FAQ: Release of Borrower Information to Third-Party Servicers

As a Direct Loan servicer, Nelnet’s Partner Solutions team receives questions from the school financial aid and borrower community on a regular basis.  In an effort to share the information and educate our school partners, we are posting to our blog some of the more relevant and well-timed questions that we receive.

Q:  How does your school support unit handle calls/questions from a school’s third-party default prevention servicer?  What information do you provide to the school’s servicers, and how do you confirm they are the school’s servicer?

A: Protection of a borrower’s personal information is absolutely critical to Nelnet, to the borrowers Nelnet services, and to the Department of Education.  Because of this, before releasing information to a third-party provider, a school is required to complete a Release of Authorization (ROA) form stating it gives permission for Nelnet to release borrower-specific information to that agency about its students.  When these release forms are received, they are scanned and stored within Nelnet’s archives to use for verification. If a call is received from a third-party servicer, our School Service Center team searches Nelnet’s system for the ROA for the agency and the school code on whose behalf it is calling to ensure the release of information is properly authorized.

Do you have any servicing-related questions?  Please let us know, so we can help you and others in the school community who may be wondering the same thing.

Alan Ishida – Regional Director, Nelnet Partner Solutions (AK, CO, HI, Guam, IA, WI, WV)