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Great Lakes Educational Loan Services is a student loan servicer that handles both private and federal student loans. A loan servicer doesn’t lend the money. Instead, these organizations handle the administrative aspects of the loan for the lender.
In practice, that means you deal with Great Lakes (and make your payments to it) but the loan itself is through another provider. You apply through that provider and then pay Great Lakes. Yes, it can be a little confusing, which is why some people are (understandably) skeptical when they receive paperwork from the company in the mail.
Great Lakes is a nonprofit organization that handles over $200 billion in student loans. That makes it one of the largest loan servicers in the country. And as one of the few companies contracted by the government to service federal student loans, it handles up to 40 % of all outstanding federal loans.
Beyond federal loans, Great Lakes partners with 6,000 schools and over 1,000 private lenders around the country to service non-federal loans. The company also has a philanthropic arm that offers scholarships, grants and advising services to students.
How Do Great Lakes Student Loans Work?
Loan servicing can be a confusing topic. Put simply, the lender funds your loan and then hands it off to a loan servicer, which then handles the repayment and day-to-day administrative tasks involved. It’s somewhat analogous to a billing service.
You can’t choose your student loan servicer. This is handled by the lender. That means that if you’re unhappy with your servicer, your options are somewhat limited — you can’t just switch to a different provider.
However, if you consolidate your loans (such as with a direct consolidation loan) or refinance your debt, you’ll typically get a new provider, so that can be an option. Just note that with the latter you’ll lose any federal repayment benefits, such as the income-based repayment plans discussed in the next…
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