Repay Student Loans

Borrowers with defaulted FFEL or Direct Loan Program loans may be liable for collection costs incurred to collect the loans. If the holder of the defaulted loan, which may be either the U.S. Department of Education or a guaranty agency, retains a collection agency to collect defaulted loans, charges imposed by the collection agency may be added to the amount borrowers owe. This means that the amount of the Direct Consolidation Loan may include collection costs of up to 18.5% of the principal and interest outstanding on the defaulted loan.

For defaulted Perkins Loans and health professions loans, collection costs may equal as much as the amount owed at the time the defaulted loan is paid off through consolidation.

Source: Department of Education

Generally, Federal education loan(s) in default may be consolidated in a Direct Consolidation Loan if borrowers:

* Agree to repay the loan(s) under the Income Contingent Repayment Plan.
OR

* Make satisfactory repayment arrangements with the current loan holder(s).

If, before applying for consolidation, borrowers who want to completely clear the default notation from their credit records, they may want to consider another option: loan rehabilitation. Borrowers should contact their loan holders to obtain more information about this option.

Borrowers cannot consolidate defaulted loans under these conditions:

* If a judgment has been issued against a defaulted loan, it cannot be included in the consolidation unless the judgment order has been vacated (dismissed).
* If they are trying to consolidate defaulted Direct Consolidation Loans.
* If they are trying to consolidate defaulted FFEL Consolidation Loans unless they have made satisfactory repayment arrangements with their current loan holder OR the borrowers agree to repay under the Income Contingent Repayment Plan.
* If they are trying to consolidate defaulted Perkins or health professions loans unless they have made satisfactory repayment arrangements with their current loan holders.

Source: U.S. Department of Education

Effective July, 1 2006 a married couple may no longer obtain a Direct Consolidation Loan as joint borrowers. Consolidate jointly with your spouse Effective July, 1 2006 a married couple may no longer obtain a Direct Consolidation Loan as joint borrowers.

Source: Department of Education

For student loans authorized under Section 435(i)Title IV of the Higher Education Act, default occurs on a Federal Family Educational Loan (FFEL) program loan after a default has persisted for 270 days in the case of a loan repayable in monthly installments or 330 days in the case of a loan repayable in less frequent installments. The change is effective for loans for which the first date of delinquency occurred on or after October 7, 1998. During the delinquency period, your loan holder must exercise “due diligence” in attempting to collect the loan; that is, your loan holder must make repeated efforts to locate and contact you about repayment. If your loan holder’s efforts are unsuccessful, steps will be taken to place the loan in default and to turn the loan over to the guaranty agency in your state. Your loan holder may “accelerate” a defaulted loan, which means that the entire balance of the loan (principal and interest) becomes due in a single payment.

Once your loan is assigned to a guaranty agency or the U.S. Department of Education (Department) for collection, the following steps may be taken to recover the outstanding balance due:

• The Department of the Treasury may offset your federal and/or state tax refunds and any other payments, as authorized by law, to repay your defaulted loan.
• You may have to pay additional collection costs after your loan is assigned to a private collection agency for collection.
• Also, you may be subject to Administrative Wage Garnishment, whereby the Department will require your employer to forward 15% of your disposable pay toward repayment of your loan.
• Federal employees face the possibility of having 15% of their disposable pay offset by the Department toward repayment of their loan through the Federal Employee Salary Offset Program.
• The Department may take legal action to force you to repay the loan.
• Finally, credit bureaus may be notified, and your credit rating will suffer.

Once a loan is declared in default, you are no longer entitled to any deferments or forbearances. In addition, you may not receive any additional Title IV federal student aid if you are in default on any Title IV student loan until you have made payments of an approved amount for at least six consecutive months.

Source: U.S. Department of Education

Student loan borrowers in default now have more options than ever before to repay their student loans.  The U.S. Department of Education’s (Department) Default Resolution Group is assisting individuals in default.

This site will provide you with information on the following loan programs:

Federal Family Education Loans (FFEL), which include Federal Stafford, Federal Consolidation and Federal PLUS loans. When placed in default, these loans are first assigned to a guaranty agency (an organization that administers the FFEL Program for your state) for collection. Periodically, guaranty agencies assign loans to the Department for collection.

Direct Loans, which includes Federal Stafford Consolidation and PLUS loans that are offered through the William D. Ford Direct Loan Program. When placed in default, these loans are assigned to the Department’s Default Resolution Group.

Federal Perkins Loans. When placed in default, Perkins Loans may remain with the school or be assigned to the Department for collection.

Federal Pell Grants, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOG), Academic Competitiveness Grants and National SMART Grants. In certain instances, you may have to repay part of a Federal grant  that was awarded to you.

If you are not sure what type of loan you have, check your promissory note or use our National Student Loan Data System. If your loan is not one of the loans listed above, the information on this site does not apply to you.

(Contact the Default Resolution Group at 1-800-621-3115 to process your credit card payment).

Source: U.S. Department of Education

Yes, under three conditions:

Borrowers can consolidate existing consolidation loans into a new Direct Consolidation Loan if they include at least one other FFEL or Direct Loan into the new consolidation loan.
Borrowers can consolidate a single Federal Consolidation Loan if the loan is in default status or has been submitted to a guaranty agency for default aversion by the loan holder.
Borrowers can consolidate a single Federal Consolidation Loan if they intend to apply for loan forgiveness under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.
Borrowers who have only a Direct Consolidation Loan cannot consolidate again unless they include an additional loan.

Source: U.S. Department of Education

Yes and No. Effective for Direct Consolidation Loan applications received on or after July 1, 2006, borrowers who are enrolled in school cannot consolidate loans that are in an in-school status. These are loans that have not yet entered or used up the 6-month grace period entitlement.

