Who Is My Student Loan Servicer
Theres no sense in knowing how much you owe in student loans if you dont know who you owe it to, right?
Federal Student Loans
Dig out your FAFSA login and password to sign onto studentloans.gov. Here you will find a list with your federal student loans.
Each entry will also indicate the company hired by the federal government to service the loan look for names like Navient, Great Lakes or FedLoan, three commonly used loan servicers. Any further interaction in regards to your loan should go through your loan servicer.
If you need more info about your loans such as when your loan was disbursed log into the National Student Loan Data System .
Use that same federal student aid login and password to login, said Heather Jarvis, a North Carolina attorney who specializes in student loans. That site is much less formatted and is less easy to read than studentloans.gov, but it does have more information.
Private Student Loans
Private student loans are more difficult to track especially if you accepted them without much thought as a 17-year-old and you lost any paperwork four moves ago and your loans been sold.
If youre at a total loss for who to contact, start with your alma mater.
The college admissions office is going to know who paid the tuition, said Melinda Opperman, executive vice president of credit.org. She recommended asking for a duplicate copy of the loan agreement, which the college should have in its records.
Log In To The National Student Loan Data System
If you have federal student loans, you can track them on the National Student Loan Data System .
Log into the NSLDS using your FSA ID. If you have completed the FAFSA before, you likely already have one. If you dont have an FSA ID, you can create one at the login page of the NSLDS. The process of setting up your FSA ID includes selecting a username and password. You will also have to provide personal information such as your date of birth and social security number. It can take 1 3 days to have this information and your FSA ID confirmed.
The NSLDS provides the following information:
- Loan type such as Direct, FFEL, or Perkins loans
- The original loan balance for each loan
- The current loan balance, or how much you still owe
- The loan status such as good standing, default, deferment, or forbearance
- The servicer of your loan
Its important to note that not all loans appear on the NSLDS. It only shows Title IV loans, meaning loans that you received from the Department of Education through the FAFSA. Private nursing school loans, for example, would not be shown. Additionally, any federal loans youve refinanced will not appear because they are now private loans.
The NSLDS is not always up-to-date. The information shown can be up to 120 days old. If you feel the information may be old, talk to your loan servicer for more updated numbers.
Read more: How much student loan debt is too much?
How Do I Repay My Student Loan Balance
The earliest youll have to start repaying your loan is 6 April in the year after you finish your course.
If you are employed, repayments are typically taken from your monthly pay at source. They only start once youve started earning above a certain salary threshold. This threshold depends on which repayment plan you are on.
The actual amount you pay will depend on the amount you earn over the threshold during any given pay period. If your income falls below the threshold at any point, then your repayments will pause.
If you are self-employed, HMRC will calculate what you owe each year in repayments once you file your tax return.
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How Much Do I Owe In Student Loans
It would be nice if you could put a simple, smallish figure down on paper and be done.
But student loans can get complicated, and you should have all the essential information before you formulate a plan of attack for paying them off.
Weve come up with the list of questions you should be able to answer about both your federal and private student loans to truly know how much you owe. That could mean a few trips to the interwebs, a close reading of your loan agreement and/or a call to your lender. Lets get started.
All Student Loan Holders
![Student Debt: How to Find Out How Much You Owe Student Debt: How to Find Out How Much You Owe](https://www.understandloans.net/wp-content/uploads/student-debt-how-to-find-out-how-much-you-owe-less-debt.png)
- Keep copies of the loan documents that you sign in person or electronically.Important: The promissory note is particularly important because it is the legal agreement you sign promising to repay the loan, plus interest, and any other charges and fees. The promissory note provides details about the loan terms and conditions, repayment options, and outlines what happens when you fail to make a payment.
- Seek help at an NYC Financial Empowerment Center if you do not understand all the terms in your student loan paperwork, including the interest rate and how long it will take to pay back your loan.Important: If youre considering refinancing or consolidating private student loans, note that the terms will likely change your interest rate and how long it will take to pay back the loan. Seek help to understand the terms of any loans you consider.
- Know your payment start date so you dont miss any payments.
- Federal student loans and some private student loans allow you to defer payment while youre in school and for six months after graduation. This is known as a grace period.
Important:
- You must make payments on your loan according to your repayment schedule even if you do not receive a bill or repayment notice.
- If you used a cosigner for your student loan, make sure you and your cosigner agree on who will make payments. A cosigner is a co-borrower and is responsible for paying the debt if you fail to pay the loan.
