Posted Date:January 31, 2012
| Author: | Jana Hernandes, Service Director, Operations, Federal Student Aid |
Subject: Loan Servicing Information - CornerStone Joins Federal Loan Servicer Team
In a September 23, 2011 Electronic Announcement on the Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) Web site, we informed the community of the expansion of our federal loan servicer team. This expansion will occur through new federal loan servicing contracts awarded under the HCERA/SAFRA Not-For-Profit (NFP) Servicer Program solicitation. The solicitation offered NFP entities the opportunity to submit proposals individually and in teams for servicing borrower accounts on our behalf. Whether individual or team award, our customers will know and face one servicer.
At this time, we are pleased to announce that CornerStone is now a member of our federal loan servicer team. CornerStone will be identified in the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) as follows:
| Servicer Name | NSLDS Name | NSLDS ED Servicer Code |
CornerStone | DEPT OF ED/CORNERSTONE-UHEAA | 502 |
Note: For NSLDS identification information for all members of our federal loan servicer team, refer to the attachment to this announcement titled “Federal Loan Servicer NSLDS Identification Information (January 31, 2012).”
Borrower and school contact information for CornerStone is available on the IFAP Web site’s Loan Servicing Centers for Students page and Loan Servicing Centers for Schools page, respectively.
Direct Loan Borrower Account Transfers to CornerStone
We plan to transfer existing William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program borrower accounts to CornerStone beginning in February 2012. The accounts we will transfer are currently assigned to the Direct Loan Servicing Center (ACS) and generally belong to borrowers who have no loans in an in-school or grace period. We will include all of a borrower’s loans in the transfer to CornerStone.
We present other key information about the upcoming transfers to CornerStone in question and answer format below.
Q1: How will a borrower know if his or her Direct Loans have been transferred to CornerStone?
A1: When we transfer a student or parent borrower’s Direct Loans from the Direct Loan Servicing Center (ACS) to CornerStone, the new servicer, CornerStone, will correspond with the borrower after the transferred loans have been fully loaded to its system. In this correspondence to the borrower, CornerStone will explain that the borrower’s Direct Loans have been transferred and that CornerStone will service the loans on our behalf going forward. The correspondence will include both toll-free phone number and Web site information for CornerStone.
Q2: How will a school know which federal loan servicer—Direct Loan Servicing Center (ACS) or CornerStone —is servicing a borrower’s Direct Loans?
A2: In addition to the student or parent borrower receiving correspondence from the new federal loan servicer, CornerStone, it will be identified as the servicer of the borrower’s Direct Loans in the NSLDS. CornerStone reports this information to the NSLDS after the transferred loans have been fully loaded to its system. Both the borrower and the school will be able to view the federal loan servicer code and name associated with each loan via the NSLDS Student Access Web site and the NSLDS Professional Access Web site, respectively.
In addition to individual Web lookups, the School Portfolio Report (SCHPR1) is available to schools by request under the Report Tab on the NSLDS Professional Access Web site. This report provides a school with information about all Direct Loan and/or Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program loans associated with its school code. It includes loans that are serviced by all servicers, including our federal loan servicers, and provides identifying information about the servicer for each loan. The report is delivered to the school’s Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) mailbox. For complete information about this report, refer to NSLDS Newsletter 29 and NSLDS Newsletter 35 on the IFAP Web site.
Q3: How long will it take for CornerStone’s information to be reflected in the NSLDS?
A3: The federal loan servicers report loan information to the NSLDS on a weekly basis. As a general rule, when we transfer a student or parent borrower’s Direct Loans from the Direct Loan Servicing Center (ACS) to CornerStone, the new servicer information should be available in the NSLDS within seven to ten business days after the transferred loans have been fully loaded to CornerStone’s system and CornerStone corresponds with the borrower.
The majority of servicer-to-servicer transfers are completed on schedule. However, in some cases, issues can occur with the data transfer and delay availability of the information in the NSLDS. If a school is concerned about CornerStone’s information not being available in the NSLDS, it should contact the Federal Student Aid Research and Customer Care Center (RCCC) at 800/433-7327 or fsa.customer.support@ed.gov for assistance.
Q4: Will it be necessary for a borrower to reinitiate actions related to the current status of his or her account (for example, reapply for a deferment or forbearance)?
A4: Loan status information will be included when we transfer a student or parent borrower’s Direct Loans from the Direct Loan Servicing Center (ACS) to CornerStone. The borrower should experience no break or gap in any current status (such as deferment or forbearance) that applies to his or her Direct Loans as a result of the transfer. If a borrower is concerned about a break or gap in current status, he or she should contact CornerStone for assistance.
Q5: Will it be necessary for a borrower to reinitiate services related to his or her account (for example, account access via the Web, electronic correspondence, and automatic debit or Web payments)?
A5: When we transfer a student or parent borrower’s Direct Loans from the Direct Loan Servicing Center (ACS) to CornerStone, it will be necessary for the borrower to contact CornerStone to reinitiate some services related to the borrower’s account. After the transferred loans have been fully loaded to CornerStone’s system, CornerStone will provide correspondence to the borrower that explains how the borrower establishes account access via the Web and signs up for other services (such as Web payments and electronic correspondence). It will not be necessary for a borrower who has been on automatic debit with the Direct Loan Servicing Center (ACS) to reinitiate that service with CornerStone. If a borrower has questions about reinitiating account services, he or she should contact CornerStone for assistance.
Contact Information
We appreciate the community’s ongoing support of our expanding approach to servicing federally-owned loans. We will continue to inform you of each new servicer’s implementation and accompanying borrower account transfers through subsequent “Loan Servicing Information” Electronic Announcements on the IFAP Web site.
If you have questions about Direct Loans transferred to CornerStone, contact CornerStone directly. Contact information for CornerStone can be found on the Loan Servicing Centers for Schools Contact Information page on the IFAP Web site.