Department of Education Collection Agencies

These are the current collection agencies who hold contracts with the Department of Education.
Yearly these agencies have to re-bid for collection rights. Part of the process involves the agencies being graded on the their work for the previous year. They are ranked on total collections, total number of rehabilitated accounts, total number of federally consolidated accounts and complaints.

Complaints concerning collection activities is a huge factor in determining whether or not an agency will be awarded a new contract. Now, keep in mind that the Department of Ed receives a lot of complaints, most of which are not valid. They receive a lot of complaints that the collection agency is garnishing their wages, calling a third party to locate them, work calls, weekend calls, collection fees, taxes being offset and payments being too high. These are not valid complaints UNLESS they are in violation of the FDCPA or the Higher Education Act.

Progressive Financial Services P. O. Box 24098 Tempe, AZ 85285 (800) 745-2345	Collecto, Inc. dba Collection Company of America P. O. Box 5369 Norwell, MA 02061-5369 (800) 896-4539
Allied Interstate, Inc. P. O. Box 26190 Minneapolis, MN 55426 (800) 715-0395	Pioneer Credit Recovery, Inc. P. O. Box 228 Arcade, NY 14009 (888) 287-0317
NCO P.O. Box 4929 Trenton, NJ 08650-4929 (888) 475-6741	The CBE Group, Inc. P.O. Box 930 Waterloo IA 50704-0930 (800) 410-8089
Diversified Collection Services, Inc. P.O. Box 9049 Pleasanton, CA 94566-9049 (888) 335-6267	Premiere Credit of North America, LLC P.O. Box 19289 Indianapolis, IN 46219 (888) 744-2602
CollectCorp P. O. Box: 960 Phoenix, Arizona 85001 (877) 719-7015	GC Services P. O. Box 27346 Knoxville, TN 37927 (877) 244-7901
Account Control Technology, Inc. P. O. Box 11750 Bakersfield, CA 93389-1750 (866) 887-2800	West Asset Management, Inc. P. O. Box 105668 Atlanta, GA 30348-5668 (888) 327-2305
FMS Investment Corp. P.O. Box 1423 Elk GroveVillage, IL. 60009-1423 (877) 291-8405	ConServe P.O. Box 457 Fairport, NY 14450-0190 (866) 633-7945
Financial Asset Management Systems, INC. (FAMS) P.O. Box 451437 Atlanta, GA 31145-1437 (888) 680-4326	Collection Technology, Inc. P.O. Box 2036 Monterey Park, CA 91754 (800) 620-4284
Van Ru Credit Corporation P. O. Box 1027 Skokie, IL 60076-8027 (888) 337-8331	Delta Management Associates, Inc. P.O. Box 9192 Chelsea, MA 02150-9192 (866) 441-1957
Immediate Credit Recovery Inc. P.O. Box 965363 Marietta, GA 30066 (866) 401-7190	Coast Professional, Inc. P.O. Box 2899 West Monroe, LA 71294 (800) 964-0881
National Recoveries P.O. Box 48367 Minneapolis, MN 55448 (877) 221-9729	Enterprise Recovery Systems, Inc. P.O. Box 5288 Oak Brook, IL 60522 (888) 377-5000
Windham Professionals, Inc. P.O. Box 400 East Aurora, NY 14052 (877) 719-4440

Changes Coming to Federal Aid in 2012

Pricier Student Loans

Starting July 1, 2012, interest rates on subsidized Stafford loans will jump from 3.4% to 6.8%, reports the Department of Education. Unsubsidized Stafford loan and graduate Stafford loan rates will stay locked at 6.8%.

The government will also eliminate subsidized Stafford loans for graduate students and, for the next two years, will suspend paying the interest on subsidized Stafford loans for undergrads during the six-month grace period between graduation and when students must start paying back their federal loans. Interest that's not paid during that time period will accrue and be capitalized back into the loan, reports the financial aid website, Finaid.org.

The silver lining is students will receive some help paying back loans. Through June 30 of this year, students with both Federal Family Education Loan, or FFEL, and Direct federal loans -- that means at least one federal loan administered by the government and at least one federal loan administered by a bank or other financial institution -- may be eligible to receive up to a 0.5% interest rate reduction on some of their loans if they consolidate.

The government will also relax regulations on federal loan forgiveness for some students enrolled in income-based repayment. Once finalized, the "Pay-As-You-Earn" plan will reduce loan repayment caps from 15% of a student's discretionary income to 10% and forgive all federal loan debt after 20 years of consecutive payments. Who will qualify for the new initiatives and the exact date on when these changes will go into effect have not yet been announced.

My name is Lynn and I am an ex student loan collector. I spent over 10 years collecting for the DOE and several FFELP agencies. For several years, I was one of the top collectors at my agency...I loved what I did and I did it well! I know the term"bill collector" brings nightmares to most people....however I was not your "typical"collector. I assisted thousands of defaulted borrowers get their loans out of default by offering them respect and a solution to their defaulted student loans. In my 10 years of collecting, I never violated the FDCPA and quite frankly I had no patience for anyone who did.

After working in collections for a decade, I decide to jump to the other side of the table. I became a Financial Aid Officer for a major midwest University where I worked for several years. I also currently contribute and moderate on several online forums.

So why I am setting up this blog?? I am tired of seeing so called student loan relief organizations or individuals who "claim" they have the inside scoop rip off consumers. There is no need to enroll in a service or by a book for $72 to get out of default. If you really need help, I am here to help you! My advise is free, although I am more than happy to accept donations if your case is very complicated.