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How To Check Your Student Loan Balance
By: Sean LaPointe | 14th June 2021
Did you take out a student loan at university to help with tuition fees and living costs? Keeping track of how much you owe can help you budget and manage your money better. It can also help you keep your debt under control. Here is a useful guide to checking your student loan balance.
National Student Loan Data System
If you have federal loans and want to know your student loan balance, the first place to look is the National Student Loan Data System .
The National Student Loan Data System is the central hub for all information regarding your federal student loans.
Start by going to the NSLDS site.
Then click on Financial Aid Review to check out your student loan balance. Accept the privacy policy after reviewing to access your information.
Youll be asked to log in with your Federal Student Aid ID . If you dont have an FSA ID, youll need to create one.
Once you log in, youll get to the page where you can see all of your loan information. Heres an example of what it might look like:
This snapshot notes whether theres still a balance or if the debt is paid off. In this example, the debt is fully paid, which is why the outstanding portion is zero dollars. On your account, youll be able to see the original loan amount and disbursement date, as well as your current outstanding principal and interest.
Having access to this information on the NSLDS site is a great way to keep tabs on how much in federal student loans you owe, how many loans you have, and how much interest is still outstanding. The database will help you get a big picture view of your student debt.
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How Much You Need To Repay
Verify your loan or line of credit contract to figure out the following:
- the total amount you owe
- the interest rate that will be applied to your debt
- how youll repay your debt
- how much youll pay
- how long it will take to pay back your debt
Contact the organization that provided your student loan or line of credit if you dont have the information listed above.
Federal Student Loan Holders
- To learn more about your student loans, including how much you owe, your interest rate, loan repayment status, and the name of your loan servicer, follow these steps:
- Visit studentaid.ed.gov to create your Federal Student Aid ID if you do not already have one. Note: The FSA ID is the same username and password you used when you filed your Free Application for Federal Student Aid .
- With your FSA ID, log in to the National Student Loan Data System at NSLDS.ed.gov.
- Using NSLDS, you can find out how much you owe and who services your loans. A loan servicer manages your loans and will be your primary point of contact in repaying your loans, picking a payment plan, consolidating your loans, or answering your questions.
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How To Reduce The Amount You Owe
If looking at that number in stark black and white sent you into an anxious tailspin, we feel you. Though sometimes ignorance is bliss, we promise you: this is not one of those situations.
Now that you have an accurate grasp of how much you owe, you’re in a much better position to do something about it like pay those student loans off faster.
These are four of our favorite ways to make quick work of your monthly student loan bills.
Use Our Repayment Planner
You can make informed decisions about your loans using our interactive Repayment Planner. It helps you understand your current plan and guides you to a repayment option that fits your situation.
To help you succeed in repaying your loans, the Repayment Planner shows you:
- A dashboard of your current plan, including what you have left to repay and how you’ll repay it
- A timeline of events from now until repayment ends to help you avoid surprises
- The total amount you have left to repay and your final payment date
- Ways you can take action to achieve your repayment goalspart of that may include changing your repayment plan
- More details for each of your loans, focusing on your payment plan and your monthly payment
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Convert It Into A Monthly Amount
Lastly, youll have to multiply that daily interest amount by the number of days in your billing cycle. In this case, well assume a 30-day cycle, so the amount of interest youd pay for the month is $41.10 . The total for a year would be $493.20.
Interest starts accumulating like this from the moment your loan is disbursed unless you have a subsidized federal loan. In that case, youre not charged interest until after the end of your grace period, which lasts for six months after you leave school.
With unsubsidized loans, you can choose to pay off any accrued interest while youre still in school. Otherwise, the accumulated interest is capitalized, or added to the principal amount, after graduation.
If you request and are granted a forbearancebasically, a pause on repaying your loan, usually for about 12 monthskeep in mind that even though your payments may stop while youre in forbearance, the interest will continue to accrue during that period and ultimately will be tacked onto your principal amount. If you suffer economic hardship and enter into deferment, interest continues to accrue only if you have an unsubsidized or PLUS loan from the government.
Keep Track Of Your Loans
![Student Debt: How to Find Out How Much You Owe Student Debt: How to Find Out How Much You Owe](https://www.understandloans.net/wp-content/uploads/student-debt-how-to-find-out-how-much-you-owe-student.jpeg)
The National Student Loan Data System is the U.S. Department of Educations comprehensive database that helps federal student loan borrowers find information about their loans including:
- Loan amounts disbursed and current balances
- Schools attended and their contact information
- Your student loan holder and contact information
- Grace period details
- Loan interest rate
To access the NSLDS, youll need your federal FSA ID, the same ID you used when completing the FAFSA.
