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(Loans) Subject: Action Required - Loan Holders May No Longer Accept Previous Version of TPD Discharge Form Beginning April 1, 2010

Posted Date:February 4, 2010

Author: Jana Hernandes, Service Director, Operations, Federal Student Aid

Subject: Action Required – Loan Holders May No Longer Accept Previous Version of TPD Discharge Form Beginning April 1, 2010

This announcement provides important information for all loan holders (lenders, guaranty agencies, and Perkins schools) that assign loans to the Department of Education (the Department) for Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) discharge. The guidance applies to regular assignments for TPD discharge as well as discharge requests for certain veterans who qualify under the new discharge standard.

In DCL GEN-09-01 (February 2009), the Department provided loans holders with the OMB-approved revised Discharge Application: Total and Permanent Disability (expiration date 12/31/2011). In light of the new discharge standard for certain veterans, we urged loan holders to begin distributing the revised TPD discharge form as soon as possible and advised that only the revised form could be provided to borrowers beginning July 1, 2009.

In providing guidance about the revised TPD discharge form, we also advised loan holders that they could continue to accept the previous version of the form (expiration date 5/31/2008) from borrowers after July 1, 2009. We did not originally set a date by which loan holders were required to stop accepting the previous version of the form, but we have determined that it is now necessary to do so in order to provide for more efficient processing of TPD discharge requests. Beginning April 1, 2010, loan holders may no longer accept the previous version of the form from borrowers who are submitting their initial application for TPD discharge.

We understand that loan holders may still need to submit assignments that include the previous version of the TPD discharge form for a period of time after April 1, 2010. We will accept and process these assignments. We expect the number of assignments that include the previous version of the form to decline as loan holders require borrowers to submit the revised form on and after April 1, 2010.

Contact Information

We appreciate loan holders’ assistance in completing the transition to the revised TPD discharge form. If you have questions about this announcement, contact the Disability Discharge Servicing Center at 888/869-4169. You may also e-mail disability_discharge@acs-inc.com.