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Aidvantage Student Loans Reviews

Aidvantage student loans servicer is a student loan servicer that helps in assisting students to manage the repayment of their Federal student loans. Aidvantage loans services is known to be a federal loan servicing unit of Maximus Education, LLC, a unit owned by the U.S. Department of Education responsible for managing all the Direct and/or FFELP loans. However, keep in mind that Aidvantage is not a student loan lender but help to manage repayment of student loans. This means that Aidvantage is a servicer to Federal Student Aid for your loan repayment as a student.

Aidvantage took over from Navient when it terminated its contract with the U.S. Department of Education to manage borrower’s account on federal student loan. On the termination of contracts between both parties, the U.S. Department of Education made an announcement that it would transfer 5.6 million accounts to Aidvantage, federal loan servicing unit owned by Maximus Education. However, to make the transition and transactions easy for Aidvantage, the company hired most of Navient employees. But Navient still operates its loan services on private student loans and Federal Family Education Loans programs (FFELP) that are owned by guaranty agencies.

On Navient’s Twitter account, last year Navient announced that it is not in any partnership with Aidvantage.

Hello. Aidvantage is not purchasing or merging with Navient. Aidvantage has replaced Navient as the servicer of ED-owned loans. If you have questions regarding your Aidvantage account or their website, please contact Aidvantage: www.co/gf7abn5e8P. Thanks, AS

— Navient (@Navient) December 29, 2021

Latest Updates on Aidvantage Student Loans for repayment and Forgiveness

New Deadline: the latest COVID-19 forbearance moved the student recertification deadline to August 2022
Update on Forgiveness: $10,000 student loan forgiveness is likely to happen this year
Coronavirus Forbearance extended: the newest student payment pause moved the repayment start date to May 2, 2022.

What Are the Roles of Aidvantage?

There are certain roles Aidvantage perform when it comes to managing your loan portfolio. They include the following;

The loan servicer helps student or customer enroll in repayment plans
Tracks your progress towards your Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plans forgiveness
Helps to postpone your payment with deferment and forbearances

What You Need to Know Before Making your Repayment at Aidvantage

There are certain things you need to put into considerations when before your Federal student loan repayment.

Register for online access by creating an account. This give you access to login and sign up for eDeliveryRead about credit reporting.
Visit the FSA’s website to get more details about the loan forgiveness
If you already got Federal student loans, kindly visit the FSA’s website and make use of the Repayment Estimator (FSA’s loan simulator) to estimate monthly loan payments and evaluate repayment options.

Aidvantage Payment Options

It is important for you to know about some payment options when making your repayment plans. They include the following;

Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plans for federal student loans
Federal loan consolidation
Forgiveness, cancellation, and discharge
Deferment and forbearance
Other repayment plans

How to Make Your First Payment at Aidvantage

Your monthly payment amount will be available 45 days before you enter repayment due date. The next step is to login to your account to view your monthly payment amount when you are within 30-45 days of beginning repayment.

At that moment, your loan’s current balance will be used to calculate your repayment terms. This includes any estimated unpaid interest that may capitalize as your loan enters repayment. If you are a student or federal loan customers, you can estimate your payment online by visiting the FSA website at www.studentaid.gov/.

How to Enroll in Auto Pay

Auto Pay is another way of making your life easier when you want to make payment for your loan. To enroll in Auto pay, you will have to sign up online. When you do this, your loan payment will automatically be deducted from your bank account by Aidvantage. One of the benefits of this payment method is that it helps to reduce the interest rate on your loan by 0.25%.

What If I Want to make Payment within 120 Days of Aidvantage Federal Loan Disbursement

If you want to make payment within 120 days from the time your federal loans was disbursed to you which is from the time the loan was sent to your school. Aidvantage will apply the loan amount to your original principal balance. This will help you reduce the total amount you owe. If you have any accrued interest and unpaid fees that has been assessed at the time the loan was disbursed, they may also be reduced. As a student, you can even instruct Aidvantage to apply the payment as standard payment instead. However, you have to bear it in mind that this transaction will be tagged as Refund in your account history with an effective date that aligns with the loan’s disbursement date.

You may not enjoy these benefits during periods of forbearance and deferment, when monthly payments are not required.

What Can Aidvantage Help Me Do?

There are several ways Aidvantage can manage your federal student loans account. These measures are put in place to ease you from any stress when you want to make your repayment.

