Every Federal Student Loan Servicer: The Complete 2024 Guide

Student loan borrowers are automatically assigned a federal student loan servicer to manage each of their student loans. This third-party company acts as a middleman between you and the U.S. Department of Education which owns your loan.

Unlike a lender who provides funds, a loan servicer is responsible for issuing your loan bills, tracking your payments, and providing additional support and resources throughout your repayment period.

Most federal student loan borrowers haven't made payments in several years due to the payment freeze. Plus, there's been a major transition in loan servicers as FedLoan Servicing and Navient exited the federal loan servicing business. So, there's a good chance your federal student debt changed hands recently.

We’ve broken down some of the most important information you need to know about federal student loan servicers. Here is a complete guide to federal student loan servicers.

Student loan servicers contact info from A-Z

Unfortunately, federal student loan servicing companies don’t have the most intuitive websites or good reputations when communicating with their borrowers. It can be difficult to locate the information you need and get answers in a timely manner.

It’s also likely your loans will change hands several times throughout the life of your loans, which makes keeping track of who is maintaining your loans even more challenging.

To save you the headache and confusion, we’ve put together a complete list of contact information for federal student loan servicers:

1. EdFinancial Services

Correspondence Address:

P.O. Box 36008

Knoxville, TN 37930-6008

Payment Address:

US Department of Education

P.O. Box 790322

St. Louis, MO 63179-0322

Hours:

Monday: 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. EST

Tuesday through Wednesday: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST

Thursday to Friday: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST

Phone: 1-855-337-6884

Email: Secure online form available

Website: www.edfinancial.com

Live Chat Available: Yes

Read through the top borrower complaints with EdFinancial Services.

2. Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MOHELA)

Correspondence Address:

633 Spirit Drive

Chesterfield, MO 63005-1243

Payment Address: You must log in or call for your payment address.

Hours:

Monday: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. CST

Tuesday through Wednesday: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. CST

Thursday through Friday: 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. CST

Phone: 1-888-866-4352

Email: Secure online form available

Website: www.mohela.com

Live Chat Available: No

Look into the biggest loan servicer complaints against MOHELA.

3. Aidvantage

Correspondence Address:

P.O. Box 300001

Greenville, TX 75403-3001

Payment Address:

P.O. Box 4450

Portland, OR 97208-4450

Hours:

Monday: 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. EST

Tuesday through Friday: 8 a.m. through 8 p.m. EST

Saturday: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. EST

Phone: 1-800-722-1300

Email: Secure online form available

Website: www.aidvantage.studentaid.gov

Live Chat Available: Virtual chat assistant available

Check out our full Aidvantage review and see what our readers biggest complaints are.

4. Nelnet

Correspondence Address:

P.O. Box 82561

Lincoln, NE 6851-2591

*Alternative address for California residents:

P.O. Box 82578

Lincoln, NE 68501-2578

Payment Address:

U.S. Department of Education

P.O. Box 2837

Portland, OR 97208-2837

Hours:

Monday: 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. EST

Tuesday through Wednesday: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST

Thursday through Friday: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST

Phone: 1-888-486-4722

Email: Secure online form available

Website: www.nelnet.com

Live Chat Available: Yes

Check out our Nelnet review to better understand what to expect.

5. ECSI

Correspondence Address:
P.O. Box 1079

Wexford, PA 15090

Payment Address:

U.S. Department of Education

ECSI Federal Perkins Loan Servicer

P.O. Box 6200-31

Portland, OR 97228-6200

Hours: Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. EST

Phone: 1-866-313-3797

Email: cservice@ecsi.net

Website: https://borrower.efpls.com

Live Chat Available: Virtual chat assistant available

Browse our ECSI review for more information on the company’s services.

6. Central Research, Inc. (CRI)

Correspondence Address:

P.O. Box 83106

Lincoln, NE 68501

Payment Address:

U.S. Department of Education

P.O. Box 790123

St. Louis, MO 63179-0123

Hours:

Monday: 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. EST

Tuesday through Wednesday: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST

Thursday through Friday: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST

Phone: 1-833-355-4311

Email: Secure online form available

Website: www.cri.studentaid.gov

Live Chat Available: No

Read our full CRI review to get familiar with this new federal student loan servicer.

Keep in mind that the contact information provided above pertains to servicing federal loans.

If you need to contact these loan servicers regarding your private loans, please visit their websites to locate specific details as some may have different addresses and phone numbers for each type of loan.

Previous federal student loan servicers

Here are some federal student loan servicers of the past. You might recognize an old servicer of yours.

• CornerStone Education Loan Services
• FedLoan Servicing (PHEAA)
• Granite State Management & Resources Student Loan Servicing – GSMR
• Great Lakes Educational Loan Services, Inc.
• Navient
• Oklahoma Student Loan Authority (OSLA) Servicing

Student loan servicers by the numbers

As of Q4 2023, there is a total of $1.6 trillion of outstanding federal student loan debt. Of that, approximately 85% is serviced by the “Big 4”: Nelnet, Aidvantage, MOHELA and EdFinancial.

Let’s look at each servicer’s market share of government-owned student loans.

Nelnet acquired Great Lakes in 2018, making it the largest company collectively servicing $529.3 billion in federal student debt.

Other shares of the Big 4 federal student loan servicers are as follows for Q4 2023:

• Aidvantage – $323.6 billion
• MOHELA – $357.3 billion
• EdFinancial – $150.8 billion

For borrowers, this means there’s a very high likelihood that your servicer will end up being one of the major players.

Borrower satisfaction by student loan servicer

Unfortunately, there isn’t a shining star amongst federal student loan servicing companies. We’ve ranked the “best of the worst” federal loan servicers, but the government also does its own evaluation every three months.

Note that the government uses additional performance metrics to determine how new loans will be allocated:

How do I find out who my loan servicer is?

There are two primary ways to figure out who your federal student loan servicer is:

• Visit the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) and click on “Financial Aid Review.” You’ll need to log in using your Federal Student Aid (FSA) ID, or create one, to view a summary of your loans.
• Call the Federal Student Aid Information Center (FSAIC) at 1-800-433-3243.

Once you’ve tracked down your servicer, it’s best to contact them as soon as possible. This is especially important if your deferment period is ending soon or if you haven’t received a loan statement or other form of correspondence.

When should I interact with my loan servicer?

It’s better to overcommunicate with your loan servicer than to just assume everything is on track. You should contact your servicer if:

• Your personal information changes (ex: name, address, or phone number).
• You’re having trouble making your payments. Your servicer can help you explore options like switching your repayment plan, deferment or forbearance.
• You’re interested in learning about qualifying for loan forgiveness programs.
• You need to file a complaint.
• You have questions about your bill or anything else related to your student loans.

Use your loan servicer’s contact information listed above or access its company website directly to locate the most current correspondence information.

Loan servicer changes and transfers

Many people assume that when their student loans are transferred to another servicer it means their loans were sold, but this isn’t the case. Instead, the servicing of your loan is sold, but the Department of Education continues to own your federal loans.

What happens if my loan servicer changes?

When your loan servicer changes, you should be automatically notified by email or mailed letter. Your loan terms will remain the same, and you’ll begin making payments directly to the new servicer.

Although all of your loan information will be transferred over to the new servicer, you may not be able to view past payments online that were made with the previous servicer. Because of this, it’s a smart practice to keep your own records of payments and communication instead of relying solely on your loan servicer.

The sooner you start communicating with your loan servicer, the more likely you’ll be to stay on track with payments and resolve issues quickly if they arise.