Lost your FSA ID? If youve forgotten your FSA ID username or password, you can retrieve it from the Federal Student Aid FSA ID website. You can retrieve the FSA ID using the email or phone number you provided when creating the FSA ID or answering the Challenge Questions.
Print the Loan Tracking Worksheet to record details of your loans. If you don’t know who the lender or servicer is and you don’t have a coupon book or bill for these loans, access your to see who is reporting outstanding loans in your name.
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Who Needs To Start Repaying
You may need to start paying back your OSAP loan six months after your study period ends.
You don’t need to start paying back your OSAP loan if your school confirms your enrolment for the next study period and we approve your application for one of the following programs:
- OSAP for Full-Time Students
If you received loans through the OSAP micro-credentials program, learn about repayment for micro-credentials programs.
Repayment Assistance For Students With Permanent Disabilities
If you are applying with a disability
If you were confirmed to have a permanent disability when you applied for OSAP while you were a postsecondary student, you do not need any further documentation.
If you were not confirmed as having a permanent disability when you applied for OSAP, you will be required to complete a Verification of Permanent Disability form. You will also need to provide medical documentation to support your permanent disability.
Repayment terms
If you have a permanent disability, you can apply to the debt reduction stage immediately when you enter repayment, without receiving any interest relief as part of stage one.
The governments of Canada and Ontario help borrowers who have permanent disabilities pay off their loans in 10 years.
You can also provide documentation to have your disability-related expenses considered when your affordable monthly payment is calculated. To do this, you must:
- complete a Repayment Assistance Plan for Borrowers with a Permanent Disability Expenses form from National Student Loans Service Centre
- provide proof of your expenses and insurance coverage
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How Much Student Loan Debt Do I Owe
Though student debt can sometimes feel like an ever-present shadow, knowing exactly how much debt you have doesn’t always come easy.
Luckily, you have a few avenues for accurately determining how much you owe in student loans:
Become A Doctor Or Lawyer
Medical and legal professionals can end up with six figures in student loan debt. Fortunately, several student loan forgiveness programs exist to help them reduce their loan burdens:
- The National Institutes of Health repays up to $50,000 in student loan debt for medical students who complete certain types of medical research on topics such as medical disparities and contraception.
- Certain health professionals can receive up to $100,000 of student loan forgiveness through the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program in exchange for two to three years of volunteer service at a clinic with a shortage of health professionals.
- Law school graduates may have some of their student loans forgiven by performing non-profit, public sector, or government work. The Department of Justice, the Legal Services Corporation, and several law schools offer student loan repayment programs. Lawyers may also qualify for the PSLF program, depending on where they work.
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Make Additional Payments Whenever You Can
Just like paying a little extra each month can create big savings down the road, so can making an additional payment now.
So when you get your tax refund or a holiday bonus or a bump in your salary, don’t spend it all in one place . Take a percentage say 20% and make an extra payment on your student loans. You weren’t expecting the cash, so you won’t even miss it.
Finding Your Loan Information
If you are unsure which agency is servicing your defaulted student loan, you may retrieve your loan information from the National Student Loan Data System . This system contains financial aid information collected from schools, agencies, and other educational institutions. You will need your Federal Student Aid ID information to access your account. Or, you may contact the Federal Student Aid Information Center .
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Simple Vs Compound Interest
The calculation above shows how to figure out interest payments based on whats known as a simple daily interest formula this is the way the U.S. Department of Education does it on federal student loans. With this method, you pay interest as a percentage of the principal balance only.
However, some private loans use compound interest, which means that the daily interest isnt being multiplied by the principal amount at the beginning of the billing cycleits being multiplied by the outstanding principal plus any unpaid interest that’s accrued.
So on Day 2 of the billing cycle, youre not applying the daily interest rate0.000137, in our caseto the $10,000 of principal with which you started the month. Youre multiplying the daily rate by the principal and the amount of interest that accrued the previous day: $1.37. It works out well for the banks because, as you can imagine, theyre collecting more interest when they compound it this way.
The above calculator also assumes a fixed interest over the life of the loan, which youd have with a federal loan. However, some private loans come with variable rates, which can go up or down based on market conditions. To determine your monthly interest payment for a given month, youd have to use the current rate youre being charged on the loan.