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STUDENT SERVICES
Did you receive a Postcard or a Letter?
POSTCARDS
During your 6 month grace period we send out reminders approximately 3 months and approximately 1 month before your first payment is due. If you have not been contacted by your servicer, please contact us as we can provide you with the name and number for the servicer of your student loans.
LETTERS
A & J Loan Advisors will contact you within the first few years that your Federal loan(s) goes into repayment if you become delinquent. We are here to help you in the beginning process of the repayment of your student loans. If you have received a letter from us and are having a difficult time making your student loan payments, contact your loan servicer or us immediately. You can qualify for some form of payment relief such as a deferment or forbearance form. It is important to take action before you incur late fees or your credit is affected.
REPAYMENT OPTIONS
Loans, unlike educational grants, must be repaid. After you graduate, leave school, or drop below half-time enrollment, you have six months before you must begin repaying your loans. This is called the "grace period." Your repayment period begins the day after your grace period ends. Your first payment will be due within 60 days after your repayment period begins. It is important to begin repayment when you receive a bill from your lender. There are several different repayment options. Listed below are the 3 most popular among borrowers.
With the Standard Plan, you'll pay a fixed amount each month until your loans are paid in full. Your monthly payments will be at least $50, and you'll have up to 10 years to repay your loans.
The Standard Plan is good for you if you can handle higher monthly payments because you'll repay your loans more quickly. Your monthly payment under the Standard Plan may be higher than it would be under the other plans because your loans will be repaid in the shortest time. For the same reason--the 10-year limit on repayment--you may pay the least interest.
Under the Extended Plan, you'll still have minimum monthly payments of at least $50, but you can take from 12 to 30 years to repay your loans. The length of your repayment period will depend on the total amount you owe when your loans go into repayment.
This is a good plan if you will need to make smaller monthly payments. Because the repayment period generally will be at least 12 years, your monthly payments will be less than with the Standard Plan. However, you may pay more in interest because you're taking longer to repay the loans. Remember that the longer your loans are in repayment, the more interest you will pay.
With this plan, your payments start out low, then increase, generally every two years. The length of your repayment period will depend on the total amount you owe when your loans go into repayment. If you expect your income to increase steadily over time, this plan may be right for you. Your initial monthly payments will be equal to either the interest that accumulates on your loans or half of the payment you would make each month using the Standard Plan, whichever is greater. However, your monthly payments will never increase to more than 1.5 times what you would pay with the Standard Plan.
POSTPONE PAYMENTS
Types of relief*
- A deferment is a temporary suspension of loan payments for specific situations such as returning to school, unemployment, disability, or military service. You have a right to defer repayment for certain defined periods.
- Forbearance is a temporary postponement or reduction of payments for a period of time, as you and the lender or holder of your loan may agree, because you are experiencing financial difficulty.
- Graduated payment plans provide short-term relief through low, interest-only payments followed by standard principal and interest payments.
- Income-sensitive or income-contingent payment plans offer payment relief with payments that are a specific percentage of your gross monthly income.
*many of these options are servicer-specific. If you do not know who services your loan, visit www.nslds.ed.gov. Some of the most commonly used servicers are listed below.
Consequences of Defaulting on a Federal Loan
- You could lose your Federal Income Tax returns. They can be automatically taken to repay your federal student loan.
- You wages or salary could be taken, up to 10% of each paycheck to pay your loans. This is called garnishment of wages.
- Your credit will be damaged and reported to all three national credit reporting bureaus. This could ruin your credit and make it difficult to finance a new car, home, etc.
- You could be sued by the guarantor of the student loan or by the federal government.
- You could pay additional costs such as: late fees, attorney fees and court costs.
- You could lose your eligibility to further federal student financial aid such as grants and loans
Servicer List
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