The Department of Education will transfer its Federal Perkins Loan portfolio to a new servicer on December 1, and the move could impact some schools as well as borrowers.
In a recent Electronic Announcement, the Department of Education outlined the schedule, which could impact those schools planning to assign their Perkins loans to the Department.
The servicing of federally held Perkins Loans will transition from ECSI Federal Perkins Loan Servicer (ECSI) to GCR Servicing (GCR).
According to the announcement, the impact of the transition on schools includes several key dates:
September 30 – Access to the ECSI website will be disabled for all schools at 5 p.m. (Eastern).
October 1 – ECSI will no longer accept submissions or resubmissions of Perkins Loans for assignment from schools. They will, however, continue to process pending assignments, so schools may still receive acceptance reports and other communications from ECSI after October 1. Any new submissions or resubmissions not submitted to ECSI by October 1 must be held for submission to GCR. ECSI will reject any new submissions or resubmissions received after October 1.
October 1 to November 1 – ECSI will continue to process pending assignments received before October 1. The announcement outlines an abridged follow-up process for first contact attempt, second compact attempt, and rejection.
According to the Department, ECSI will make every effort to conduct an initial review of assignments received by October 1, allowing schools time to respond to requests for additional documentation or information through the abridged follow-up process. If ECSI is unable to review and assignment prior to October 26, the assignment will be rejected if it cannot be accepted as submitted.
December 1 – This is the anticipated completion date of the transfer of loans from ECSI to GCR and the anticipated date that schools may begin submitting Perkins Loans for assignment to GCR.
The Perkins Assignment and Liquidation Guide will be updated to include GCR’s mailing address and contact information, as well as information regarding the new GCR electronic assignment system.
Borrower Impacts
- Borrowers will receive a goodbye letter from ECSI around November 1, which will provide additional details regarding the transfer of their loans.
- The servicer will hold all loan consolidation requests from November 15–mid-December.
- Borrowers will still need to send payments to ECSI before December 1.
- GCR will be transitioning borrowers’ loans to their system from December 1 through mid-December.
- GCR will send borrowers a welcome letter around mid-December that provides their contact information, payment information, and other details. Borrowers will also be advised that they must re-establish auto-drafts.
Contact Information
Questions about the transition process can be directed to the FSA Partner and School Relations Center at 1-800-848-0978 or via email to CODSupport@ed.gov.
