Posted Date:January 11, 2013
| Author: | William Leith, Service Director, Program Management, Federal Student Aid |
Subject: Loan Servicing Information - Point of Contact for FFEL Lenders and Lender Servicers Interested in Electronic IBR/Pay As You Earn/ICR Repayment Plan Request Participation
In a December 21, 2012 Electronic Announcement on the Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) Web site, we announced the implementation of an Electronic Income-Based Repayment (IBR)/Pay As You Earn/Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR) Plan Request on the StudentLoans.gov Web site. The Electronic IBR/Pay As You Earn/ICR Request is designed to assist borrowers in applying for the three “income-driven” repayment plans—the IBR Plan, the Pay As You Earn Repayment Plan, and the ICR Plan. The Electronic IBR/Pay As You Earn/ICR Request interfaces with the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) and, at the borrower’s request, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to streamline the application process for the majority of borrowers who choose to repay their eligible William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program and/or Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program loans under IBR, Pay As You Earn, and/or ICR.
As stated in the December 21st announcement, our ultimate goal is to allow all borrowers who are potentially eligible to repay their Direct Loan and/or FFEL program loans under the IBR, Pay As You Earn, and/or ICR plans and who wish to complete and submit an Electronic IBR/Pay As You Earn/ICR Request to be able to do so. We explained that we plan to fulfill that goal over time by establishing the electronic exchange relationships necessary for participation by all servicers.
At this time, we are pleased to announce our readiness to work with all FFEL lenders and lender servicers and assist them in becoming participants in the Electronic IBR/Pay As You Earn/ICR Request process. As a participant in the Electronic IBR/Pay As You Earn/ICR Request process, a lender’s or lender servicer’s borrowers who have eligible commercially-held FFEL Program loans will be able to apply for the IBR Plan through the electronic process.
Key Electronic IBR/Pay As You Earn/ICR Request process participation information is as follows:
Participation in the electronic request process will begin in March 2013 at the earliest.
Electronic request process data will be exchanged in Extensible Markup Language (XML) format. The XML schema is subject to change and will need to be kept current by the FFEL lender or lender servicer to maintain participation in the electronic request process.
XML files that contain electronic request process data will be transmitted through the Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG). A FFEL lender or lender servicer that does not already have an SAIG account will need to enroll for an SAIG account and meet all agreement, security, and other requirements.
We look forward to communicating with FFEL lenders and lender servicers that are interested in learning more about participation in the Electronic IBR/Pay As You Earn/ICR Request process. To begin discussions with Federal Student Aid, e-mail your organization’s contact information to Jennifer Jaw at jennifer.jaw@ed.gov.