Posted Date:August 16, 2013
| Author: | Jana Hernandes, Service Director, Operations, Federal Student Aid |
Subject: Loan Servicing Information - Direct Loan Servicing Center (ACS) Transfer Update and Closure Plan
Earlier this year (January 10, 2013), we informed the financial aid community of our preparations for the forthcoming end to our contract with the Direct Loan Servicing Center (ACS). In a follow up announcement (July 12, 2013), we reminded the community of the transition and shared high-level information about the closure of all functions performed by ACS (Xerox) over the next several months. In the July 12th announcement, we also notified the community that the contact center will remain open for a short period of time after the transfers have been completed to support residual transition-related needs.
In this announcement, we provide a transfer update as well as detailed information about the availability of the Direct Loan Servicing Center (ACS) prior to its closure. We will refer to this servicer as the "Direct Loan Servicing Center" throughout the announcement and its attachment.
We present the information in this announcement as follows:
Transfer Update
Direct Loan Servicing Center Availability Information Attachment
Contact Information
Transfer Update
As we move forward in bringing closure to the day-to-day servicing of William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program loans by the Direct Loan Servicing Center, we continue to transfer the Direct Loans that remain on this servicer's system to FedLoan Servicing (PHEAA), Great Lakes Educational Loan Services, Inc., Nelnet, and Sallie Mae. We plan to transfer the last set of loans on August 29, 2013.
In the early months of the Direct Loan Servicing Center transfer initiative, we held off transferring the loans of borrowers who were applying for discharge, forbearance, deferment, or some other status change. Now that we are in the last month of this transfer initiative, we are transferring the loans of all remaining borrowers even if they have a status change in process. In such cases, all information related to a status change request will be transferred to the new federal loan servicer for process completion. New borrower requests will be handled as follows:
Through September 30, 2013, new borrower requests submitted to the Direct Loan Servicing Center after transfer will be forwarded to the new servicer for processing.
Beginning October 1, 2013, new borrower requests submitted to the Direct Loan Servicing Center after transfer will be properly discarded. There will be no forward to the new servicer.
Note to Schools: The reporting of a loan made to an ineligible borrower who has been serviced by the Direct Loan Servicing Center must be made to the borrower's new federal loan servicer. The new servicer will take the appropriate action.
A newly transferred borrower must start making payments to and communicating solely with his or her new federal loan servicer. Each borrower will receive a welcome letter from the borrower's new servicer that informs the borrower of the loan transfer and the new servicer's contact information. After the borrower's loans have been fully loaded to the new servicer's system, the new servicer also will be identified in the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS).
A borrower can access the NSLDS Student Access Web site to identify the servicer to which the borrower's loans have been transferred.
A school that assists a borrower in identifying the new servicer of the borrower's loans can access the new servicer information through the NSLDS Professional Access Web site.
Some borrowers use a bank or bill paying service to make their payments. Once a borrower who uses such a service is notified of his or her new servicer, it is critical that the borrower update the new servicer's name and address information with the bank or bill paying service.
For other key information about the transfer process in question and answer format, refer to the January 10th announcement's attachment titled "Direct Loan Transfers – Direct Loan Servicing Center (ACS) to New Servicer."
Direct Loan Servicing Center Availability Information Attachment
In the attachment to this announcement titled "Direct Loan Servicing Center (ACS) Availability Information August 30, 2013 – November 15, 2013," we provide detailed information about Direct Loan Servicing Center availability from the day after the last scheduled transfer through November 15, 2013. During this period, we will transition from full contact center hours to reduced contact center hours to informational messaging. On November 16, 2013, all Direct Loan Servicing Center support and messaging will end.
The information in the attachment is presented as follows:
Direct Loan Servicing Center Availability Information for Borrowers
Direct Loan Servicing Center Availability Information for Schools and Third Party Servicers
Refer to the attachment for complete information.
Contact Information
We appreciate the community's ongoing support of our approach to servicing federally-owned loans. We will post additional Electronic Announcements as we progress through the Direct Loan Servicing Center's closure transition. Please monitor the Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) Web site.
If you have questions about the Direct Loan Servicing Center closure plan explained in this announcement, contact the Direct Loan Servicing Center. Contact information for the servicer can be found on the Loan Servicing Centers for Schools Contact Information page on the IFAP Web site.
If you have questions about a loan that has been transferred from the Direct Loan Servicing Center to a new federal loan servicer, contact the new servicer directly. Contact information for the appropriate servicer can be found on the Loan Servicing Centers for Schools Contact Information page on the IFAP Web site.