![]() ![]() Shepard recommends borrowers reach out to their student loan servicer with any questions about their loans as soon as possible, especially if they are interested in enrolling in an income-driven repayment plan. “There’s going to be a lot of people who need help and not a lot of help to go around,” said Michele Shepard, senior director of college affordability at The Institute for College Access and Success. Missing payments can result in monetary fees. Millions of borrowers will have a different servicer handling their student loans since the last time they made a payment. Many people may be confused about how much they owe, when to pay and how. The justices are expected to rule in late June or early July, but a decision could come earlier.īringing roughly 44 million borrowers back into repayment at one time is an unprecedented task. ![]() If allowed to move forward, the program would grant up to $20,000 in debt relief to qualifying federal student loan borrowers.įederal student loan payments are set to resume 60 days after the Supreme Court issues its ruling, or in late August – whichever comes first. The Biden administration has now tied the payment restart date to the litigation over its separate, one-time forgiveness program, which was heard by the US Supreme Court at the end of February. “We’ll continue to support ED and borrowers with the resources we are given,” he said.įederal student loan borrowers have not had to make any payments since March 2020, thanks to a pandemic-related pause that was extended several times by both the Trump and Biden administrations. Scott Buchanan, executive director of the Student Loan Servicing Alliance, a nonprofit trade association, warned that cuts to customer service could result in fewer customer service representatives, reduced hours and potentially longer processing times. “The Department remains focused on doing everything in its power to better serve students and borrowers, and we are fully committed to supporting student loan borrowers as they successfully navigate returning to repayment,” it said. The Department of Education declined to say whether it had modified student loan servicer contracts across the board, but in an email to CNN said that the agency is “deeply concerned about the lack of adequate annual funding made available to Federal Student Aid this year.” Aidvantage and MOHELA could not be reached for comment. The company has laid off hundreds of people this year, though customer service hours have remained the same, according to Nelnet’s website.Ī spokesperson from EdFinancial referred CNN to the Department of Education. None of those three servicers currently have Saturday hours.Īnother major servicer, Nelnet, said in March that the Department of Education had modified its current contract, “significantly” decreasing the amount it earns per borrower per month. The office contracts with several outside organizations to handle the billing and other services on federal student loans.ĮdFinancial Services, Aidvantage and MOHELA have reduced the number of hours during which a borrower can reach a customer service representative on the phone, according to CNN’s review of earlier versions of the companies’ websites. There was already concern over whether the critical return to repayment set for later this year would go smoothly after Congress appropriated the Federal Student Aid office about $800 million less than what the Biden administration had asked for this year. Some student loan servicers have recently cut back on customer service hours, adding to the fear that borrowers won’t have sufficient support when transitioning back into repayment after a more than three-year pandemic pause. ![]()
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