Student Loan Servicers: Who They Are & How To Contact Them
Updated: February 14, 2022
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:
- A list of the top student loan servicers
- Each company's contact info, and
- Answers to some of the most frequently asked questions surrounding student loan servicing.
News alert: Your loan servicer may be changing
As 2021 draws to a close, several loan servicers are ending their contracts with the Dept. of Education and transferring the federal student loans they have to other servicers.
What does that mean for you:? If your loan is currently serviced by Granite State or FedLoan, your loan will soon be transferred to another servicer.
If so, you'll soon be getting mail about your account from one of the servicers the feds have authorized to take over those accounts.
The loans that are being transferred will be serviced by one of the following companies: Aidvantage, EdFinancial, MOHELA, Navient, and Nelnet. If your loan is being transferred, you should be hearing from your current loan servicer, the new one, and the Dept. of Education as well.
What does my loan servicer do?
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:
- Collecting and tracking your monthly student loan payments
- Offering support to customize your loan payments, such as changing from the Standard Repayment Plan to an Income-Driven Repayment Plan
- Assessing your eligibility for student loan forgiveness programs, and
- Assisting lenders with deferment or forbearance.
How do I know who my student loan servicer is?
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:
- American Education Services (AES)
- CornerStone
- EdFinancial (HESC)
- FedLoan Servicing (PHEAA)
- Granite State (GSMR)
- Great Lakes Educational Loan Services, Inc.
- MOHELA
- Navient
- Nelnet
- OSLA Servicing
When should I contact my student loan servicer?
If you're no longer in school, we recommend you contact your loan servicer when you:
- Have had any changes to your name, address, email or phone number
- Need assistance making your loan payment
- Have a question about your student loan bill or monthly minimum owed, or
- Have any other questions about your student loan(s) in general.
How do I contact my student loan servicer?
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.
American Education Services (AES)
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
CornerStone
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/
EdFinancial Student Loans
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
FedLoan Student Loans (PHEAA)
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/
Granite State - GSMR
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/
Great Lakes Student Loans
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/
MOHELA Student Loans
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/
Navient Student Loans
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/
Nelnet Student Loans
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
OSLA Servicing
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/
Frequently Asked Questions:
What do I do if I have a problem with my loan servicer?
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.
I was recently contacted by a company that offered to help me enroll in an income-based repayment plan and/or consolidate my federal loans for a fee. Is this legit?
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.
It looks like my federal student loan servicer changed. How do I know that’s not a scam?
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.
What does it mean if my loan is being transferred to another servicer?
This sounds like a big deal, but it shouldn't have much impact on your loan. All it means is that the company that used to administer your loan is handing it over to a different company. (All federal loan servicers have to be ok'd by the federal government.)
It won't change your interest rate, payment plan, monthly payment, or any of the other details that matter most.
But you should still pay close attention to any mail you get from your old loan servicer and the new one. You might have to change where you send your payment and you'll want to double-check that all your payments were properly logged during the transfer. Mistakes are rare, but they do happen.
How do I find information about my federal Perkins 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.
How do I find information about my Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program loan?
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.
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