residents pay about $100 a month during training. That is a refinance of debt you already have, not money for moving, and it gives up federal protections. See our student loan refinancing guide before considering one.
3. Federal loan deferment or forbearance during residency: a pause on your existing federal loans, sometimes searched as "medical residency loan deferment." Our guide to student loans during residency covers that, including why an income-driven plan usually beats forbearance.

Relocation loans come in two structures. Sallie Mae's is built like a student loan: you borrow while you're a final-year student or recent graduate, nothing is due for years, and interest accrues and is added to the balance. Panacea Financial and Doc2Doc sell personal loans priced for doctors in training: the money arrives as a lump sum, and you make small interest-only payments during the first part of the term before full payments begin. Neither type has federal protections such as income-driven repayment or PSLF.

What the Match season actually costs

The costs come in two waves: applications and interviews in the fall and winter of fourth year, then moving and licensing between Match Day and July. Published fees cover the first wave well. The second wave depends on your new city, so it belongs in your own budget rather than a national average.

Put together, an applicant who applies to 30 programs in one specialty, ranks 12 and spends the AAMC median on interviews pays about $3,485 before moving. One who applies to 60 programs, ranks 25 and lands at the top of the AAMC interview range pays about $8,535. The AAMC Fee Assistance Program cuts ERAS fees for students who qualify, so check it before the season opens.

Moving is where budgets break. A security deposit and first month's rent are often due together, movers or a truck are paid up front, and a training license, background check and new-hire costs can land before orientation. Our resident financial guide has a Match Day and moving budget calculator, and the rent vs. buy in residency guide covers whether to sign a lease or buy. Step 3 usually falls in intern year, not before the move, but it's a $955 bill on a PGY-1 budget.

The Match timeline and when the first paycheck comes

The first resident paycheck is the date nobody publishes nationally. The AAMC's transition advice is to find out whether your hospital pays weekly, every two weeks or monthly, and to set up direct deposit. If you start on July 1 and the hospital pays monthly, the first full check may not arrive until the end of July or later, while the deposit, movers and first month's rent were paid in May or June. That three-month stretch, from the Match to payday, is what most residency loans really finance. Ask your program coordinator for the first pay date and whether the program offers a relocation stipend or a pay advance; stipends are usually taxable, so plan on receiving less than the headline amount.

Lender windows line up with this calendar. Sallie Mae accepts students in their final year or graduates within the past 12 months, Doc2Doc lends to matched fourth-year students, and Panacea lends to borrowers in training. In practice, the window to apply opens after Match Day, when you know the city, and closes when the move is paid for.

Who offers residency relocation loans in 2026

These are the lenders whose own websites list a loan for this purpose, with the terms those sites publish. Each lender's rate depends on credit, so treat the ranges as the full spread, not a quote.

Sallie Mae: the deferred option

Sallie Mae's Medical Residency and Relocation Loan is the only product built like a student loan, and the only one with no payments during the first years of residency. It lends $1,000 to $30,000 at 6.33% to 11.59% fixed or 6.56% to 11.80% variable APR, with no origination fee and no prepayment penalty. A cosigner isn't required for U.S. citizens and permanent residents who qualify alone; non-citizens need a creditworthy U.S. citizen or permanent resident cosigner, and the borrower can later apply for cosigner release.

The catch is the grace period. Sallie Mae's sell sheet and its FAQ for schools say graduates get 36 months before payments start; its consumer pages say 48. Either way, interest runs the whole time and is added to the balance, and a 4- or 5-year residency outlasts the grace period. Sallie Mae's own disclosure example is a $20,000 loan at 9.39% with a 36-month grace period, repaid in 239 monthly payments of about $245.96: $58,760 repaid on $20,000 borrowed. Sallie Mae also has a dental version of the loan.

Panacea Financial: interest-only during training

Panacea Financial, a division of Primis Bank, offers its PRN personal loan to borrowers in training at 8.49% (with all discounts) to 17.85% APR, up to $20,000, with a 1% origination fee and no prepayment penalty. There is no deferral: on a 5-year term you pay interest only for years 1 to 3, then full payments in years 4 and 5. A 3-year term is interest-only for two years and a 7-year term for four. Panacea requires a Panacea checking account for a new loan, and lists an optional cosigner (minimum credit score 661).

