Posted Date:December 30, 2013
| Author: | Sue O'Flaherty, Service Director, Program Management, Federal Student Aid |
Subject: Loan Servicing Information - Participation for FFEL Lenders and Lender Servicers in Electronic IBR/Pay As You Earn/ICR Repayment Plan Request
We are pleased to announce the availability of a new electronic process for Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program lenders and lender servicers to participate in the Electronic Income-Based Repayment (IBR)/Pay As You Earn/Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR) Plan Request process. As a participant in this 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 application process on the StudentLoans.gov Web site.
For detailed information about the Electronic IBR/Pay As You Earn/ICR Request, refer to the December 21, 2012 Electronic Announcement on the Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) Web site.
Using the Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG) Enrollment Web site, FFEL lenders and lender servicers now have the option to add access to the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) Web site. Access to the COD Web site will allow authorized users at the organization to search for and view borrowers' submitted Electronic IBR/Pay As You Earn/ICR Repayment Plan Request applications. Instructions for completing this enrollment process are described in detail below, in the "Adding the COD Online Service for FFEL Lenders and Lender Servicers" section.
In addition, after completion of the SAIG enrollment process, Federal Student Aid will reach out to the lender or lender servicer to discuss the option of exchanging borrower application data via electronic batch files. More information about the batch option is provided in the "Batch Process Option" section below.
Note: To be eligible to participate in the batch process option, the lender or lender servicer must first complete the SAIG enrollment process, as described in the "Adding the COD Online Service for FFEL Lenders and Lender Servicers" section.
In this announcement, we provide further detail in the following order:
Adding the COD Online Service for FFEL Lenders and Lender Servicers
Using the COD Web Site to Search For and View Submitted Electronic Requests
Batch Process Option
Batch Process Considerations for FFEL Lenders and Lender Servicers
Contact Information
Adding the COD Online Service for FFEL Lenders and Lender Servicers
To begin participation in the Electronic IBR/Pay As You Earn/ICR Request process, the Primary Destination Point Administrator (Primary DPA) or Secondary DPA of the FFEL lender or lender servicer must add the COD Online Service to a Destination Point (TG number/SAIG mailbox) via the SAIG Enrollment Web site.
Step-by-step instructions for completing this process are provided in the attachment to this announcement, titled "Adding the COD Online Service for FFEL Lenders and Lender Servicers." Note that signature pages must be received by Federal Student Aid before the new service will be added.
After the FFEL lender or lender servicer successfully completes the steps on the SAIG Enrollment Web site to add the COD Online Service, Federal Student Aid will contact the organization to confirm that access has been properly granted and authorized users understand how to view submitted electronic requests for their borrowers. Once this confirmation is complete, the Electronic IBR/Pay As You Earn/ICR Request will be updated to permit the lender's or lender servicer's borrowers to complete and submit the electronic request.
Using the COD Web Site to Search For and View Submitted Electronic Requests
Once access to the COD Web site has been granted, the authorized user will have read-only access to the site. Using the site's search feature, the FFEL lender or lender servicer may search for its borrowers by Social Security Number (SSN), by the borrower's electronic request application ID number, or by date range. The lender or lender servicer will be able to view all data elements on the borrower's submitted Electronic IBR/Pay As You Earn/ICR Repayment Plan Request application using the COD Web site.
Note: In addition to adding the COD Online Service via the SAIG Enrollment Web site as described in the attachment to this announcement, COD Web site users will need an FSA User ID, password, and the six-digit password generated by the user's Two-Factor Authentication (TFA) token to access the Web site. Instructions for registering for an FSA User ID and obtaining a token are also provided in the attachment to this announcement.
Batch Process Option
After the FFEL lender or lender servicer successfully completes the steps on the SAIG Enrollment Web site and access to the COD Web site has been confirmed, Federal Student Aid will also provide the lender or lender servicer with information about the option to receive the Electronic IBR/Pay As You Earn/ICR Request data via electronic batch files. If the optional batch process is selected, Federal Student Aid will share the necessary technical documentation and assist the lender or lender servicer with implementation of the batch process.
The lender or lender servicer must then notify Federal Student Aid when it is fully prepared to receive the batch Electronic IBR/Pay As You Earn/ICR Request data. The lender or lender servicer will be required to conduct intersystem testing (IST) with the COD System. Once IST is complete, the Electronic IBR/Pay As You Earn/ICR Request will be updated to permit the lender's or lender servicer's borrowers to complete and submit the electronic request.
Batch Process Considerations for FFEL Lenders and Lender Servicers
To maintain participation in the electronic batch process, FFEL lenders and lender servicers will be required to update their electronic interface as changes occur. Changes to the batch process may include updates to the schema and to the electronic file transmission schedule. Depending on the anticipated volume of electronic requests to be submitted by its borrowers, an FFEL lender or lender servicer may instead rely on the COD Web site to view its borrowers' submitted electronic requests.
Contact Information
We look forward to working with FFEL lenders and lender servicers to extend participation in the Electronic IBR/Pay As You Earn/ICR Request process to all eligible borrowers.
If you have questions about how to add the COD Online Service, contact CPS/SAIG Technical Support at 800/330-5947 (TDD/TTY 800/511-5806) or by e-mail at CPSSAIG@ed.gov.
If you have questions about the batch processing option, e-mail your organization's contact information to Jennifer Jaw at jennifer.jaw@ed.gov.