If you’re making payments on your federal student loans, or you’re about to start, you’ve probably become acquainted with a new and somewhat mysterious entity known as your student loan servicer.
If you’re not entirely sure who this company is, or what their role is in your student loans, you’re not alone. The student loan process can be a bit confusing, and also frustrating if you believe your interest rate is too high. (And psst ... if your interest rate(s) is over 4.0% click below and start saving today.)
Here, we'd like to take a bit of the mystery out of the student loan payment process. Below you'll find:
Your loan servicer’s main job is to act as an intermediary between you and your lender. The lender is the one that provided the money for you to pay for college. Now, you’ll work with the student loan servicer to repay the lender.
The loan servicer does several things, including:
Your loan is assigned to a loan servicer by the U.S. Department of Education after your loan amount is first paid out.
To find your servicer, start by going to the National Student Loan Data System, which is the U.S. Department of Education’s central database for student aid.
You’ll need your Federal Student Aid (FSA) ID number to access your information. You should have received your FSA ID when you filled out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) way back when you first applied for financial aid. If you can't remember your info, there are password-reminder prompts in many places on the site.
Click on Financial Aid Review to find out what type of loans you have and who services them, to check your current balances, and more.
The largest loan servicers currently in the space are:
If you're no longer in school, we recommend you contact your loan servicer when you:
Below we have listed the contact information for the main student loan servicers.
* We recommend you verify the information provided below with the contact information provided on the loan servicer's website.
Office Hours: M - F: 7:30 AM - 9 PM (EST)
Phone: 1-800-233-0557
Mailing address for general correspondence:
American Education Services
P.O. Box 2461
Harrisburg, PA 17105-2461
Website: http://www.aessuccess.org/
Click here to read more about AES
Office Hours:
M - TH: 6:00 AM - 7:00 PM (MT)
F: 6:00 AM - 5:00 PM (MT)
Phone: 1-800-663-1662
Mailing Address: (for general correspondemce)
P.O. Box 145122
Salt Lake City, UT
84114-5122
Website: https://www.mycornerstoneloan.org/
Office Hours:
M - TH: 8:00 AM - 8:30 PM (EST)
F: 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM (EST)
Phone:
Acct #s beginning with "F" (1-855-337-6884)
Acct #s beginning with "C" (1-800-337-6884)
Mailing Address:
EdFinancial Services
P.O. Box 36008
Knoxville, TN 37930-6008
* see more here - https://www.edfinancial.com/Contact#correspondence
Website: https://www.edfinancial.com
Office Hours: M-F: 8:00 AM - 9:00 PM (EST)
Phone: 1-800-699-2908
Mailing Address:
FedLoan Servicing
P.O. Box 69184
Harrisburg, PA 17106-9184
Website: https://myfedloan.org/
Office Hours: M-F: 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM (EST)
Phone: 1-888-556-0022
Mailing Address:
Granite State Management & Resources
P.O. Box 3420
Concord, NH 03302-3420
Website: https://www.gsmr.org/
Office Hours: M-F: 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM (CT)
Phone: 1-800-236-4300
Mailing Address:
Great Lakes
P.O. Box 7860
Madison, QI 53707-7860
Website: https://mygreatlakes.org/educate/
Office Hours:
M-Th: 7:00 AM - 9:00 PM (CT)
F: 7:00 AM - 5:00 PM (CT)
Phone: 1-888-866-4352
Mailing Address:
MOHELA
633 Spirit Drive
Chesterfield, MO 63005-1243
Website: https://www.mohela.com/
Office Hours:
M-TH: 8:00 AM - 9:00 PM (EST)
F: 8:00 AM - 8:00 PM (EST)
Phone: 1-800-722-1300
Mailing Address:
Navient has multiple mailing addresses that correspond to different loan types. Check here to find out where to direct your correspondence.
Website: https://www.navient.com/
Office Hours: Open 24/7
Phone: 1-888-486-4722
Mailing Address:
Nelnet
P.O. Box 82561
Lincoln, NE 68501-2561
Website: https://www.nelnet.com
Office Hours: M-F 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM (CT)
Phone:1-866-264-9762
Mailing Address: (for general correspondence)
OSLA
P.O. Box 18475
Oklahoma City, OK 73154-0475
Website: https://public.osla.org/
You have a few options available to you if you’re not getting anywhere with your student loan servicer.
