Edfinancial Forgiveness & Repayment Options

‍Edfinancial services federal student loans — including Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans — for the Department of Education. It’s responsible for helping borrowers enroll in income-driven repayment plans and explaining loan forgiveness options.

Edfinancial Services is a business hired by the U.S. Department of Education to manage the accounts of federal student loan borrowers. It also collects payments for older Federal Family Education Loans and a handful of private student loans.

Ahead, learn repayment and forgiveness options for Edfinancial student loans.

Edfinancial Services, or HESC/Edfinancial, is one of seven federal student loan servicers the Education Department contracts with to manage its loan portfolio. While it is not as well known as other loan servicers like FedLoan Servicing and Nelnet, Edfinancial is a real, legitimate company that has been working with the department since 2012 to help borrowers:

• Enroll in repayment plans.

• Postpone payments with deferments and forbearances.

• Track progress towards income-driven repayment plan forgiveness.

Edfinancial services Direct Loans, PLUS Loans, and Stafford Loans owned by the federal government, Federal Family Education Loans owned by guaranty agencies, and some private student loans.

Edfinancial Services is a legitimate student loan servicer that has worked with the Department of Education for over a decade. If Edfinancial is sending you letters and contacting you about student loan debt, it’s likely because the department moved your loans to Edfinancial from your previous servicer.

Keep in mind, although Edfinancial isn’t a scam, it’s a business operating to make money. As a result, the information or guidance its representatives give you may be in their best interest — not yours. You can get unbiased information by researching your options at StudentAid.gov or speaking with a student loan advisor.

• Review eligibility for loan forgiveness. Federal student loan borrowers have several opportunities to rid themselves of their debt, including student loan forgiveness after 20 years for certain payment plans and the Limited PSLF Waiver.

• Change your monthly payments. You can quickly switch repayment plans to pay off student loans or set up an income-driven repayment plan to get a lower payment due to income changes. If all of your loans are Direct Loans, you are not currently required to submit income information. Instead, you can self-report your income when applying for IDR or completing your annual student loan recertification. This option is available until July 31, 2022. Visit studentaid.gov and apply online for the Income-Driven Repayment Plan Request. When you get to Step 2, select “I’ll report my own income information.”

• Process account changes. If you need to stop making payments and IDR doesn’t help, Edfinancial can apply a deferment or forbearance to your account. Interest will continue to build in most cases, leading to student loan interest capitalization. But the brief pause on payments will help keep you out of default and in good standing.

• Enroll in autopay. Allowing Edfinancial to deduct student loan payments from your bank account with auto-debit can help you avoid late payments. Plus, it reduces your interest rate by 0.25%.

• Register for online access. Setting up an online account lets you access your 10-digit account number and billing statements, make payments, and upload documents to modify your loan status.

Learn More: How to Apply for Student Loan Forgiveness?

The Direct Loans and FFEL Loans that Edfinancial services are eligible for the following student loan forgiveness programs:

• Income-driven repayment forgiveness extends your repayment term to 20 or 25 years and forgives the remaining loan balance after your last payment.

• Public Service Loan Forgiveness clears the balance owed on Direct Loans if you work full-time for a government or nonprofit entity and make 120 qualifying payments. If you have FFELP Loans, you will need to consolidate your loans to qualify for PSLF. Do that before Oct. 31, 2022. You can get credit towards forgiveness for payments made while working full-time in public service using the department’s limited PSLF waiver.

• Teacher Loan Forgiveness allows teachers working in Title I schools to eliminate up to $18,500 of federal student loan debt after five years.

• Total and Permanent Disability Discharge cancels your entire student loan debt if a medical doctor, the SSA, or the VA determine that medical issues prevent you from working.

• Closed School Discharge wipes out the balances for student loan borrowers who attended a school that closed while they were in attendance or shortly after they left.

The private student loans Edfinancial services have a handful of relief options:

• State-based loan assistance may be an option depending on where you live. Contact your state agency to determine if you qualify for state-based aid, such as New York State Teacher Loan Forgiveness or Teach for Texas Repayment Assistance.

• Companies that offer student loan repayment assistance include Google, Estée Lauder, Carvana, and Hulu. Talk to your employer about student loan repayment assistance.

• Student loan refinancing can combine your loans into one private loan, typically with a lower overall interest rate. If you refinance, this lower rate means you pay less over time, saving you money on your private student loans.

Learn More: Private Student Loan Debt Relief Programs

The Education Department moves loans from one servicer to another from time to time based on contracts and performance. For example, two other federal student loan servicers — Granite State and FedLoan Servicing — recently announced that they were cutting ties with the Department of Education. The department moved all of its borrowers from Granite State to Edfinancial and split the FedLoan accounts between Edfinancial, MOHELA, Aidvantage (formerly Navient), and Nelnet.

Huge transitions like this haven’t always gone smoothly. A previous servicer switch — which moved 35 million loans from 2012-2013 — was riddled with errors, according to an analysis released by the Student Borrower Protection Center and the American Federation of Teachers.

