OSLA Student Loan Review: A Servicer That Follows Through

Federal student loans are often serviced by third-party servicers, which earn money by student loan payments. One of these federal student loan servicers is OSLA, which stands for the Oklahoma Student Loan Authority. If you have federal student loans, OSLA could be your student loan servicer.

What should you know about OSLA? What is it exactly? What services does it offer federal student loan borrowers like yourself? And, is it the best choice for servicing your loans?

What is OSLA?

OSLA is the Oklahoma Student Loan Authority. It was originally created in 1972 as a public trust by the Oklahoma government to help Oklahomans specifically. During part of its history, OSLA also originated student loans.

According to its website, it was “a secondary market for FFEL loans; and performed origination and servicing of FFEL loans for 44 eligible lenders, members of the OSLA Student Lending Network.”

OSLA is a for-profit servicer that only services federal student loans. It doesn’t receive any state funds for operating expenses. One of its strengths is customer service. OSLA's staff are consistently rated in the 90th percentile with good customer satisfaction ratings. It was also recognized as an Exceptional Performer by the U.S. Department of Education.

OSLA has serviced the loans of over 130,000 student loan borrowers. So if you have federal student loans, OSLA could be your servicer.

What loans does OSLA service?

OSLA only services federal student loans. Not only that, but it specifically services two types of federal loans.

Federal Direct Loans

Direct Loans are what most borrowers have these days and include subsidized and unsubsidized Direct Loans. Direct Subsidized Loans are available to undergraduate students who show a financial need. The U.S. Department of Education pays the interest on Direct Subsidized Loans during certain periods, such as when you’re in school at least half-time as well as during grace periods and deferment.

Direct Unsubsidized Loans are also federal loans. They’re available to both undergraduate and graduate students, but there’s no need to show financial need. Borrowers are responsible for paying the interest on these loans during all periods. This includes during school and grace periods.

Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program

FFEL loans began as part of the Higher Education Act of 1965 and launched the following year. This was the main federal student loan program for decades. Private lenders provided federally-guaranteed student loans to students and parents. The interest rates for FFEL loans were set by the United States government.

The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 ended the FFEL program, which was replaced by the Direct Loan Program. New FFEL Program loans were no longer issued after July 1, 2010. Over the history of the program, more than 60 million Americans received FFEL loans to fund their college education.

Although the FFEL program has ended, there are borrowers still repaying FFEL loans. Many of these loans are serviced by OSLA, which provides many services for borrowers of both FFEL loans and Direct Loans.

Services available through OSLA

What services does OSLA offer borrowers? Since it’s a third-party loan servicer, it only interacts with borrowers after they’ve received their student loans. OSLA also doesn’t originate student loans anymore.

OSLA helps borrowers in many ways, but here are some of its main roles:

Student loan payments: OSLA helps borrowers manage and make monthly payments on their loans and can walk you through your standard repayment plan options.

Loan deferment and forbearance: OSLA educates borrowers on their options when they need to pause student loan payments for economic hardship.

Forgiveness: OSLA is a resource for borrowers with questions about student loan forgiveness programs. This includes Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) as well as other loan forgiveness options, like Teacher Loan Forgiveness. OSLA helps borrowers find out if they’re eligible for these types of programs.

Discharge: OSLA helps borrowers determine if they qualify for discharge.

Income-driven payments: OSLA supports income-driven repayment plans from the federal government.

Service members: Members of the armed forces may be eligible for certain benefits and repayment options. These are provided by the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Defense. OSLA has staff dedicated to helping service members get the answers they need.

Disaster forbearance: If your loans are serviced by OSLA and you’ve been affected by a natural disaster, you may be eligible to postpone your student loan payment. You can receive up to 90 days by requesting forbearance due to a natural disaster.

Customer Service: OSLA offers several ways for borrowers to connect with customer support. This includes through the OSLA website, as well as through email, phone support and by mail.

OSLA’s website also includes many links to federal loan information and other pertinent info.

What current borrowers are saying about OSLA

OSLA has a good reputation with its borrowers, which isn’t always the case with third-party servicers. With that said, it has received some notable customer complaints.

Here are some experiences from borrowers who submitted complaints to the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

One borrower from Florida complained that he didn't receive notice of his loan servicer or when payments were due. He checked his credit score one day and noticed it had dropped 155 points due to late student loan payments. His bill was sent to collections without one phone call or email, even though OSLA had his contact information. OSLA also had an incorrect mailing address on file, so he never received any kind of notice.

Another borrower said they had OSLA student loans showing up as late on their credit report when their three OSLA loans had already been consolidated with another lender.

It's important to note that OSLA responded in a timely matter to most of the borrowers who submitted a dispute through the BBB and CFPB platforms.

Options for people with OSLA loans

Having loans serviced by OSLA leaves you with many repayment options. Because you have federal student loans, you can take advantage of various federal programs, including:

• Income-driven repayment plans
• Public Service Loan Forgiveness
• Teacher Loan Forgiveness

OSLA’s customer service specialists can help walk you through your federal options. If you're eligible for any of these federal programs and want to look into federal Direct Consolidation Loans, it makes sense to pursue them first.

Refinance your OSLA student loans

One way to potentially save money on your student loans is to refinance them through a private lender. Student loan refinancing can score you a lower interest rate and change your payment terms. You could potentially cut thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars in interest charges over the life of your loan. Refinancing will most likely require a cosigner unless you’ve established excellent credit.

You need to be aware that refinancing federal loans turns them into a new loan with a private lender. This will block access to federal protections, such as loan forgiveness, income-driven repayment plans and forbearance. Make sure you won’t need access to those programs before pursuing refinancing.

As far as federal loan servicers go, OSLA has a good reputation with its borrowers. If you’re satisfied with OSLA, that’s great! You never know what kind of loan servicer you’ll end up with, and many borrowers don’t get that lucky. If you aren’t sure about loan repayment through OSLA, Student Loan Planner®’s consultants can help you find the right repayment plan for you.