If you take out federal student loans to fund your education, the servicer who manages your loans and repayments is automatically assigned to you. You won't have any choice of which company you must work with. But you should always know who your servicing company is and how to contact it.

There are seven possible servicers that could be working with you. In 2023, companies servicing federal student loans are Edfinancial, MOHELA, Aidvantage, Nelnet, OSLA Servicing, ECSI, or Default Resolution Group.

If you need to find out which of these companies is servicing your federal loans and what this actually means, read on to learn more.

Student Loan Servicing: What Does This Mean?

You may be wondering why a third-party company is servicing your student loans at all. Plus, what does “servicing” really mean in this context, anyway?

According to the U.S. Department of Education, a loan servicer is “a company that we assign to handle the billing and other services on your federal student loan on our behalf, at no cost to you.”

In other words, government offices have made the decision to outsource the grunt work of loan processing to other companies. 

This company is not only charged with sending out your monthly bill and tabulating any payments you make on your federal student loans but also can help you get situated with your chosen repayment plan, whether you want to stick with the standard 10-year repayment or switch to an income-driven repayment plan.

Student Loan Repayment Pause

Since March 2020, payments on federal student loans have been paused and interest rates have been fixed at 0%. This pause will expire on September 30, 2023. At that point, you will need to know who your student loan servicer is so you can begin making payments. You will also need to know how much you owe and what your monthly payment will be.

To make this transition easier, the Department of Education is implementing a repayment "on-ramp." From October 1, 2023, to September 30, 2024, financially vulnerable borrowers who miss payments on their loans will not be put into default, considered delinquent, reported to credit bureaus, or referred to debt collection agencies.

How to Find Your Student Loan Servicer

There are two primary means of figuring out which company is currently servicing your federal student loans. These include:

• Visiting your account dashboard at studentaid.gov and scrolling down to the “My Loan Servicers” section.
• Calling the Federal Student Aid Information Center (FSAIC) at 1-800-433-3243.

Either of these steps will reveal which company is currently assigned as the servicer of your federal student loans. Once you have this information, you can also contact your respective student loan servicer using the information in the chart below.

Federal Student Loan Servicing Companies
Edfinancial	1-855-337-6884
MOHELA	1-888-866-4352
Aidvantage	1-800-722-1300
Nelnet	1-888-486-4722
OSLA Servicing	1-866-264-9762
ECSI	1-866-313-3797
Default Resolution Group	1-800-621-3115 1-877-825-9923 (for the deaf or hard of hearing)

If you have federal student loans, such as direct subsidized loans, direct unsubsidized loans, direct PLUS loans, or a direct consolidation loan, then one of the servicers we list above is in charge of sending you bills and tracking your payments.

However, what if you have private student loans? In this case, the company from which you are borrowing is likely your loan servicer, although you can verify this fact by looking at your monthly loan statements. You can also log into the online portal that you use to oversee your private student loans to confirm which company is sending you bills and keeping an ongoing tally of how much you owe.

You Found Your Loan Servicer: Now What?

If you were trying to nail down your federal student loan servicer before payments resume, and you’ve found the information that you needed, then there’s nothing else you have to do right now.

However, there are steps you can take if you want to. For example, you can:

• Check your details: Confirm that your contact information is correct, including your current address, phone number, and email address. After all, this information is how your loan servicer can contact you should anything happen to your loans in the future.
• Research payment plans: Look at your current payment plan to see if it aligns with your goals and provides a monthly payment that you can afford. If you’re worried that you won’t be able to keep up with your monthly payment, you can consider switching payment plans.
• Check for discounts: Sign up for auto-pay, which can help you secure an interest rate discount (usually 0.25%). You’ll need to submit your banking information to set this up.
• Consider refinancing: Student loan refinance companies frequently offer lower rates than federal student loans. Just know that refinancing with a private lender will make you ineligible for federal loan benefits, including income-driven repayment plans, deferment, and forbearance.

The Bottom Line

Knowing your loan servicer is the first step required to get back on track with monthly payments. Plus, taking stock of your balance and new loan payment can let you know if you need to make any changes or if you’re perfectly fine picking up with your loans where you left off.

At the end of the day, federal student loan payments will resume eventually, even if the current deferment period is extended again. Knowing where you stand is always going to leave you better off. The earlier you find out, the better.