Status Updates: Aidvantage will keep in touch with you from time to time throughout your repayment period and are ready to field any question with adequate answers.
Monthly Billing Statement: you will receive your monthly billing statement from Aidvantage which includes your monthly payment account, current balance and other loan information. Sometimes it comes in a coupon book for some customers.
Accept Monthly Payments: as a student, you can quickly switch repayment plans as your income changes to make payment for your student loan or even get a lower payment with an income-driven repayment plan. Plus, you can self-report your income when you want to apply for IDR or complete your annual student loan recertification if all your loans are Direct Loans. This option to skip submitting your income information lasts until July 31, 2022. To use the self-report option, visit studentaid.gov/app/ibrInstructions.action. When you get to Step 2, select “I’ll report my own income information.”
Auto Pay: you can make use of the auto pay portal to make your payment easy. In this case, Aidvantage will deduct your student loan payment automatically from your bank account. This is to make you escape late payment and the interest rate will be 0.25%.
Access to Customer Service: for payment or any other pressing issues and information needed, you get opportunity to contact the Aidvantage customer service.
Register for Online Access: Aidvantage will require you to set up an online account so that you can get access to your 10-digit account number and billing statements, upload documents for any adjustments on your loan status and also make payments.
Review eligibility for loan forgiveness: if you are a student or borrower with the federal student loan, you have different opportunities of clearing your debt. This includes the student loan forgiveness after 20 years and the Public service loan forgiveness program. Take for instance, if you work for a nonprofit or government agency and you have the loans with Aidvantage, when you apply for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), your loans will move to MOHELA.

Process account changes. In cases where IDR can’t help you and you need to stop making payments and IDR doesn’t help, Aidvantage can apply a deferment or forbearance to your account. But your Interest will likely increase which can lead to student loan interest capitalization. But the brief pause will help keep you out of default and in good standing.

Types of Aidvantage Federal Student Loans

There are two types of Aidvantage Federal Student loans. They are direct loans (Williams D. Ford Federal Direct loan program) and FFELP (The Federal Family Education Loan Program).

Direct Loans:

Direct loans are loan made available to graduate and undergraduate students to help them cater for the expenses of higher education at a university or a four-year college, career, technical school, community college, or trade. There are various types of direct loans and this loan type is issued by U.S. Department of Education, who is the lender for this loan.

Direct Subsidized loans: this is a direct loan for undergraduate students and it comes with no interest rate charge while you are in school.

Direct Unsubsidized loans: this is for undergraduate, graduate, and professional degree students. This direct loan type comes with interest charge on unsubsidized loans during all periods.

Direct Plus loans for parent: in this case, the parent is the main borrower but it is meant for undergraduate students who are dependent on their parents.

Direct PLUS Loans for Graduate Students – this type of loan is for graduate and professional degree students. The interest rate is charged during all periods.

Direct Consolidation Loans – This is mainly for borrowers who want to combine their eligible federal student loans into a single loan. No interest is charged on Direct Subsidized Consolidation Loans or Subsidized portions of Direct Consolidation Loans during deferment periods.

FFELP

The FFELP program offers federal student loans to students through private lenders that are insured by guaranty agencies like banks, credit unions, finance company, state agency and non-profit agency. However, the FFELP program was discontinued on June 30, 2010. You may have FFELP loans if you borrowed before that date. This lenders issuing the loan are likely to subject you to late fees of you do not pay on time. Below are the types of FFELP program.

Federal Stafford Subsidized Loans – this FFELP program is for undergraduate students but the interest rate charge is paid by the federal government on your behalf while you are in school at least half-time and during grace or deferment periods.

Federal Stafford Unsubsidized Loans – this type of FFELP program is for undergraduate, graduate, and professional degree students. The interest rate is charged on unsubsidized loans during all periods with the exception of cancer treatment deferment.

FFELP PLUS Loans for Parents – this is for parents whose undergraduate students are dependent on them and the interest rate is charged during all periods.

FFELP PLUS Loans for Graduate Students – this is a FFELP program for graduate and professional degree students, interest is charged during all periods.

FFELP Consolidation Loans – this loan is for borrowers who combined their eligible federal student loans into a single loan. Interest is paid on your behalf by the federal government on Subsidized portions of FFELP Consolidation Loans during deferment periods.

What Aidvantage Student Loan Forgiveness Programs Am I Eligible for?

The following student loan forgiveness programs are what Aidvantage student loans can qualify for?

Income-driven Repayment forgiveness: this forgives your loan’s remaining balance after your last payment and can extend your repayment term to 20 or 25 years.
Public Service loan Forgiveness: this forgives your loan and clears the remaining balance owed on Direct loans. However, this is only applicable to borrowers who work in a nonprofit or government agency (full-time). You can even qualify for making payment within 120 days from the day or the time the loan was disbursed to you. If you have FFELP Loans, you will need to consolidate your loans to qualify for PSLF. If you do that before Oct. 31, 2022, you can get credit towards forgiveness for payments made while working full-time in public service using the department’s limited PSLF waiver.

