Posted Date:May 26, 2010
| Author: | Jana Hernandes, Service Director, Operations, Federal Student Aid |
Subject: Loan Servicing Information - Quarterly Customer Satisfaction Surveys Begin June 1, 2010
As explained in a November 24, 2009 Electronic Announcement posted on the Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) Web site, in December 2009, we began quarterly customer satisfaction surveys of borrowers, schools, and federal personnel who work with the four new servicers on our federal loan servicing team. We are now ready to launch final quarter (April - June 2010) surveys.
Background
In Electronic Announcements posted on the IFAP Web site on August 28, 2009 and September 16, 2009, we explained our transition to additional servicer support for loans that the Department of Education (the Department) owns. Currently, these loans include William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program loans and Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program loans purchased by the Department under the authority granted the Secretary in the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act (ECASLA) and through methods commonly referred to as a "PUT."
In early September 2009, the Department began assigning FFEL Purchased Loans to the four new servicers on our federal loan servicing team-FedLoan Servicing (PHEAA), Great Lakes Educational Loan Services, Inc., Nelnet, and Sallie Mae. Per our contractual agreement with each servicer, the Department will annually measure servicer performance in the areas of customer satisfaction and default prevention. We will then use these results to determine each servicer's allocation of future loan volume.
Survey Launch for Borrower and School Customers - June 1, 2010
To measure customer satisfaction, an independent vendor will conduct quarterly surveys of borrowers, schools, and federal personnel on our behalf. The independent vendor plans to begin conducting telephone surveys of borrower and school customers on June 1, 2010.
Surveyors from Discovery Research Group will contact a random sample of borrowers, and surveyors from OLC Global will contact a random sample of schools. Both surveys have been designed to take no more than 10 minutes to complete and will be conducted in a manner that ensures the anonymity of all respondents.
Notes for School Survey Participants:
1) Given our borrower-centric approach to servicer assignment, the independent vendor may contact a school that is working with more than one of the four new servicers. In this case, the school customer will be asked to respond about experiences with only one servicer identified by the vendor.
2) The survey is specific to a school customer's experiences with the servicing of federally-owned loans by the identified servicer. While a school customer may have other loan servicing experiences with the servicer, responses should be limited to experiences related to federally-owned loans.
3) If the independent vendor contacts a school customer who does not work with federally-owned loans, we ask that he or she provide the name of a colleague who does this work to the vendor and forward the call to that individual.
We value the participation of all customers in the loan servicing process and will use the input we receive through the surveys to allocate loan volume and assist in ensuring that all servicers provide superior service to our customers. Thank you in advance for taking the time to assist us if you are contacted.