Borrowers still can consolidate loans that are in grace, repayment or deferment

Borrowers can add loans to an existing consolidation for up to 180 days after the Direct Consolidation Loan was first disbursed. If more than 180 days has passed, borrowers can apply for a new Direct Consolidation Loan. The new consolidation loan can include the original Direct Consolidation loan and must include another eligible outstanding Federal education loan.

Example: A borrower who has education loans stopped attending school for a year and the loans used up the 6-month grace period and entered repayment. The borrower returned to school and obtained a new loan. While enrolled, the borrower applies for a Direct Consolidation Loan. The Direct Consolidation Loan can include the first group of loans the borrower received, but not the newly received loans. Once the borrower leaves school again he or she can add these new loans to the existing consolidation loan or submit a new Direct Loan Consolidation application to combine the original consolidation loan and the other remaining loans.

Source: U.S. Department of Education

Yes, With a Direct Consolidation Loan, borrowers can include certain health profession loans sponsored through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services with other Federal education loans in their Direct Consolidation Loan. Borrowers must include at least one Direct Loan or Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program loan in the Direct Consolidation Loan.

• Eligible Health Professions Loans
• Health Professions Student Loans (HPSL)
• Health Education Assistance Loans (HEAL)
• Loans for Disadvantaged Students (LDS)
• Nursing Student Loans (NSL)

The Advantages

Direct Consolidation Loans offer many advantages to borrowers of health professions loans. These include:

• a longer repayment period;
• a lower monthly payment; AND
• a single monthly payment

When deciding to consolidate a health professions loans, consider the following advantages:
Borrowers who have defaulted on a HEAL may include the collection costs and late fees in a Direct Consolidation Loan. These fees may not be included in HEAL Refinancing.
Under the Direct Consolidation Loan Program, HEAL borrowers may repay under the Income Contingent Repayment (ICR) Plan for the life of the loan. HEAL lenders are only required to offer an ICR Plan for the first five years.

To qualify for an in-school deferment, Direct Consolidation Loan borrowers must be attending school at least half-time. HPSL, HEAL, and LDS borrowers are required to attend school full time to be eligible for an in-school deferment.

Issues to Consider

Before applying for a Direct Consolidation Loan, consider the following points:
HEAL loans have fixed or variable rate that are tied to the average 91-day Treasury bill rate plus 3 percentage points. There is no maximum interest rate for variable rate HEAL loans. In contrast, the interest rate for a Direct Consolidation Loan is based on the weighted average of the interest rates on loans being consolidated, rounded to the nearest higher one-eighth of one percent. It is a fixed rate and will not exceed 8.25 percent.

The interest on some health professions loans is subsidized by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This interest subsidy is lost when these loans are included in a Direct Consolidation Loan.

Interest does not accrue during deferment for HPSL, LDS, and NSL borrowers. Interest does accrue during deferment on the portion of Direct Consolidation Loans that include health professions loans.
Borrowers who consolidate Health Professions Loans do not retain the deferment benefits that apply to those loans. However, they gain the deferment benefits that apply to Direct Consolidation Loans. For example, a borrower may be eligible for additional deferments if they have an outstanding balance on a FFEL made before July 1, 1993, when they obtain their first Direct Loan.

Source: U.S. Department of Education

It is possible to consolidate Perkins Loans into a Direct Consolidation Loan if borrowers include at least one Direct Loan or Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) in their request. Perkins Loans cannot be included in a Direct Consolidation Loan by themselves. Furthermore, all Perkins Loans consolidated into the Direct Loan Program will be included in the unsubsidized portion of the Direct Consolidation Loan.

Borrowers should carefully weigh the advantages and disadvantages of including a Perkins Loan in a consolidation loan. While the borrowers gain the benefits of the Direct Consolidation Loan Program, they also lose the benefits associated with the Perkins Loan Program.

We recommend that you consider the following points prior to making a decision:

Perkins Loans are eligible for additional cancellation benefits, such as performing certain kinds of public service. This benefit is lost when a Perkins Loan is included in a Direct Consolidation Loan.
Perkins Loans have a grace period of 6-9 months. When a Perkins loan is consolidated, any remaining grace period is lost.

Interest does not accrue when a Perkins Loan is placed in deferment. Since a Perkins Loan is included in the unsubsidized portion of a Direct Consolidation Loan, borrowers are responsible for interest that accrues throughout the deferment period.

Perkins Loans generally have a lower interest rate but have a less flexible repayment period of 10 years.

The Direct Consolidation Loan Program offers standard, graduated, extended and income contingent repayment plans which may lower monthly payments.

NOTE: Lower payments and extended repayment terms can increase the overall finance charges incurred over the life of loan.

Source: U.S. Department of Education

Consolidation loans allow you to combine different types of federal student loans to simplify repayment. Even if you have just one loan, you can also choose to consolidate it. Both the FFEL and Direct Loan Programs offer consolidation loans. There are several advantages to consolidate or rehabilitate your loan as described in the categories below.

FFEL Consolidation Loans

A FFEL Consolidation Loan is designed to help student and parent borrowers consolidate several types of federal student loans with various repayment schedules into one loan. With a FFEL Consolidation Loan, you will make only one payment a month. Under this program, your consolidation loan will be made by a commercial lender, credit bureaus will be notified that your account has a zero balance, and you will sign a new promissory note that will establish a new interest rate and repayment schedule. To receive a FFEL Consolidation Loan, you must be in repayment on your defaulted loan (that is, three voluntary, on-time, full monthly payments). Depending on the balance due, the repayment period may extend up to 30 years. If you owe no other delinquent or defaulted debts to the United States, you will again be eligible for other federal funds, including FHA loans, VA loans, and Title IV student financial aid funds.

Source: U.S. Department of Education