On Wednesday, a bipartisan group of House Representatives sent a letter to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos requesting that the Department of Education (ED) rescind its recent interpretation of law preempting states from
regulating federal student loan servicers.
to Education Secretary DeVos expressing concern about the Department of Education's (ED) new plans for assessing the quality
of federal student loan servicers and criticizing ED's decision to move to a single student loan servicer.
Although
most federal student loan servicers operate as nonprofits, there are a handful of private companies, like Navient and Nelnet, which are contracted to service federal student loans.
Instead, the Department of Education transfers loan balances and payment information to one of
many federal student loan servicers, like Oklahoma Student Loan Authority, or OSLA.
What is needed instead is to 1) deal with the for - profit school problem, 2) restore the state - level commitment to funding public colleges, 3) fix the
broken federal student loan servicer contracting, 4) rethink the collection and bankruptcy regime for student loans and 5) repeal the student loan tax, i.e. the above - cost interest rates college graduates pay to the Treasury.
S. 1675 — Student Loan Servicer Performance Accountability Act [Sen. Roy Blunt (R - MO)-RSB- would promote competition in federal student loan servicing by prohibiting the Department of Education from awarding all federal student loans to a
single federal student loan servicer.
As long as you make on - time payments in the minimum amount due,
federal student loan servicers report your payment history to the three major credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — each month.
Lawmakers sent a letter to Education Secretary DeVos expressing concern about the Department of Education's (ED) new plans for assessing the quality
of federal student loan servicers and criticizing ED's decision to move to a single student loan servicer.
This new guidance is in direct response to several states passing or currently considering enacting laws that would strengthen regulations
on federal student loan servicers.
Instead, the Department of Education transfers loan balances and payment information to one of
many federal student loan servicers, like Oklahoma Student Loan Authority, or OSLA.The Oklahoma Student Loan Authority has been helping student loan borrowers access and manage their federal student loan balances and payments since 1972.
To apply, borrowers must contact
their federal student loan servicer directly to ensure they are on the most appropriate repayment program and are ultimately eligible for income - driven repayment forgiveness.
After the 120th payment is made, borrowers may submit an application to
their federal student loan servicer.
If you need more help, reach out to
your federal student loan servicer or private lender with questions.
Federal student loan servicers have to follow the guidance from Congress.
If you want to make qualifying payments, but you're in a deferment or forbearance, contact
your federal student loan servicer to waive the deferment or forbearance.
Aside from exceptional events, the forbearance is not automatic, however, so you'll need to talk to
your federal student loan servicer.
So if you experience a drop in your income during or after a disaster, you can submit a request to
your federal student loan servicer to have your monthly payment recalculated.
Great Lakes, or Great Lakes Educational Loan Services, Inc., is
a federal student loan servicer.
The rules are the same for
all Federal student loan servicers, because Federal loan rules are dictated by Congress and the Department of Education.
A class action lawsuit was just filed in Florida to help people who have been allegedly deceived by
their federal student loan servicer, Great Lakes Higher Education Corp..
«The Department takes exception to the CFPB unilaterally expanding its oversight role to include the Department's contracted
federal student loan servicers,» DeVos wrote.
After the 120th payment is made, borrowers may submit an application to
their federal student loan servicer.
To apply, borrowers must contact
their federal student loan servicer directly to ensure they are on the most appropriate repayment program and are ultimately eligible for income - driven repayment forgiveness.
If you're unsure of who
your federal student loan servicer is, you can look it up in «My Federal Student Aid.»
More good news (well... «good» is a relative term here) is that
Federal student loan servicers are still up and running.
For when you need to contact
your federal student loan servicer: Navient Nelnet Great Lakes Educational Loan Services CornerStone Educational Loan Services Granite State Management & Resources FedLoan Servicing EdFinancial Services OSLA MOHELA
A. Initially, if you choose forbearance or stopped collections status, it will affect all of your federal student loans that are owned by ED and are being serviced by
your federal student loan servicer, including loans that are not eligible for borrower defense loan forgiveness, such as (1) loans taken out to attend another institution, and (2) any loans you have for which you are not asserting borrower defense.
However,
the federal student loan servicer you're likely working with is FedLoan Servicing (sometimes misspelled by customers as «Fed Loan Servicing» or «Fed Loan»).
ED and / or
your federal student loan servicer (s) will contact you once the review of your application is complete to inform you of whether your application was successful or denied.
Misapplied payments (which can be a major concern if you are making extra payments), late fees that shouldn't be on your account, and other mistakes happen all the time, from
both federal student loan servicers and private lenders.
You won't find Sallie Mae on
any federal student loan servicer list since we only service private student loans.
Autopay is offered by
all federal student loan servicers and most private student loan lenders.
between ED and its opponents (including states, consumer advocates, lawmakers, and others) about who has the authority to regulate
federal student loan servicers to protect consumers.
This letter is an escalation in the fierce battle between ED and its opponents (including states, consumer advocates, lawmakers, and others) about who has the authority to regulate
federal student loan servicers to protect consumers.
Find out whether you should expect to receive an IRS Form 1098 - E, Student Loan Interest Statement, from
your federal student loan servicer.
According to the Department, ED and / or
your federal student loan servicer (s) will contact you once the review of your claim is complete to inform you of whether your claim was successful or denied.
If you have federal student loans (student loans provided by the federal government and serviced by
a federal student loan servicer) then you have more options available to you to help you through a natural disaster.
For any of the reasons mentioned above, you will need to contact
your federal student loans servicer to apply for the federal student loans cancellation.