First, contact the Federal Student Aid Ombudsman Group. They can help you communicate your concerns to your servicer and assist you with resolving disputes fairly.
If the Ombudsman group doesn’t adequately address your concerns for some reason, then you can submit a complaint to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. They will route your complaint to your servicer to prompt a faster resolution.
It’s important to note that both groups will ask if you’ve contacted your student loan servicer to work out your issue directly. Therefore, make sure you’ve done everything you can with your servicer before moving forward.
It's important to know that you never have to pay a fee to change your payment plan or consolidate your federal student loans. Your student loan servicer can help you accomplish all of these things for free. Contact your loan servicer directly.
Federal student loans may sometimes be transferred to new servicers. If that happens, look for a welcome letter or email from your new servicer. You may or may not receive notification from your previous servicer.
You can also check your account in the National Student Loan Data System to verify the switch.
Once you have verified the change, begin making payments to your new servicer as directed. There should be no changes in the terms of your loan.
Call the school that issued you the Perkins loan. The school may be the servicer. If not, they can direct you to the appropriate party.
Contact your lender directly. If you don’t know who it is, you should be able to find out on your loan statements or your credit report. You can get a free copy of your credit report at AnnualCreditReport.com.
Special offers for medical resident and fellow refinance products
Splash Financial is a leader in student loan refinancing with new rates as low as 2.63% fixed APR which can save you tens of thousands of dollars over the life of your loans. No application or origination fees and no prepayment penalties. Splash Financial is in all 50 states and is intensely focused on customer service. Splash Financial is also one of the few companies that offers a great medical resident and fellow refinance product. You can check your rate with Splash in just minutes.
Click here to see more of Splash's offerings and to see how you can save money.
SoFi is the leading student loan refinancing provider.
$30 billion+ in refinanced student loans. SoFi has some of the lowest interest rates and, unlike the other lenders we reviewed, there's no maximum on the amount you can finance. Some state restrictions may apply.
Save thousands on your student loans and pay off your loans sooner. Find your rate.
Ability to apply for cosigner release after 24 consecutive payments.
Give Your Life’s Journey a Jump-Start.
If you’re ready to put student loans in your rearview mirror, Nelnet Bank student loan refinancing offers low rates and flexible terms to help you start getting ahead.
See How Much You Can Save: Estimate your savings with a student loan refinance from Nelnet Bank.
Best for borrowers who want to customize their repayment schedule to pay off debt fast.
Using technology, data, and design to build affordable products, Earnest's lending products are built for a new generation seeking to reach life's milestones. The company understands every applicant's unique financial story to offer the lowest possible rates and radically flexible loan options for living life.
Click here to apply with Earnest and to see how much you can save.
Operates in all 50 states; 2nd largest student loan refinancing lender
Laurel Road is a national online lender with customers in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Many of our non-bank competitors are not able to lend in all 50 states.Laurel Road has grown to be the second largest player in the student loan refinancing space in large part because of our reputation as the go-to low rate provider.
Get your personalized, pre-approved rates in less than 5 minutes.
For every loan they fund, they contribute to the education of a child in need
CommonBond was founded in 2011 by three MBA graduates from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School who wanted to help their peers escape from high-interest student loan debt. Its original focus was on grad students, but it has since expanded to cover undergrads as well.
Of all the companies we reviewed, CommonBond has some of the best customer service. The company prides itself on being easy to reach by email, phone, or live chat. It offers networking events, expert panels, insider newsletters, and even has a program help borrowers who lose their jobs to find new ones. CommonBond also makes you feel good about choosing to refinance with them by donating money to an education nonprofit for each loan they write.
Get a personalized review of your refinancing options with CommonBond today.
Works with 300+ community lenders for higher approval chances
Connecting student borrowers to a network of over 300 community lenders with low interest rates. By partnering with these lenders, LendKey is able to give consumers direct access to the best rates available from the most borrower friendly institutions. As the servicer of all loans obtained through its platform, you can rest easy knowing your personal information will be safe and that the best customer service team will be ready to answer your questions from application until your final payment.
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