How Do I Know My Student Loan Servicer

I've noticed many borrowers have been asking "how do I know if my student loan is federal or private"?

Since originally publishing this article, the federal pupil loan website has changed to www.studentaid.gov, and the NSLDS database website is no longer available to borrowers.

However, the process for determining whether your student loans are private or federal remains the same, just with a unlike website to access federal information.

Studentaid.gov is now the site to begin with for FAFSA, federal Direct Consolidation, and applying for federal income-driven repayment plans.

Signs That Your Loan Is Private

-Individual student loans tin generally be settled for a meaning reduction when defaulted, federal loans in most cases cannot be. If you're interested in learning about settlement for private loans, click here for a free evaluation.

-A "charge-off" can merely refer to a defaulted private pupil loan (unless a credit reporting program or credit bureau reports this incorrectly).

-Navient services loans that are both federal and private (privately originated accounts are often called "Signature student", "NaviRefi", or similar). On Navient'due south login portal, they tend to show all accounts in ane place, making it difficult to tell them autonomously. I regularly negotiate settlements for less than fifty% on these types of private accounts – contact me today to learn more

-Only private student loans can accept a cosigner. Very rarely nosotros will run across federal loans with language about a "guarantor", but this is uncommon.

-Mutual private student loan servicers, lenders, and individual refinance lenders include: Navient, Hostage (endemic by Navient), AES, NCT, Keybank, Wells Fargo, Laurel Road, Citizens Depository financial institution, SoFi, Lendkey and many more.

Signs That Your Loan Is Federal

-They are often called "Direct", "Stafford", "Subsidized/Unsubsidized", "FFEL/FFELP", or Parent Plus; however there are many other types – but these are the most common you lot will come across.

-When defaulted they will exist listed as "default", "government claim", or like terminology on credit reports; simply never as a "charge-off"(unless the credit bureaus or credit reporting plan uses this terminology incorrectly to refer to a federal loan)

-Whatever reference to the Department of Education on a credit report or statement means that a loan is federal.

-Common federal loan servicers, guarantors, and debt collectors include Great Lakes, Nelnet, PHEAA/FedLoan Servicing, Mohela, Navient, Pioneer, ECMC, and many more.

-If your loans are or were at 0% interest on forbearance during the pandemic, they are federal. If they were not, they could still be federal (FFELP) or they could be private or institutional.

Signs That Your Loan Is "Institutional"

-If your student loan is from an organization that includes a state name, or your schoolhouse is listed equally the lender, your loan is "institutional". These are in many ways the worst of both worlds when compared to private and federal educatee loans, and are oftentimes backed past state bonds or the educational institutions themselves.

In some cases they can nonetheless exist settled, but they take far less of an incentive to settle for anything significant due to how they are originated. They can be litigious likewise.

Examples include: – "NJHESC" "NYHESC", "Alaska Commission on Post-Secondary Education (ACPE)", and "Iowa Student Loan".

To brand things more confusing, these agencies can also exist the guarantors for federal FFELP loans (but they volition evidence up in studentaid.gov if that is the instance – institutional and not-federal will not show up in studentaid.gov).

Even so not sure? Continue to my original article virtually how to decide if your loans are individual or federal… just keep in mind while reading that for whatsoever reference to get to the NSLDS or studentloans.gov, y'all'll now just be going to the studentaid.gov website.

One of the most common problems I come across working with potential private loan settlement clients student is trying to find out if the loans are federally or privately backed. It can actually be pretty hard to find out, since some companies like Navient/Sallie Mae service federal loans but also originate their own private loans.

Fortunately, there are a few means to verify whether the loans are federal or private. It's important to know, since options for dealing with federal and private loans vary greatly.

The best way of determining whether loans are federal or individual is to log in to the National Pupil Loan Database, at world wide web.nslds.ed.gov. The Department of Ed. makes it clear that merely private borrowers are immune to log into this site, not third party companies or financial advisors.

If yous're a financial counselor, you tin request that your client have a screenshot, but you're not allowed to log into this database with your clients information.