Doc2Doc: higher ceiling, wider rate range

Doc2Doc lends up to $25,000 to residents and matched fourth-year students (and up to $50,000 to fellows) on a 5-year term with interest-only payments for the first half. Its main physician page lists 9.99% to 30.72% APR including a 0% to 4% origination fee, with a $5,000 minimum. The top of that range is above the average credit card rate, so the quote you get matters more here than with the other two. Doc2Doc doesn't lend in Maine, West Virginia or Connecticut.

Lenders we couldn't confirm

College Ave's medical school loan page names a Medical Residency & Relocation Loan, but we couldn't find current rates or limits for it on College Ave's site, so it's not in the table; ask College Ave directly. Discover, which used to make residency loans, has left student lending. Older lists also include banks that no longer offer the product; if a list doesn't give a date, check the lender's own page. For the medical school loans these lenders also make, see our best private student loans for medical school comparison.

What $10K, $15K and $20K grow to by the end of residency

This is the cost of deferring. The table assumes the whole amount is disbursed at graduation, nothing is paid until residency ends, and interest compounds monthly at Sallie Mae's lowest and highest published fixed APR. The monthly payment is the 20-year term in Sallie Mae's disclosure example. Sallie Mae's grace period is shorter than a 5-year residency, so the 5-year rows show what happens if payments are postponed the whole way, the most expensive case.

Three things stand out. First, the rate you're offered matters as much as the amount: at 11.59% the balance grows 41% over three years and 78% over five, against 21% and 37% at 6.33%. $20,000 at the top rate over five years becomes $35,604. Second, the 20-year term keeps the payment small, and it's also why the total repaid runs 2.1 to 4.6 times the amount borrowed. Third, almost no one should keep this loan for 20 years.

Paying it off quickly after training changes the picture. The $20,000 borrowed at 11.59% that reaches $28,269 after a 3-year residency costs about $2,506 a month to clear in the first 12 months as an attending, $30,075 in total, against $72,774 on the 20-year schedule. With no prepayment penalty, the long term is a safety net, not a plan. Sallie Mae also lets you choose interest-only payments for the first two or four years of repayment, which keeps the balance from growing further if repayment starts during residency.

Interest-only resident loans: Panacea and Doc2Doc

Panacea and Doc2Doc don't let interest pile up. You pay it as you go, so the balance stays at what you borrowed, and full payments start on a fixed schedule whether or not residency is over. For a 3-year residency, Panacea's 5-year term lines up neatly: interest-only through PGY-3, then two years of full payments as an attending. For a 5-year residency, the 7-year term's full payments begin in PGY-5. Doc2Doc's 5-year term switches to full payments after 30 months, in the middle of PGY-3.

The interest-only phase is affordable: $142 to $298 a month on $20,000 with Panacea. The full payments are not, if they land during training. The AAMC's 2025 national mean PGY-1 stipend is $68,166, about $4,732 a month after tax for a single resident in Texas under 2026 rules. A $756 to $963 Doc2Doc payment starting in PGY-3, or a Panacea 7-year payment starting in PGY-5, is a large share of that. Match the term to your residency length, and pick the term whose full payments begin after you're earning an attending salary.

Compared with deferring, paying interest as you go is cheaper. $20,000 at Panacea's lowest rate costs $5,094 in interest over three years of residency and the balance stays at $20,000; deferred at Sallie Mae's lowest rate, the balance is $24,171 when residency ends and then accrues interest on the larger amount. You can get most of the same benefit with Sallie Mae by making voluntary interest payments during the grace period, since there's no prepayment penalty.

Residency loan vs. credit card

A credit card is the default way most students cover interview travel, and for small amounts paid off quickly, that's fine. For a balance carried into residency, the numbers are lopsided. The Federal Reserve's G.19 rate for credit card accounts that are charged interest was 22.36% in August 2026. Cards require a monthly minimum, so the table assumes you pay at least the interest each month on the card (and on Panacea), while Sallie Mae's interest accrues unpaid.

Carrying $20,000 on a card at 22.36% costs about $373 a month just in interest, $13,416 over a 3-year residency, and the balance is still $20,000 at the end. If you instead paid the card at the $178 a month a Sallie Mae borrower at the lowest rate pays after residency, the card would never be paid off, because that payment is less than the $373 of interest the card charges each month.

The exception is a 0% intro APR card. If the intro period runs past your first few paychecks and you can clear the balance before it ends, it costs nothing in interest, which beats every loan above. The risks are specific: the intro period ends on a date written in the card agreement, the regular rate applies to whatever is left, a late payment can end the promotion early, and a new card means a hard credit inquiry right before you may need a credit check for an apartment. Read the terms for a balance transfer fee if you move a balance onto it. Our guide to credit cards for doctors covers how to choose one.