Teacher Loan Forgiveness: This is for teachers working in Title I schools to clear up to $18,500 of federal student loan debt after five years.
Total and Permanent Disability Discharge: This eliminates your entire student loan debt when you have health issues that stops you from working after being confirmed by a medical doctor, or the SSA, or VA.
Closed School Discharge: This clears the remaining balances for student loan borrowers who attended a school that closed while they were in attendance or shortly after they left.

How to Avoid or Minimize errors with your New Aidvantage Student Loan Account

If you are part of millions of borrowers whose accounts were moved to the new Aidvantage loan servicer from Navient, you are likely to face some challenges. However, Aidvantage will notify you before your loans are moved to its portal. Although you may experience some changes but your student loan repayment options and forgiveness will remain the same with Aidvantage. However, the customer services and approach may be different. Below are two things you can do to avoid or minimize error on your account before and after migration.

Login to your online account and download your payment history or ask your servicer to mail you a copy.
Update your contact information with your most recent address, phone number, and email address.

Keep in mind that If you’re not satisfied with Aidvantage’s performance and services, you can request to move your loans to a new servicer by consolidating at studentaid.gov.

Aidvantage Student Loans Alternatives

Default Resolution Group only handles federal students loans in default.
Great Lakes
Nelnet
Edfinancial Services
OSLA
American Education Services services Federal Family Education Loans only.
FedLoan Servicing
MOHELA

How to Create Aidvantage Student Loans Account

To create an Aidvantage student loans new account gives you access to you manage your account without any stress. Once you have successfully registered for your Aidvantage online access account, you can then be given access to login and manage your account anytime and anywhere. The steps below will guide you on how to do that.

Start by going to the official Aidvantage website – www.aidvantage.com/ in the web browser of your device.
Next, click on “Register” under the “customer Login” form.
On the next page, click on “Register” again.
It will take you to the “register for online access” page, read the information on the page carefully and scroll down to click on the blue “Next” button.
The registration form will appear with five steps which include “verify your account”, “user ID & password”, “Email permissions”, “accept term of use” and “Login.
Step 1: you will be asked to provide your basic information to verify your account. This includes your Social security number (confirm the number to ensure it is correct in the specified box), account number, date of birth, email address, phone number and zip code. Then click on the “Next” button to take you to next step.
Step 2: generate your “User ID” and “password” and then click on “Next”.
Step 3: enter and verify your Email on the “email permissions” page and then click on the blue “Next” button.
Step 4: check the box to agree to “accept terms of Use” and then click on the “Next”.
Step 5: Now, you can “login” with your login details which include your user iD and password.

Aidvantage Student Loans Login

Now that you have successfully created your Aidvantage student loans account, you can access your aidvantage.com login portal using your registered user ID and password. This grants you access to your 10-digit account number and billing statements, upload documents for any adjustments on your loan status and also make payments. The steps below will guide you.

Go to www.aidvantage.com/ in the web browser of your device.
On the next page, locate the “customer login” at the left corner of the page.
Next, enter your aidvantage “User ID” and “password”.
Then, click on “Log In”.

Now, you have successfully logged in to your account.

How to file a complaint about Aidvantage

If you have any serious issues and you want to lodge a complaint about Aidvantage either on performance or services. You can contact the following:

Federal Student Aid Ombudsman: 877-557-2575 or by mail at U.S. Department of Education, FSA Ombudsman Group, P.O. Box 1843, Monticello, KY 42633
State consumer protection office: You can file a complaint with your state’s consumer protection division. That office is responsible for making sure you’re protected from fraud, deception, misrepresentations, and false promises.
FSA Feedback Center: You can submit a complaint to the Feedback Center after you’ve worked with the Ombudsman group.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: If all else fails, you can also submit a complaint to the CFPB. They are a third-party government agency that helps consumers solve issues with financial products, including student loans.

How to contact Aidvantage customer service

If you want to make payment or having any pressing issue, you can reach out to Aidvantage customer service representatives. They are available Monday-Thursday, 8 am-9 pm EST, and Friday 8 am-8 pm EST. You can also reach Aidvantage’s representative using the contact information below

Aidvantage fax number: 1-866-266-0178.

Aidvantage Phone number: 1-800-722-1300.

Aidvantage address for general correspondence: Aidvantage – U.S. Department of Education Loan Servicing, P.O. Box 9635, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18773-9635.

Aidvantage website: aidvantage.com.

Aidvantage address for loan payments: Aidvantage – U.S. Department of Education Loan Servicing, P.O. Box 4450, Portland, OR 97208-4450.