Choosing a Lender
Selection Process for Suggested Lender List
Federal Stafford or PLUS loan borrowers may choose any lender that participates in the Federal Family Education Loan Program. The interest rate for the Federal Stafford and PLUS loan programs are set by the U.S. Department of Education and does not vary from lender to lender. However, the interest rate for the Alternative loan program are set by the lender and may vary from lender to lender. The real difference in lenders is measured in terms of borrower benefits, lender stability, reputation, lender service and default management.. The Office of Financial Aid at SUNY Maritime College encourages you to compare the benefits offered by different lenders so that you can make an informed choice. No one is required to use any of the lenders on our suggested lender list.
To better serve our prospective students, current students and parents the Office of Financial Aid at SUNY Maritime College has compiled a list of suggested lenders whom we consider a good option to meet your borrowing needs. If you select a lender from this list, you can be assured that you will receive outstanding borrower benefits and customer service. In creating our list, we have considered many factors:
♦ Borrower Benefits:
Lenders must have competitive rates and repayment benefits must mirror industry standards. To ensure that our borrowers receive the most competitive repayments, high priority will be given to lenders that provide above-average repayment benefits to student and parent borrowers. High value loan services must be offered by selected lenders. “Value” isn’t always just about price, although our list usually contains several of the lowest-cost providers. Value might include added services like incentives for on-time payments, opportunity to defer payments until graduation and immediate interest rate reductions. This allows the student and/or parent(s) to determine which combination of discounts and benefits is best for their individual situation
♦ Lender Stability:
Lenders must be divisions/affiliates of federally-insured banks, federally-insured savings banks, credits unions, other established financial services companies or contract with loan servicers that have been actively engaged in the student loan industry for at least 5 years. This helps ensure that the lender will still be there for students and/or parents when they need a loan in future years such as for graduate school.
♦ Reputation:
Lenders must have a proven record of superior customer service in dealing with our students and parents. This includes offering a variety of payment options (including auto-debit and web-payment), while maintaining trained staff to answer questions via a toll free number, including evenings and weekends. We want to ensure that students and parents get the same great service from the student loan lender that they would get from us!
♦ Lender Service and Operational Standards:
Students at SUNY Maritime College expect and should receive quick, efficient, and accurate processing of student loans. Student borrowers want a simplified loan process that relies on the Internet as they have become accustomed to doing business with a “click” of the mouse. Waiting in line is unacceptable. From both a borrower and a school perspective, it is essential that a lender possess state of the art operations including 24/7 access to loan information online and/or 24/7 call center availability. Lenders must easily interface with HESC electronic processes. This would include changes, hold/release, and returns. Lenders must process EFT through HESC express or HESC escrow, as well as process and update loan transactions in real-time. They must also work with the HESC guarantee agency in the electronic Master Promissory Note Process Assignment of a service or marketing representative dedicated to SUNY Maritime is an expectation of these lenders. Timely and responsive processing with excellent problem resolution service within 24 hours is essential. A toll free number for borrower information and participation in both Federal Stafford and PLUS loan programs is required. Lenders must have a school focused support process. Call Centers should be familiar with SUNY Maritime College procedures for Stafford, PLUS and alternative loans. Lenders must exhibit the maximum level of participation in HESC processes.
♦ Default Management
It is important for lenders to provide web-based default management tools and early intervention for borrowers who are delinquent on their loan payments. Preferred lenders provide payment and repayment calculators, consolidation information, planning/budgeting, and credit information to students and parents. They also provide information to borrowers about costs of deferment/forbearance. Lenders should also provide financial literacy programs including budgeting and credit management. Commitment to debt management and default aversion provide services to our students through cooperative efforts with the College. These services include numerous activities such as providing websites to educate students on financial issues, offering debt management tools, and offering credit management programs. Responsible lenders want to help our students become responsible, credit-worthy consumers in the future.
♦ Flexibility
The Office of Financial Aid constantly re-examines our business processes in search of improving student service and efficiency. We therefore depend on our preferred lenders to support us in this endeavor. We expect our lenders to be flexible enough to respond quickly to accommodate changes or provide information that we may require.
♦ Other:
An expectation exists that there will be no direct solicitation of our students especially as it relates to debt consolidation without a written consent form and partnership with the Financial Aid Office. Consideration will be given to the record of service, reputation, operational standards and time in business for each lender and their servicer.
Alternative Loans:
If loans are not offered by the lender, the lending partner must be disclosed. Ability to certify loans through Elm and have funds sent to the school through HESC escrow is required. All credit criteria, terms and standards must be disclosed to the student and the Financial Aid Office.
We have also attached our Suggested Lender list scorecard which our experienced staff used in grading each of our suggested lenders.
Our list of suggested lenders is reviewed and updated annually based on the criteria listed above. The Office of Financial Aid does not receive, and will not accept, inducements from lenders in exchange for inclusion in the suggested lender list.
SUNY Maritime College does not share in the profits from student loans. Borrowers are welcome to choose any lender, regardless of whether it appears on our suggested lender list. To select a lender who is not on our list, visit HESC
The Office of Financial Aid at SUNY Maritime College guarantees that we will certify in a timely manner all valid loan applications for any loan program the institution participates in for any lender chosen by the borrower. The borrower has the :
a. right and ability to select the education loan provider of their choice
b. Is not required to use any suggested lender
c. Will suffer no penalty for selecting a lender not on the suggested lender list.
If you would like to provide feedback on our suggested lender list, we welcome you to contact the Office of Financial Aid @ (718) 409-7400 or by mail to the Office of Financial Aid at SUNY Maritime College, 6 Pennyfield Ave., bronx, N.Y. 10465.
