Posted Date:July 31, 2014
| Author: | Jana Hernandes, Service Director, Operations, Federal Student Aid |
Subject: Loan Servicing Information - Need Financial Aid Community's Assistance in Stopping Misdirected Loan Payments to Discontinued ACS (Xerox) Payment Mailbox
Earlier this summer, we explained to borrowers who were incorrectly mailing, or requesting their bank or bill paying service to send, loan payments to the Direct Loan Servicing Center (ACS) payment mailbox that the mailbox was being shut down. The mailbox (P.O. Box 530260) was shut down on June 30, 2014 due to the end of ACS (Xerox)’s contract with the Department of Education.
While the number of payments sent to the discontinued mailbox has decreased, there are still payments being sent there. Payments sent to the discontinued mailbox are now being returned. Returned payments can lead to a borrower’s account becoming delinquent.
Action for Financial Aid Community
At this time, we need the financial aid community’s assistance in directing borrowers to begin using their loan servicers’ payment addresses immediately. In addition, please check all resources, including Web sites and communications, to ensure that students and parents are no longer being provided with the address for the discontinued mailbox.
Students and parents should be directed to take the actions explained in the Action for Borrowers section.
Action for Borrowers
To avoid becoming delinquent on their federal education loans, a borrower who has been sending payments to the discontinued mailbox must take one of the following actions to ensure that payments are received on time by the borrower’s loan servicer:
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If the borrower makes his or her own payments, the borrower must begin sending federal education loan payments to his or her servicer’s payment address.
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If the borrower uses a bank or bill paying service to make his or her payments, the borrower must update his or her bank or bill paying service with the servicer's name and payment address.
The borrower can check correspondence from his or her federal loan servicer for the servicer’s payment address. The borrower can also access the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) Student Access Web site to look up his or her servicer’s payment address.
Contact Information
Current contact information for all federal loan servicers can be accessed by visiting our Loan Servicing Centers for Schools and Loan Servicing Centers for Students contact information pages on the Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) Web site.
We appreciate the community’s assistance in getting all borrowers to mail their loan payments to the correct servicer’s payment mailbox.