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A student loan servicer is a company or organization that manages the collection of payments and general customer service issues related to your student loan. Read on to learn what a loan servicer does, how to find your loan servicer and when you may be able to get a new loan servicer.
What Is a Student Loan Servicer?
The servicer of your student loan may be the lender that issued the loan, but—especially in the case of federally backed student loans—it is usually a third party assigned to handle loan administration on behalf of the lender.
The servicer is your point of contact for loan payments and all other matters concerning your student loan. You should direct all questions about loan status to your servicer, as well as requests for adjustments in your payment schedule, such as loan deferment or forbearance. You should notify them when you change your address, and reach out to them as soon as possible if you miss a scheduled loan payment or expect to miss a payment.
Loan servicers that handle federally backed student loans owned by the U.S. Department of Education include:
If you default on your federal student loan—meaning you go nine months (270 days) or longer without making a payment—your account may be handed off to the Department of Education's Default Resolution Group, a servicer that specializes in managing and collecting student loans in default.
What Does a Student Loan Servicer Do?
After you are approved for a student loan, the funds are disbursed to the college or university where you are enrolled. Soon afterward, the owner of the loan (the U.S. Department of Education for federally backed loans, or a lending institution for private loans) turns its administration over to a servicer. In the case of private loans, the servicer may be an internal department within the lending institution.
While you are enrolled in your college or university, the loan servicer largely operates behind the scenes, but the servicer becomes more involved after you leave school and enter the repayment period for your loan.
The servicer's duties include:
- Issuing monthly statements for your loan payment
- Collecting your monthly payment, via electronic funds transfer or by mail
- Tracking and reporting the status of your loan payments and balance
- Addressing requests for payment deferment if you re-enroll at an eligible educational institution, enter military service, require cancer treatment or demonstrate qualifying financial hardship
- Processing requests for loan forbearance (pause in payments) due to financial hardship
- Ensuring federal regulations are obeyed in the administration of your loan
Learn more >> Student Loan Repayment: Everything You Need to Know
How to Find Your Student Loan Servicer
Your loan servicer will likely be proactive about reaching out to you, and all communications from your servicer should include appropriate contact information. Soon after you begin making payments on your loan, your servicer's name will likely appear on your credit reports, along with their contact information.
Nevertheless, if you are uncertain which company services your loan, you can identify the servicers of a federally backed student loan at the U.S. Department of Education's Federal Student Aid website. If you haven't already established a borrower account, you'll need to submit some personal information to verify your identity. You can also find out the name of your federal student loan servicer by calling the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 800-433-3243.
If you have one or more private student loans, you can identify the servicer(s) by asking the student aid department at your college or university or by reaching out to the lender that issued the loan.
How to Change Your Student Loan Servicer
A loan servicer is assigned (and sometimes reassigned) by the owner of each loan. As a borrower, you have no say over which servicer is initially selected to administer your loan.
You may choose a different loan servicer if you choose to consolidate multiple loans into a single loan. If you prefer a specific servicer, let the lender know during the application process for your new loan.
Other circumstances can result in a servicer change, but not in a way that lets you to choose the new servicer:
- If you refinance your private student loans or federally backed student loans with a private lender, the lender will either act as servicer or designate a third-party servicer to manage your account.
- If you apply for a total and permanent disability discharge, which can cancel certain federal student loans (direct loans, Federal Family Education loans and Perkins loans) because of qualified medical disability, Nelnet will be assigned as the servicer of the discharge process.
The Bottom Line
If you're a student loan borrower, it's important for you to know your loan servicer, and for them to be kept abreast of your contact information so that payments and other administration of the loan go smoothly.
As you continue paying off your student loans, free credit monitoring from Experian can help you track how those payments impact your credit score.