PENNSYLVANIA, USA — A wave of student loan repayments are coming in after they resumed this month, causing customer service issues for loan servicers.
"It’s a pain," said Kellum Dietz, a student at York College of Pennsylvania. "I’ve been on hold for 30 minutes trying to get in touch with them, they have a callback number, you don’t get a callback. You just try again the next day. It’s very frustrating."
It's a situation unlike anything before.
"It’s unprecedented that this many borrowers have had a payment pause all at the same time and are starting repayment all at once," said Diona Brown, a higher education Access Partner with the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA). "On the loan servicing end, they have an influx of phone calls and borrowers wanting to get in contact with them because payments have started. I think right now everybody is a bit overwhelmed."
It’s an issue that’s causing a sense of helplessness among students.
"It’s absolutely a feeling of helplessness," said Dietz. "You’re confronted with a problem and then they don’t give you the tools you need with how to confront and to overcome the problem. There’s no one to really reach out to."
"It’s definitely a worry because being a student, I pretty much don’t have any money," said Jared Miller, a freshman at York College.
PHEAA reassures concerned borrowers.
"Don’t panic," said Brown. "The Department of Education has also recognized that some borrowers could have issues with resuming repayment. It's created an onboarding time period where if a borrower does run into any issue that there credit will not be affected at this time."
They add that if you can’t get a hold of your loan servicer on the phone, online resources are your next best bet.
"I also highly push using those online resources as much as possible," said Brown. "They can find a lot of good information on studentaid.gov as well as their online account on their servicer's website. Don’t panic, everyone is here to help."
On Saturday, Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry along with 19 AG’s across the country penned a letter urging the Biden administration to strengthen safeguards for borrowers and address loan servicing problems.
More advice on how to reconnect with student loan services can be found on the Pennsylvania Department of Education's website.