Understanding all the players in the world of student loans can be overwhelming, particularly when there are seemingly multiple organizations — such as the Department of Education (Dept of Ed) and Edfinancial — in the mix. Knowing their roles will help you more effectively manage your student loan debt. In this post we’ll detail everything you need to know about Edfinancial, how it is affiliated with the Dept of Ed, and what this means for your loans.
What Is Edfinancial?
EdFinancial Services is a student loan servicer who works on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education to administer and service federal student loans. A student loan servicer is the entity that manages billing, repayment plans, loan consolidation, forgiveness programs and a borrower’s customer service interface.
Edfinancial as loan servicer If you see Edfinancial as your loan servicer it’s because the government chose them to have your account. They are the ones who are your first contact for everything regarding your federal student loans.
Dept of Ed and Edfinancial Relationsая
The Dept of Ed is the main holder of federal student loans such as those from Direct Loans and Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) programs. But the Dept of Ed does not handle these accounts itself. Instead, it contracts with third-party servicers like Edfinancial to do so on its behalf.
Below is a brief summary of their relationship:
- Ed.IALIZED: “Dept of Ed:” A lender and the owner of the loan.
- Edfinancial: The company that oversees most day-to-day functions of your loan.
What this means is that you’re paying your loans back to Edfinancial, but your payments immediately get sent back to the Dept of Ed:
Edfinancial Services Provided by Edfinancial
For helping you manage your loans, Edfinancial offers various services such as:
- Month End Billing: Follow up with statements and reminder.
- Payment Application: Using your payments to your account.
- Repayment Plans: Assisting you in selecting or switching repayment plans, such as Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plans.
- Consolidation: Helping you to consolidate your federal Direct Loans.
- PSLF Support: Leading borrowers who qualify for PSLF through documentation and monitoring.
- Deferment and Forbearance: Assisting those borrowers who fall behind temporarily suspend payments due to financial hardship.
- Customer Support: Responding to questions about your loans, payments, and assistance.
Edfinancial serves as a middleman between borrowers and a complicated federal loan system, helping to manage repayment responsibilities.
How to Tell If Your Loans Are Serviced by Edfinancial
If you feel unsure of who your loan servicer is, you can determine that by:
- If you log in to your account on studentaid. gov.
- Reviewing your loan servicer information in the “My Aid” section.
- Searching for correspondence, including emails and letters, from Edfinancial.
If Edfinancial is your servicer, all future payments, correspondence and changes to your repayment plan will be handled by them.
Creating an Account on Edfinancial.cm
If Edfinancial is your loan servicer, make sure you create an online account so you can stay updated on the status of your loan and your payments. Here’s how:
Go to the Edfinancial homepage.
- Click on “Create an Account.”
- Enter your SS# (social security number), D.O.B (date of birth), and account number (found on studentaid. gov).
- Choose a username, password and security questions.
Once you’re signed up:
- View your loan balance.
- Set up auto-pay.
- Request deferments or forbearances.
- The changing face of ABA membership: Update your profile.
- Get tax documents including the 1098-E form.
Loan Repayment through Edfinancial
One of the most important services provided by Edfinancial is assisting borrowers who are in need of figuring out the most suitable repayment plan to suit their financial capabilites. Options include:
- Standard Repayment Plan: Fixed payments over 10 years.
- Graduated Repayment Plan: Payments begin at a low level, then move higher every two years.
- Extended Repayment Plan: Reduced payments over 25 years.
- Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) Plans Payments based on income and family size, such as:
- Income-Based Repayment (IBR)
- Pay As You Earn (PAYE)
- Revised Pay As You Earn (REPAYE) Repayment.
- ICR (Income-Contingent Repayment )
If you sign up for an IDR plan, you could reduce your monthly payment and even be eligible for loan forgiveness after a period of years of making qualifying payments.
PSLF and Edfinancial
Borrowers who are employed in public service can have their loans forgiven under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. Edfinancial, which services the loans, helps the borrowers to navigate the paperwork and keep track of their qualifying payments.
How to apply for PSLF with Edfinancial:
- Resubmit in each year an ECF.
- Complete 120 qualifying monthly payments while on a qualifying repayment plan.
- Continue to work 40 hours per week for a reputable employer.
PSLF support from Edfinancial keeps borrowers on course for forgiveness.
Contacting Edfinancial
If you have questions, Edfinancial has several ways to contact them:
- Phone: 1-855-337-6884 (Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time)
- Online Messaging: Visit your Edfinancial account to send a message.
- Mail: Edfinancial Services, P.O. Box 36008, Knoxville, Tenn. 37930-6008.
You want to make sure that Edfinancial has the right contact information for you to just be sure that you aren’t missing important information.
The Most Frequent Problems (And Just How To Request Them)
As with any large servicer, It sometimes receives borrower complaints, typically about:
- Payment Errors: Never neglect to check your statements. If something seems off, call right away.
- Inflexibility of Change of Repayment Plans: If the process is not as fast as anticipated, follow-up on a regular basis.
- Communication Gaps: Establish alerts and review your account on a consistent basis.
By staying ahead and documenting every interaction you can resolve your problems faster.
How to manage your loans
Get the most out of your experience with these by following these tips:
- Sign Up for Auto Pay: You might be eligible for a 0.25% interest rate deduction.
- Review Your Account Monthly: Confirm that payments are posted appropriately.
- Investigate Forgiveness Programs: Find out whether you are eligible for PSLF, Teacher Loan Forgiveness or Income-Driven Forgiveness.
- If You’re Struggling to Pay: Acks says talk to your lender as early as possible, ask for deferment or forbearance, if necessary.
- Save Every Email: This is especially critical when it comes to change your repayment plan and tracking progress toward PSLF.
Conclusion
Knowing how it is and the Dept of Ed collaborate is an important part of intelligent student loan management. As your servicer, It is your contact for repayment plans, forgiveness programs, and customer service. By remaining proactive and keeping in touch—and taking advantage of what they have to offer—you can manage your student loan journey successfully.
Whether you are newly entering repayment or en route to forgiveness, handling your loans via Edfinancial can be an easy process if you have the right information and tools at your disposal.