Alternatives to a residency loan

Federal Direct loans and Grad PLUS, while you're still enrolled

Federal loans are only available while you're enrolled and only up to your school's cost of attendance, so they can pay for interview season but not for a move after graduation. For loans first disbursed from July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027, graduate and professional Direct Unsubsidized loans carry 8.07% and Grad PLUS 9.07%, fixed for life, plus a loan fee taken from each disbursement. Both are below the top of every private range above, and federal loans keep income-driven repayment and PSLF eligibility.

The July 2026 law change matters here. Grad PLUS is closed to new borrowers, and new professional-student borrowing is capped at $50,000 a year, but students who were enrolled as of June 30, 2026 and already had a Direct Loan for their program can keep borrowing under the legacy exception. That covers most students matching in March 2027 who have already borrowed federally. If you're in that group and still have room under your cost of attendance, ask your financial aid office whether it can count residency interview and relocation costs in your final-year budget before you borrow privately. Our paying for medical school without Grad PLUS guide explains the new limits. One trade-off: a federal loan disbursed on or after July 1, 2026 can change which repayment plans your other loans qualify for, which our student loans during residency guide explains.

A relocation stipend or pay advance

Some programs pay a relocation stipend or can advance part of the first check. Ask before you borrow; even a taxable stipend shrinks the loan you need. Your contract and the program's benefits page are the place to look.

School emergency loans

Some medical schools keep short-term emergency loans or small grants for students. Ask the financial aid office in the fall of fourth year, not in May, whether yours has one, how much it lends and whether it is open to students who have already graduated.

Borrowing from family

A family loan is often the cheapest option, and the riskiest for the relationship. Put the amount, the repayment start (after residency or after the first attending paycheck) and the payment in writing, and treat it like a loan you intend to repay on time.

Savings and a smaller move

Every thousand dollars you don't borrow is a thousand you don't pay interest on for three to five years. Ship less, rent furnished for the first months, or share a truck with a co-intern moving to the same city. Our PGY-1 financial checklist covers the first 30 days after you arrive, including the emergency fund to rebuild once paychecks start.

When not to take a residency relocation loan

• When federal room is still available. If you're enrolled and under your cost of attendance, a Direct Unsubsidized loan at 8.07% keeps federal protections that no private loan has.
• When the quote is near credit card rates. A Doc2Doc offer near its 30.72% ceiling, or any offer above about 22.36%, is no better than a card and adds a fixed term.
• When you can cover the gap with a 0% card and a written payoff plan. If three or four paychecks clear it before the intro rate ends, the card wins.
• When the amount is for lifestyle, not the move. Furniture, a car or a trip before residency financed for 20 years at up to 11.59% is expensive furniture.
• When the full payments would start in residency. A Panacea or Doc2Doc term that switches to full payments before your training ends can push you into missing payments or onto a card.
• When a family member is cosigning without understanding the risk. A cosigner owes the full balance if you don't pay. Make sure they know the amount and the term, and plan to apply for cosigner release if the lender offers it.
• When you haven't matched yet and the money is for moving. Borrow for interviews if you must, but wait until Match Day to borrow for a move to a city you don't know yet.

How much to borrow

Build the number from the bottom up, not from the lender's maximum. Add your remaining application and interview costs (the AAMC median of roughly $3,000 is a starting point if you haven't started), the deposit and first month's rent from an actual listing, a mover or truck quote, your state's training license fee, and living costs from graduation until the first payday your hospital gives you. Subtract savings, any relocation stipend after tax, and what federal loans can still cover. Add a small buffer, then round down.

A useful test: compare the result with one month of resident take-home pay. At the AAMC's 2025 mean PGY-1 stipend, that's about $4,732 in Texas. Most people can cover a gap of one or two months that way; a loan several times that size usually means the budget includes things that could wait. Our resident physician salary guide shows stipends by year and region.

Residency loan checklist

1. Ask your financial aid office what federal room is left this year and whether interview and relocation costs can be included.
2. Ask your program for the first pay date, pay schedule and any relocation stipend or advance.
3. Write the budget: interviews, deposit, first month's rent, move, license, living costs until payday.
4. Get rate quotes from each lender on the same day, and compare the APR, not the advertised low end.
5. Check when full payments start against your residency length.
6. Confirm the origination fee, prepayment terms and, for Sallie Mae, the grace period in your loan disclosure.
7. Borrow the budget, not the maximum, and set a payoff date in your first year as an attending.