Credible takeaways
- If you have federal student loans, you can log in to your StudentAid.gov account to find your student loan servicer.
- You can find your private student loan servicer by reviewing your monthly statements or by pulling your credit reports.
- If you have questions about your loan servicer or student loans, you can contact the Federal Student Aid Information Center.
At the end of fiscal year 2024, 3.8 million calls were received across all federal student loan servicer call centers, according to Federal Student Aid data. A student loan servicer is a company or organization that manages your repayment, collects and processes student loan payments, or helps you enroll in the right plan. As a federal student loan borrower, you don’t get to choose your loan servicer. Instead, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) assigns one to you.
If you’ve just graduated and have yet to make loan payments, you may not know what company manages them. Or, while your loans were in deferment or forbearance, you may have forgotten.
Here’s how to find your student loan servicer and how you can contact them if you have questions.
Current private student loan rates
How do I find my federal student loan servicer?
To find your federal student loan servicer, follow these steps:
- Log in to your dashboard on StudentAid.gov.
- Scroll down to the “My Loan Servicers” section.
- View important information, like your loan status, loan amount, and disbursement date.
Depending on your servicer, you may be able to manage your repayment via the Federal Student Aid website or via your servicer’s separate site. Either way, it’s critical to gain access so you can take steps like changing your repayment plan, making payments, or requesting forbearance or deferment. Plus, some servicers will give you a discount of 0.25 percentage points for enrolling in autopay.
Editor insight: “If you’re unable to log in to your StudentAid.gov account or have additional questions, I recommend contacting the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-433-3243. This can help you avoid missing important information and student loan payments.”
— Kelly Larsen, Student Loans Editor, Credible
What does a federal student loan servicer do?
A federal student loan servicer helps you with many student loan-related tasks. Here’s what they can do:
- Keep track of payments: Once you start paying on your federal student loan, your servicer will keep track of each payment. If you deferred in-school repayment, expect to make your first loan payment six months after you graduate (or when your “grace period” expires).
- Change repayment plans: All federal loan borrowers start off on the standard 10-year repayment plan, which separates your debt into 120 payments. However, if you find the monthly payment is too high, your servicer can help you apply for an income-driven repayment plan.
- Request forbearance or deferment: If you experience any financial hardship, you can request a forbearance or deferment on your loans, which postpones your monthly payments temporarily.
- Loan consolidation: For most borrowers, it’s better to consolidate your federal loans rather than refinancing them, as you can lose federal benefits by transitioning your education debt to a private lender. Your federal loan servicer can help you consolidate your federal loans into a Direct Consolidation Loan. Keep in mind that you can’t consolidate private student loans with the federal government.
- Loan forgiveness: Depending on your situation, you might qualify for student loan forgiveness programs, such as Public Service Loan Forgiveness or Teacher Loan Forgiveness.
Private student loan lenders also keep track of your payments, and some offer forbearance or deferment as well as refinancing. However, they do not offer the same repayment plans as a federal servicer. Speak with your lender about what services they offer, as they can vary.
How do I contact my federal student loan servicer?
After you’ve found your servicer, you can contact them by phone. Below is a table of the seven companies that currently service federal student loans — including their phone numbers:
What happened to my servicer?
Some servicers have ended their contracts with the Department of Education and transferred their loans to other servicers.
The following servicers are no longer contracted:
- OSLA: The Oklahoma Student Loan Authority’s service contract ended in December 2023. All borrowers whose loans were serviced by OSLA have been transferred to Aidvantage.
- Great Lakes: Nelnet acquired Great Lakes in 2018. As of June 2023, Great Lakes no longer services federal student loans. Any borrowers whose loans were serviced by Great Lakes have been transferred to Nelnet.
What if my student loan servicer changes?
If your student loan servicer changes, you should receive an email or letter from your new loan servicer that includes its name and contact information.
Once the Department of Education completes your student loan servicer transfer, you should receive instructions from your new servicer on accessing your new online account and making payments. Your student loan terms will remain the same.
Tip
Before your servicer transfers your loans, it’s best to save your payment history from your account in case there are discrepancies down the road. Also, update your information so your new servicer can reach you.
What if I have private student loans?
If you have private student loans, you can find your servicer by reviewing your monthly statements or credit reports.
Good to know
You can see your Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion credit reports for free weekly at AnnualCreditReport.com.
As with federal loan servicing transfers, private student loans can change hands. It’s important to maintain communication with your lender and loan servicer in case your education debt is sold to another company or migrates to a new servicer.
If you need a new private student loan, Credible makes it easy to compare rates from multiple private student loan providers without affecting your credit score.
FAQs
What if my federal loans aren’t owned by the Department of Education?
Open
Can I change my student loan servicer?
Open
How do I see all of my student loan information?
Open
What if my student loan was transferred to another servicer?
Open
Who is my loan servicer for Public Service Loan Forgiveness?
Open