Default Management Step 6: Reach Out to Those at Risk

In Step 1, we talked about the importance of cross-institutional participation in understanding why default is an issue at your school.

In Step 2, we covered building a default prevention team, which should include key players from both the financial aid office and from other areas of your institution.

In Step 3, we touched on collecting default data, which brings to light the characteristics of your current defaulted students.

In Step 4, we advised you create a plan to help students who are especially at risk of defaulting.

In Step 5, we outlined how to create an in-school plan for ALL students.

Next, we’ll address the sixth step in developing an effective default prevention plan: developing an out-of-school follow-up plan, with an emphasis on reaching out to at-risk students and delinquent borrowers.

Based on your institution and it’s demographics, there are a variety of ways you can reach out to borrowers who are no longer in school. These include:

• Social media
• Asking borrowers to contact you if they have questions
• Reiterating the importance of communication with loan servicers
• Validating borrower contact information

Keeping borrowers educated and informed is vital to their success in repayment. For the most part, we’ve found that borrowers want to do the right thing—they just need to know how. Maintaining consistent communication through a variety of methods, including phone calls, emails, and letters, can be beneficial to your borrowers. Not sure where to start? Here are some resources to assist you in borrower communications:

• Tips for before, during, and after your phone calls
• Scripts to assist you in making your phone calls
• Sample letters for different stages of delinquency
• Nelnet Delinquent Borrower Communication Examples

For more information about developing a communication plan for out-of-school and at-risk borrowers, visit our Default Prevention page.

Kristin Tobias, Communications Coordinator, Nelnet