Here are the highlights of their Electronic Announcement released on Friday:
Question: How are borrowers who are split between multiple servicers in the FFEL purchased loan process being handled?
Answer: "Due to the nature of the FFEL Purchased Loan process, the assignment of a borrower’s federally-owned loans to the same servicer has not automatically occurred for all borrowers. In time, assignment of borrower’s federally-owned loans to the same servicer will become standard operating procedure. When this does not occur automatically, we will work to resolve situations in which a borrower’s federally-owned loans are assigned to two or more federal loan servicers. Resolution will involve transferring the borrower’s loans from one servicer to another."
Question: When will Direct Loans be transferred to the four new servicers (AES/PHEAA, Great Lakes, Nelnet and Sallie Mae)?
Answer: "We expect to begin assigning Direct Loans to the new federal loan servicers—FedLoan Servicing (PHEAA), Great Lakes Educational Loan Services, Inc., Nelnet, and Sallie Mae—by August 31, 2010. Preparations for doing so are underway, and we will communicate the details related to Direct Loan servicer assignment in a forthcoming Electronic Announcement on the Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) Web site."
Question: How about borrowers whose loans are being serviced by the current DL servicer (ACS), and who also have (or will have) loans serviced by one of the four servicers for the FFEL Purchased Loan program?
Answer: "If a borrower has FFEL Purchased Loans and Direct Loans, he or she will still have two federal loan servicers for the time being—one of the new federal loan servicers for the FFEL Purchased Loans and the Direct Loan Servicing Center (ACS) for the Direct Loans. We are evaluating options for resolving these situations and will provide more information shortly."
Question: What services do the four new servicers provide to schools/borrowers?
Answer:
"Our new federal loan servicers—FedLoan Servicing (PHEAA), Great Lakes Educational Loan Services, Inc., Nelnet, and Sallie Mae—are highly-qualified experienced student loan servicers and are committed to providing “best-in-business” service. Each servicer will provide the services that are needed by schools. These services include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Toll-free phone and Web site access for borrower and school customer
- Single point of contact for school customers
- Counseling support in the form of materials and Web products
- Delinquency/default prevention and management support in the form of reports, predictive call modeling, and robust skiptracing tools
We understand that many schools are concerned about the possible loss of extra services that guaranty agencies previously provided to assist with delinquency/default prevention. We have compiled information about school support services focused on delinquency/default prevention that the new federal loan servicers are providing to customers. This information is available in the following four attachments:
- School Support Services for FedLoan Servicing (PHEAA)
- School Support Services for Great Lakes Educational Loan Services, Inc.
- School Support Services for Nelnet
- School Support Services for Sallie Mae
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