Bulletin ID
DLB - 97 - 3
| PublicationDate: 1/1/97 BulletinID: DLB - 97 - 3 DLB-97-3 January 1997 Dear Colleague: All Direct Loan schools received a copy of the Notice printed in the Federal Register on Tuesday, October 8, 1996 (Vol. 61, No. 196), that established the deadline dates for closure of Direct Loan processing for future award years. This Direct Loan Bulletin is to remind you that for the 1995-96 ACADEMIC YEAR (YEAR 2), the processing deadline for the submission of all electronic loan records and promissory notes to the Department of Education's Direct Loan Origination Center (LOC) is JULY 31, 1997. In addition, we are providing your institution with steps to take that will assist you with the closure. Remember, after this deadline date, WE WILL NOT PROCESS LOAN ORIGINATION RECORDS, PROMISSORY NOTES, DISBURSEMENT RECORDS (INCLUDING CANCELLATIONS AND ADJUSTMENTS) OR RECONCILIATION RECORDS FOR 1995-96. Year 2 records submitted after July 31, 1997, will NOT be accepted or acknowledged by the LOC. All loans must be BOOKED AND RECONCILED, meaning all borrower loan records must be complete and accurate by the deadline date. Unreconciled and/or unbooked loans may result in institutional responsibility for the loan or the portion of the loan not accurately booked, reconciled and acknowledged by the LOC. The guidelines below will assist your school in ensuring that all Year 2 records have been properly submitted: 1. Identify any batches without acknowledgements. a) Import all outstanding acknowledgements. 2. Import, print and review the 30-Day Warning Report. a) CANCEL ANY UNNECESSARY LOANS AND TRANSMIT CHANGE RECORDS. b) Transmit any missing loan origination records, promissory notes, or disbursement records (including adjustments and cancellations) to the Loan Origination Center. 3. If you are using EDExpress, print a Pending Disbursement List. If you are using another system, print a report that will identify any Anticipated Disbursements that do not have an associated actual disbursement or cancellation for each disbursement number. This report should include all disbursements for the entire 1995-96 academic year. a) Transmit any missing disbursement records to the Loan Origination Center. b) CANCEL ANY ANTICIPATED DISBURSEMENTS FOR LOANS NOT MADE. 4. Print a cash management report that includes all excess cash, cash receipts, disbursements, adjustments and cancellations. Use this list to reconcile with internal records or use other procedures to make sure all electronic records match internal records. a) Check cash receipts against bank statements and ledgers. b) Check returns of excess cash with bank statements, ledgers, and/or canceled checks. c) Check disbursements, adjustments and cancellations against ledgers or reports. d) Check all cash totals against internal accounting records. e) Correct any errors. f) Make sure all cash records have reconciliation status = A. 5. If you are using EDExpress, print a Reconciliation Measurement Tools report. If you are using another system, print a report that would determine records ready for reconciliation but that do not have status flags equal to "A." Determine the reason for any records that do not have status flags equal to "A" and take any actions necessary to correct these records. REMEMBER ONLY BOOKED LOANS WILL RECONCILE. 6. Transmit a reconciliation file that includes all records for the entire 1995-96 academic year. Use the most recent reconciliation period for the "as of" date. Analyze and correct all unreconciled records. The steps listed above are intended to assist your institution as it closes out the 1995-96 award year and do not necessarily contain ALL of the checks and balances each school should use to make sure all loan information is correct and has been transmitted to the Loan Origination Center. In addition, we recommend that you not archive your data until you have made sure all transactions have been processed and completed. A school needs to be able to retrieve any data archived in accordance with record retention requirements. If you have any questions, please call your School Relations Representative at (800) 848-0978. Sincerely, Joe L. McCormick, Chair Direct Loan Task Force |