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.
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.
Typically, 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
When you leave school, your servicer automatically enrolls you in a repayment plan unless you choose a different one during exit counseling. Which plan you get depends on when you borrowed:
- Before July 1, 2026: the Standard Repayment Plan.
- On or after July 1, 2026: the Tiered Standard Repayment Plan, which has a 10- to 25-year term depending on your loan balance.
Either way, the payments may be hard to afford if you're carrying a lot of debt.
Your servicer can tell you whether you qualify for one of the government's income-driven repayment plans, which cap your bill at a percentage of your income. Which plans you're eligible for depends on when you borrowed. If you take out any loans on or after July 1, 2026, for example, your only option is the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP).
To compare what you'd pay under each plan, use the government's loan repayment estimator.
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.
Servicers do not manage PSLF
In 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.
If borrowers have PSLF questions or forms to submit, they can go directly to the Education Department, rather than their servicer.
Learn more about other student loan forgiveness programs and how to apply.
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.
Learn more about some of the federal loan servicers, including what they can do and how to contact them.
American Education Services manages only FFEL Program debt. |
Default Resolution Group services only federal student loans in default. |
