By Kathlyn Cooper
Financial Aid Advisor, APUS

Opening your email or receiving a voicemail telling you that you owe thousands of dollars on your student loans or have missed several payments can be an unnerving experience. Hopefully, that will never happen to you.

If you do receive notification from an unrecognized company claiming you owe money, quickly contact your loan servicer to check the status of your loans and ensure that you do not need to take any action.

Ask yourself these important questions and learn from key examples to avoid falling victim to potential loan scams.

Who Is My Loan Servicer?

The U.S. Department of Education assigns the Federal Direct Loan Servicers. You can identify your loan servicer by asking your Financial Aid Office or by accessing your account through My Federal Student Aid.

At this website, you can obtain contact information about your loan servicer and see your loan status. The loan status identifies when loans are in their grace period, repayment or deferment.

It is important to build and maintain a relationship with your loan servicer, who can explain your loan status and work with you through repayment.

Where Is My Loan History?

Keeping track of your loans may seem like a daunting task. But as a responsible borrower, you’ll want to understand the amounts you have requested to borrow and your overall total debt. Reviewing your total loan history enables you to budget and plan for future borrowing and repayment of loans.

Loan borrowers can view their loan history and loan status through My Federal Student Aid or the Department of Education’s National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS).

The NSLDS contains the history of all loans borrowed and accrued interest. It also includes a record for comparison against any notifications you receive regarding your loans and allows you to recognize loan scams.

Utilizing your loan servicer’s website is another way to manage your loan debt and to understand how much you have borrowed. To access your loan history, log onto the loan servicer’s website; it’s a quick way to confirm the status of your loans and payments.

Loan servicers’ websites also include tools and resources to help you prepare for repayment. On your loan servicer’s website, you can enter income information and how much you might be able to contribute toward repayment on a schedule that works best for you.

By utilizing your Financial Aid Advisor, loan servicer, and personal loan history through the My Federal Student Aid and NSLDS websites, you will remain in control of your loan information. This way, you can confidently and comfortably manage your loan and repayments.