Federal Student Loan Servicers: Who They Are and What They Do

A federal student loan servicer is the middleman between you and the federal government, which lent you money for college. Getting to know your servicer is the secret weapon in the battle to get rid of your loans.

Student loan servicers collect your student loan bills and keep track of whether you pay them on time. They also help borrowers switch repayment plans, certify for forgiveness programs and sign up to postpone loan payments.

Your servicer’s job is to help keep your loans in good standing by giving you the support and resources you need. But they're also private companies, which means they may offer choices that are not necessarily in the borrower’s best interest. You must be your own advocate by knowing your repayment options and asking questions.

How to find your federal student loan servicer

If your loan payments haven’t begun or you’re not sure who your servicer is, log in to studentaid.gov to find out. You'll need to use your FSA ID to sign in. On your dashboard, you can see your servicer's name and a link to their website, view your loan details, apply for a direct consolidation loan or sign up for an income-driven repayment plan.

Knowing your student loan servicer’s name — and feeling comfortable contacting the company — is the first step toward getting ahead of your loans. You can get in touch with all of the loan servicer contact centers by calling 1-800-4-FED-AID.

» MORE: How to call your student loan servicer

What do federal student loan servicers do?

Collect and keep track of your payments

Servicers manage student loans on behalf of the federal government and private lenders. So while you may have a federal student loan, you’ll work with a private company to pay it off.

Your servicer will contact you after the first federal loan is paid out to you. Register for an account on its website right away, so you can keep track of how much you’ve taken out and how much interest adds up while you’re in school. You can also use your online account to pay off the interest that has accrued before it capitalizes, or is added to your total balance at the end of the student loan grace period.

Six months after you leave school your first bill will arrive. Sign up for automatic monthly payments so you’re less likely to fall behind on your loans. But be sure you have enough money in your bank account each month to cover the cost.

Help you choose or switch repayment plans

Your servicer will place you on the 10-year standard student loan repayment plan unless you pick a different one during your exit counseling session around the time you leave school. The standard plan breaks up your balance into 120 fixed payments. But that may be difficult to afford if you have a lot of debt.

Student loan servicers can help you figure out if you’re eligible for one of the government’s income-driven repayment plans, which cap your bills at a percentage of your income. See what you’d pay on an income-driven plan using the government’s student loan repayment estimator tool.

If you decide to switch, your servicer will process your application and annual income recertification, which you must submit to stay eligible.

Customize your loan payments

Once you start earning enough money to pay extra toward your loans, you might want to pay off certain loans first — like the ones with the highest interest rates, which will help you save money in the long run. Contributing more than your scheduled payment will reduce both your overall balance and the interest you pay over time, so kick in a little more than you need to when you can.

Call, email or write your servicer a letter instructing it how to apply additional money. Otherwise, they may apply extra payments toward your next month's bill.

Process your requests for deferment or forbearance

During your repayment term, there may be periods when you can’t afford your loan bill. Call your loan servicer to let it know as soon as you can. You can apply for deferment or forbearance, temporary postponements of your payments during periods of financial difficulty.

» MORE: How administrative forbearance works for student loans

Servicers no longer manage PSLF

In July 2024, the Education Department took over management of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program from the servicer MOHELA. As a result, borrowers who apply for PSLF stay with their current servicer. They are no longer automatically transferred to MOHELA.

If borrowers have PSLF questions or forms to submit, they now must go directly to the Education Department, rather than their servicer.

» MORE: How to prepare for the PSLF transfer

Learn more about other student loan forgiveness programs and how to apply.

Servicing changes are underway

To streamline the servicing landscape, the Department of Education announced in April 2023 that it signed new contracts with five student loan servicers: Maximus Education (also known as Aidvantage, its student loan arm), Edfinancial, MOHELA, Nelnet and Central Research, Inc. (also know as CRI). The first four companies have existing servicer contracts, but Arkansas-based government contractor CRI is new to the list. OSLA, an existing servicer, did not receive a new contract.

The new contracts went live in late 2024.

All federal student loan borrowers will eventually be able to access their accounts through the StudentAid.gov website, regardless of their servicer, as part of a longer term project tied to the overhaul. (Currently, borrowers must manage their accounts directly through their specific servicer's website.) This change is intended to reduce disruptions from account transfers and increase servicer accountability, the Education Department said in a press release.

Building a centralized online student loan servicer portal is a tall order, so borrowers shouldn't expect it to roll out for at least a couple of years, says Scott Buchanan, executive director of the Student Loan Servicing Alliance.

» MORE: How to complain about your student loan servicer

Recent servicer portfolio transfers

After their government contract expires, servicers transfer their outstanding portfolio. If you had one of these older servicers, your loans were moved to the new servicer:

OSLA transferred its portfolio to Aidvantage in late 2024.
Great Lakes transferred its portfolio to Nelnet in 2023.
FedLoan Servicing stopped servicing all loans in December 2022 and transferred its loans to either MOHELA, Edfinancial, Aidvantage or Nelnet.
Granite State (GSMR) transferred its portfolio to Edfinancial in December 2021.
Navient transferred its federal student loan portfolio to Aidvantage in December 2021.

How to prepare for a servicer transfer

Prior to servicing contracts ending, borrowers should do the following:

Download and save your payment history from your online account or request a copy from your servicer.
Update your contact information with your most recent address, phone number and email address.

You’ll be notified when a loan servicing transfer happens, and you’ll manage payments with the new servicer. All servicers deliver the same options and programs, but customer service may differ from one to another.

» MORE: How to change your student loan servicer