Connecticut is one of eight states that has entered into an agreement to help provide expanded relief for people having trouble making student loan payments during the coronavirus pandemic.
The states have secured options with several private load servicers whose borrowers are not covered by the CARES Act, according to a release from Gov. Ned Lamont and Banking Commissioner Jorge Perez.
“So many of our residents are facing unprecedented financial hardship, and our young people are burdened with additional student loan debt. I applaud the Banking Department and the student loan servicers for launching this initiative to provide much-needed relief to the young people of our state who are not covered by the CARES Act, as well as their families," Gov. Lamont said.
The agreement allows Connecticut residents who have commercially-owned Federal Family Education Loan Program or privately-held student loans who are having difficulty making payments because of the pandemic will have a number of options through their loan servicers. Those options include:
- Providing a minimum of 90 days of forbearance
- Waiving late payment fees
- Ensuring that no borrower is subject to negative credit reporting
- Ceasing debt collection lawsuits for 90 days
- Working with the borrower to enroll them in other borrower assistance programs, such as income-based repayment.
According to the release, if regulated student loan servicers are limited in their ability to take these actions due to investor restrictions or contractual obligations, servicers should instead proactively work with loan holders whenever possible to relax those restrictions or obligations.
The private student loan servicers providing relief include:
- Aspire Resources, Inc.
- College Ave Student Loan Servicing, LLC
- Earnest Operations
- Edfinancial
- Kentucky Higher Education Student Loan Corporation
- Lendkey Technologies, Inc.
- MOHELA
- Navient
- Nelnet
- SoFi Lending Corp.
- Tuition Options
- United Guaranty Services, Inc.
- Upstart Network, Inc.
- Utah Higher Education Assistance Authority
- Vermont Student Assistance Corporation
More student loan servicers may be added to the list. You can check an updated list here.
Local
To determine the types of federal loans residents have and who their servicers are, borrowers can visit the Department of Education’s National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) at or call the Department of Education’s Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-433-3243 or 1-800-730-8913 (TDD). Borrowers with private student loans can check the contact information on their monthly billing statements.
If residents run into issues dealing with the student loan servicer, call the Connecticut Department of Banking at 860-240-8170 for information or file a complaint here.
The other states joining Connecticut in the initiative are California, Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.