The latest payment pause extension to Sept. 1, 2022, should help reduce problems. It allows time for the moves to occur less hurriedly before the switch turns back on for tens of millions of borrowers. Still, the chance for mistakes is there.

Here are two things you can do to minimize errors with your account:

• Download your payment history from your online account or ask your servicer to mail you a copy.

• Update your contact information with your most recent address, phone number, and email address.

You’ll be notified before your loans are moved to or from Edfinancial. Your student loan repayment options and forgiveness will remain the same with the new servicer despite the changes. But the quality of customer service may be different.

Although the Education Department can move your loan to a new loan servicer, you typically can’t do the same unless you consolidate your loans. As part of the consolidation process, the department lets you choose any student loan servicer it has a contract with.

If you’re dissatisfied with Edfinancial’s performance, you can move your loans to a new servicer by consolidating at StudentAid.gov.

Federal student loan servicers:

• Aidvantage (took over for Navient)

• Edfinancial Services

• FedLoan Servicing

• Great Lakes

• MOHELA

• Nelnet

• OSLA

• American Education Services services Federal Family Education Loans only.

• Default Resolution Group only handles federal students loans in default.

Learn More: How to Legally Remove Student Loans From Credit Report

Edfinancial customer service representatives are available Monday 8 am-11 pm EST, Tuesday-Friday 8 am-8 pm EST, and Saturday 10 am-2 pm EST. Here’s the contact information for Edfinancial:

Edfinancial contact number: 1-855-337-6884 for Direct federal loans. 1-800-337-6884 for FFELP federal loans and private loans

Edfinancial fax number:

• Direct Loans: 800-887-6130 or 865-692-6348.

• FFELP & private loans: 800-887-5936 or 865-692-6386.

• Military service members: 866-425-2473 or 865-692-6376.

Edfinancial email: customercareform.edfinancial.com.

Edfinancial address for general correspondence:

• Direct Loans: Edfinancial Services, P.O. Box 36008, Knoxville, TN 37930-6008.

• FFELP & private loans: Edfinancial Services, P.O.Box 36014, Knoxville, TN 37930-6014.

Edfinancial address for loan payments:

• Direct Loans: US Department of Education, P.O.Box 4830, Portland, OR 97208-4830.

• FFELP & private loan payments: Edfinancial Services, Department 888055, Knoxville, TN 37995-8055.

Edfinancial website: edfinancial.com/welcome.

Edfinancial Live Chat: edfinancial.com/Contact-Us.

Edfinancial social channels: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Have a problem with Edfinancial that you can’t resolve? Contact Edfinancial customer service via email (CustomerResolutionsUnit@edfinancial.com) or using one of these phone numbers:

• 1-800-337-6884 for FFELP federal loans and private loans

• 1-855-337-6884 for Direct federal loans

You can also file a complaint with the Federal Student Aid Feedback Center or with the Education Department’sDepartment of Education’s customer service office, the FSA Ombudsman. Call 877-557-2575.

If your issue remains unresolved, you can file complaints with:

• The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

• The Better Business Bureau (BBB).

• Your congressional representative.

• Your state attorney general’s office.

How many payments can you miss before Edfinancial reports to the credit bureaus? You can miss three monthly payments before Edfinancial reports the delinquency to the three major credit bureaus. When that happens, your report will show three late payments per loan — a result that can do serious damage to your credit score.

If you keep missing payments, your loan will eventually default, and you’ll be at risk of wage garnishment and tax refund offset. Your name will also be added to the CAIVRS report, which will stop you from getting an FHA mortgage until you bring your loans back into good standing. Read more about “How do I get my student loans out of default?”

Where is my Edfinancial account number? Your Edfinancial account number is on your billing statement, just above your name. It’s also visible on the home screen of the “Manage My Account” screen of your account after you log in to your Edfinancial online account. If you don’t have access to those things, you can call Edfinancial at 1-855-337-6884 and ask the representatives for your student loan account number.

How to pay a lump sum to Edfinancial? You can make a lump sum payment to Edfinancial by mail or through your online account. But if you want to pay less than the current loan balance, you’ll first need to default, which means you’ll need to miss nine monthly payments and trash your credit score in the process. Edfinancial will refuse to shave any money off the loan amount until then. Read more about “Can you settle student loans in good standing?”

After you default, your federal loans will be moved to the Education Department’s Default Resolution Group. Once there, you can contact DRG to negotiate a lump-sum student loan payoff. Keep in mind you won’t be able to settle student loans for pennies on the dollar — at least not for federal student loans.

How long do I have to repay Edfinancial loans? You’ll keep making payments to Edfinancial until you pay the balance in full, the loan is forgiven, or your accounts are moved to a different servicer.

If you want to go over your options, schedule a free 10-minute phone call with me. I have years of experience helping people with their student loans.

Or sign up for my email newsletter for more no-BS student loan tips. It’s free.

I can help you find a way to get out of default while saving the most money and preserving your eligibility for student loan forgiveness.

UP NEXT: How to Apply for Student Loan Forgiveness