To log into the NSLDS, you'll also need to create an FSA ID if yous don't already accept one. Luckily, you can ready your FSA ID on the NSLDS site as well. The FSA ID was created to replace the FAFSA Pin equally a more secure login method. If you need help, click hither to download my free FSA ID Setup Guide.

Once yous've created your FSA ID, you tin log into the NSLDS database which will show a detailed readout of your federal student loans. Since it will only show federal student loans, you can employ the process of elimination to find out which loans aren't showing.

If a loan doesn't show upward in the NSLDS database, nine times out of ten it volition exist a individual loan. Very rarely, federal loans may not show upwardly in the database due to some kind of reporting mistake. But usually you tin deduce that any loans not showing upwards here will be private.

In addition to finding out what types of loans you lot have, the NSLDS database as well provides a lot of information on your federal loans; including the history of your loans, who your loan servicer is, and dates of origination.

Another style to view your federal loans is through the studentloans.gov site. As with the NSLDS, the Dept. of Ed. has clear warnings that only borrowers themselves tin log into this site. You will also need your FSA ID for this site.

The studentloans.gov site is where y'all can apply for Directly Consolidation and income-related payment plans, and it also shows a readout of your pupil loans.

A big deviation betwixt studentloans.gov and nslds.ed.gov is that the studentloans.gov site will show your interest rates, whereas the NSLDS does not. Yet, the NSLDS will show a more than detailed view of your loans and provide more than data. The studentloans.gov site volition evidence more repayment options and includes a repayment estimator that you can utilize.

Another way to determine what types of loans y'all have is by accessing your credit report. You can become a gratis credit report annually at www.annualcreditreport.com.

There are no strings attached – this is the free site to go your three agency credit written report that all US citizens are allowed to access one time per twelvemonth. It's not e'er easy to tell federal from private loans on a credit report, but generally a federal loan will say "Usa Dept. of Ed" or something similar; while private loans will show upward the same way every bit any other type of unsecured debt.

If you meet a "charge off" for a student loan, that means that it'due south private, because this is a mechanism that only occurs with private student loans. A federal loan volition list every bit defaulted or another related term if information technology is more than than ix months behind, simply it will never say "charged off".

For borrowers looking to settle their private educatee loans, it's of import to make sure the account yous're trying to settle is not federal; since they rarely settle for any significant reduction.

For instance, if you want to settle Navient private educatee loans, you'd desire to brand sure that they are privately backed – since Navient services federal every bit well equally originates private student loans. For other lenders, it'due south easier to tell from a credit report whether they are federal or privately backed.

For example, the National Collegiate Trust is strictly a private student lender. Then is Chase, Wells Fargo, and Discover Bank. While those entities besides serviced federal loans in the past, as of 2015 they are no longer registered every bit federal loan servicers. So whatever educatee loan yous run across for Chase, Citi, Detect, or Wells Fargo is near probable a private student loan.

On the flip side, NelNet, Corking Lakes, Mohela and FedLoan Servicing are almost e'er federal loan servicers – although NelNet has begun to acquire private loan porftolios in the last several years. Besides Navient, there are other companies that service federal loans and private loans at the same time.

AES and ACS are ii examples of loan servicers who handle both types of loans. That can make it difficult to figure out whether they are federal or individual, but past following the steps outlined higher up y'all should be able to tell which is which.

Determining whether a student loan is individual or federal is the starting time step to finding out how it tin can exist modified or resolved. If in doubt, I e'er instruct my clients to use one or several of these verification methods so that nosotros know for certain what blazon of loan we are dealing with.

Then you can formulate a strategy on how to move frontwards, since the options bachelor for federal and private student loans are radically dissimilar.

The specific service that I offer is individual student loan negotiation, and as the top non-chaser private student loan skillful in the United states; I'1000 uniquely positioned to assistance you save thousands on your private student loans while making sure your settlement is executed correctly. If yous're interested in an evaluation, call my office today at 937-503-4680 or make full out my evaluation form here.

Find out more nigh my individual student loan negotiator service here.