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After you've taken out a student loan, the company that owns your loan may not be the one you work with during repayment. Instead, a student loan servicer manages your account, collects your payments and provides customer service for your loan.
Understanding who your servicer is can help you stay on top of your loan and avoid repayment issues. Here's what student loan servicers do, how to find yours and when your servicer may change.
What Is a Student Loan Servicer?
A student loan servicer is a company or organization that manages your student loan account on behalf of the lender or loan owner. Rather than contacting the lender directly, you'll usually work with the servicer for questions about repayment, account updates and hardship options.
Your servicer sends billing statements, processes payments, tracks your loan balance and helps you enroll in available repayment options. If you move, change your phone number or have trouble making payments, it's important to make sure your loan servicer has your current contact information.
For federal student loans, the U.S. Department of Education works with specific loan servicers, including:
- Aidvantage
- CRI
- ECSI
- Edfinancial Services
- MOHELA
- Nelnet
If you default on your federal student loan by missing payments for 360 days or more, your account may be transferred to the Department of Education's Default Resolution Group, which handles loans in default.
What Does a Student Loan Servicer Do?
After you're 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 or a third party.
While you are enrolled in your college or university, the loan servicer mainly operates behind the scenes, but the servicer becomes more involved after you leave school and enter the repayment period for your loan.
A student loan servicer handles the day-to-day administration of your loan throughout the repayment process. While the lender owns the debt, the servicer manages your account and communicates directly with you.
Depending on the type of loan, a servicer's responsibilities may include:
- Sending monthly billing statements
- Processing your payments
- Tracking your balance, interest charges and payment history
- Reporting payment activity to the credit bureaus
- Processing deferment and forbearance requests
- Handling applications for loan forgiveness or discharge programs
- Ensuring loans are administered according to federal or state regulations
Learn more: Student Loan Repayment: Everything You Need to Know
How to Find Your Student Loan Servicer
Your loan servicer will usually be proactive about reaching out to you via mail or email. However, there are ways to find your student loan servicer if you haven't received any communication from them.
Federal Student Loans
The Department of Education assigns loan servicers shortly after your student loan is disbursed. If you're currently enrolled in school and need information about a loan for the current or upcoming loan, contact your school's financial aid office.
Otherwise, you can find your loan servicer:
- Online: Visit your dashboard on the Federal Student Aid website. If you haven't already established an account, you can create one.
- By phone: Call the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 800-433-3243.
Private Student Loans
- The lender that issued the loan
- A recent student loan billing statement
- A recent copy of your credit report
- Your college or university's financial aid department
How to Change Your Student Loan Servicer
In most cases, you can't choose a new student loan servicer simply because you prefer a different company. Student loan servicers are assigned by the lender or loan owner. However, certain events may result in your loans being transferred to another servicer.
Federal Student Loans
- Consolidating federal student loans allows you to choose a new servicer.
- Applying for a total and permanent disability discharge typically transfers servicing to a designated servicer.
- Going into default may result in loans being transferred to a servicer who deals only with defaulted loans.
The Department of Education may also reassign loans when servicing contracts expire or change.
Private Student Loans
Private borrowers generally have even less control over who services their loan. The lender may service the loan or hire a third-party company. Private student loan lenders occasionally sell their student loan portfolios, which may result in a servicer change.
Refinancing or consolidating your student loans with a different private lender is one of the few ways to indirectly choose a new servicer. However, this creates a new loan and may affect your interest rate, repayment terms and borrower protections.
What Happens if Your Student Loan Servicer Changes?
Your student loan servicer may change if your lender selects a new servicing company, a federal contract expires or your loan status changes. While the company managing your account changes, the terms of your loan generally stay the same. Here's what to expect if your student loan servicer changes.
What to Expect During the Transition
Your current servicer and new servicer should both notify you before the transfer is complete. These notices typically include your new account number, payment instructions and information about creating an account online. During the transaction, monitor your mail and email carefully to avoid missing a payment.
Action Items for Borrowers
There are several things you should do as a borrower.
- Check your mail and email regularly for updates from your old and new servicer.
- Save your payment records to resolve disputes if balances or payment histories don't transfer correctly.
- Create a new online account so you can verify your balance, interest rate, repayment plan and due date.
- Re-enroll in autopay if your automatic payment set up through your old servicer was cancelled.
- Contact your new loan servicer for any errors in the transfer.
Will Your Loan Details Change?
A new student loan servicer doesn't change the terms of your loan agreement. Your interest rate, repayment schedule and outstanding balance generally remain the same. Deferment and forbearance will remain effective during the transfer. The biggest difference is where you send payments and who you contact for customer support.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is My Student Loan Servicer the Same as My Lender?
The servicer of your student loan may be the lender that issued the loan, but it's usually a third party assigned to handle loan administration on behalf of the lender. This is especially true with federal student loans.
What Should I Do if I'm Struggling to Make Payments?
Contact your servicer to discuss payment options. Your loan servicer may offer deferment or forbearance to temporarily pause your payments. You may also be able to lower your payment in the long term by changing your repayment plan. Federal student loans generally offer more repayment options compared to private student loans.
The Bottom Line
Your student loan servicer plays an important role in managing your repayment experience. Once your loan is in repayment, the servicer is typically your primary contact throughout the life of the loan.
Because student loans are usually reported to the credit bureaus, regularly monitoring your credit report can help you identify your student loan servicer and confirm that your accounts are being reported accurately. Monitoring your loan account can help you catch errors early and stay on track with repayment.