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(Loans) Subject: Loan Servicing Information - Need Financial Aid Community’s Assistance in Limiting Misdirected Calls to Direct Loan Servicing Center (ACS)

Posted Date:September 20, 2013

Author: Jana Hernandes, Service Director, Operations, Federal Student Aid

Subject: Loan Servicing Information - Need Financial Aid Community’s Assistance in Limiting Misdirected Calls to Direct Loan Servicing Center (ACS)

In earlier announcements, we informed the financial aid community of our preparations for the forthcoming end to our contract with the Direct Loan Servicing Center (ACS) and shared high-level information about the closure of all functions performed by ACS (Xerox), including its servicing of William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program loans. In a recent September 6, 2013 Electronic Announcement posted on the Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) Web site, we reported on transfer completion and the reduced availability of the Direct Loan Servicing Center (ACS).

As previously explained, we delayed full closure of the Direct Loan Servicing Center until September 30, 2013 so that borrowers whose Direct Loans were transferred to new federal loan servicers in August (the last month of our transfer initiative) would have customer service representative support for a short period of time after transfer. The Direct Loan Servicing Center no longer has a borrower’s loan information on its system; however, customer service representatives can assist the borrower by explaining the transfer and providing the new servicer’s name and contact information.

Since the Direct Loan Servicing Center began operating at reduced hours on August 30, 2013, there has been a higher volume of calls to the center than anticipated. The majority of calls have not been from borrowers seeking clarity related to the transfer initiative as intended. The callers are expecting to receive information that the Direct Loan Servicing Center cannot provide, and we need the financial aid community’s assistance in limiting misdirected calls to the Direct Loan Servicing Center for the remainder of this month.

Please direct borrowers and financial aid personnel in need of assistance as follows:

  • For questions about a loan that has been transferred from the Direct Loan Servicing Center to a new federal loan servicer, please direct borrowers and financial aid personnel to contact the new servicer. Contact information for the appropriate servicer can be found on the Loan Servicing Centers for Schools Contact Information page on the IFAP Web site.

    Note: The new servicer is now fully responsible for handling all questions related to a borrower’s transferred loans.

  • For questions or concerns related to credit status and denied credit decision appeals, obligations and responsibilities of Direct PLUS Loan endorsers, and all actions performed on the StudentLoans.gov Web site, please direct borrowers to contact the Student Loan Support Center on 800/557-7394.

  • For questions or concerns related to the origination, disbursement, and/or booking of a Direct Loan that a school needs to raise on behalf of a Direct Loan borrower or endorser of a Direct PLUS loan, please direct financial aid personnel to contact the COD School Relations Center on 800/848-0978.

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 IFAP Web site.