Sallie Mae "Aggressively" Working To Be Listed On Overture's Private Loan Marketplace

From Q&A during Sallie Mae Straight Talk today on preferred lender list regulations (here is link to their presentation).  Company executives were asked about Overture's Student Loan Marketplace:

"We [Sallie Mae] are not currently listed on their site.  We are aggressively working with them to be listed with them.  We are not currently participating but hope to be in the very near future."

A quick refresher on Student Loan Marketplace.  This loan comparison service allows borrowers to get indicative information from multiple private loan lenders with one credit pull while still requiring borrowers to apply directly with lender to consummate the private student loan.  From Marketplace website:  "Your submission of information to Overture is NOT an application and the results are not loan offers.  To obtain any loan presented on the Overture site, you must submit an application to the lender directly – nothing performed on the Overture site substitutes for or replaces any action required with the lender directly."

Marketplace is currently active in the states of New York, California, Indiana, Michigan, Maryland, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Oregon and Pennsylvania, primarily through partnerships with college associations.  Overture also manages a national Student Loan Marketplace. 

In terms of lenders, Marketplace currently lists Discover and these six credit unions as participating lenders:  CU Student Loans, Eli Lilly FCU, Mid-Atlantic FCU, NASA FCU, Northwest FCU and Star One Credit Union. 

Regarding compliance with preferred lender regulations, Marketplace had this to say in a recent press release announcing the launch of Marketplace in Pennsylvania: 

"Providing schools with a straightforward path to HEOA Section 601 compliance: On July 1,
2010, the Marketplace will include the newly-required Preferred Lender Arrangement
disclosures and annual reporting features in an “out-of-the-box” solution, helping colleges
comply with the Section 601 regulations with virtually no increase in burden for the financial aid office."

This interest from Sallie Mae would appear to provide further validation of Overture's Marketplace concept and may also attract other top lenders to participate.  Stay tuned...