Posted Date:August 22, 2013
| Author: | Jana Hernandes, Service Director, Operations, Federal Student Aid |
Subject: Loan Servicing Information - Quarterly Customer Satisfaction Surveys Begin September 3, 2013
To measure customer satisfaction with fifteen of our federal loan servicers—Aspire Resources Inc., CornerStone, COSTEP, EDGEucation Loans, EdManage, ESA/Edfinancial, FedLoan Servicing (PHEAA), Granite State – GSMR, Great Lakes Educational Loan Services, Inc., KSA Servicing, MOHELA, Nelnet, OSLA, Sallie Mae, and VSAC Federal Loans--an independent vendor will conduct quarterly surveys of borrowers, schools, and/or federal personnel on behalf of the Department of Education (the Department). The independent vendor plans to launch the first quarter telephone surveys of borrower and school customers on September 3, 2013.
Note:
1) | In accordance with contracts awarded under the HCERA/SAFRA Not-For-Profit (NFP) Servicer Program solicitation, schools will not be surveyed regarding NFP entities. | |
2) | In a July 12, 2013 Electronic Announcement, we informed the community of changes to our federal loan servicers' team. Specifically, we are bringing closure to the day to day servicing of Direct Loans by the Direct Loan Servicing Center (ACS). For this reason, Direct Loan Servicing Center (ACS) will not be surveyed beginning with this quarter and going forward. |
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) | The survey focuses exclusively on the services provided by FedLoan Servicing (PHEAA), Great Lakes Educational Loan Services, Inc., Nelnet, and Sallie Mae, after disbursement. It does not attempt to measure customer satisfaction with the separate loan origination process. | |
2) | 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 servicers. In this case, the school customer will be asked to respond about experiences with only one servicer identified by the vendor. | |
3) | 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. | |
4) | 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 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.