It is essential to know the difference between federal and private student loans.
Federal student loans have better repayment plans and forgiveness options. Eliminating private student loans generally requires the use of different strategies.
If your loans are with AES, it may not be obvious whether they are federal or private. The good news is that it is easy to definitively determine the status of loans.
How to tell if your AES loans are federal or private
If you are looking for certainty, the best option is to visit studentaid.gov and open your account.
The Department of Education operates studentaid.gov and maintains detailed records of all federal student loans. These records include loan balances, interest rates, and service information.
If your AES loans are not listed in the federal database, it means they are private loans.
Are you lost? Navigating studentaid.gov is not always easy. If you would like detailed instructions for finding your loan information, use this guide to navigate the federal database.
Private or corporate-held federal loans
Perhaps the most confusing category of student loans is the private federal loan.
Under a former federal program that ended in 2010, private lenders had the ability to offer federally guaranteed student loans. It was called the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP). Private lenders provided the funds for the loans and collected the interest. However, if the borrower did not pay, the federal government would intervene.
For borrowers, these loans are federal loans, but they are not owned by the federal government. FFELP loans have some advantages of federal loans, but not all. For example, FFELP loans are eligible for the income-based repayment plan. However, they are not eligible for the civil service loan exemption.
Many borrowers choose to use a direct federal consolidation loan to resolve FFELP loan eligibility issues. Direct consolidation converts the private loan into a loan held by the federal government.
If you’re not sure if you have a private loan, there’s an easy way to find out. If you were required to make payments on your federal loan during the Covid-19 payment and interest pause, it is private. If the payments were not required, the loan is held by the federal government.
Tips for Borrowers with Federal AES Loans
One of the many benefits of having federal student loans is that the rules are the same no matter who is handling your loans. In other words, AES Federal Loans have the same repayment plans and forgiveness options as Navient, MyFedLoan, and MOHELA Federal Loans.
Many federal borrowers are simply looking for the repayment plan with the lowest monthly payment. However, the best approach is for borrowers to develop a plan to phase out their loans. In some cases, this means pursuing the different student loan forgiveness options.
When selecting a repayment plan, there are many different options and strategies to consider. If you want estimates on monthly payments, the Ministry of Education Loan Simulator can use your actual loan information to predict monthly payments on the different plans.
Tips for Borrowers with AES Private Loans
Private loans are notoriously stricter than federal student loans. Minimum monthly payments are often high and cashback options are rarely available.
For this reason, many borrowers choose to pay off their private loans as quickly as possible, even if the loans have lower interest rates than federal loans.
Because AES is the loan servicer and not the lender, they generally cannot offer borrowers much flexibility beyond what is specified in the original loan agreement. When borrowers experience difficulty or seek assistance, AES stands between borrower and lender. If you have a specific request, sometimes the best way is to ask AES to ask the loan holder.
Unfortunately, there is no option to easily convert AES private loans to federal loans.
Simplify the repayment of a private loan: A popular option is to refinance your private loans with a new lender. Borrowers can refinance to get lower interest rates and work with a new lender.
refinancing is risky for federal borrowersbut because private loans do not have income-based repayment plans or student loan forgiveness, refinancing private loans is much safer.
If your interest rates are high or you’re unhappy with your repairer, be sure to check the guide to student loan refinancing.
How to contact AES
To avoid arguments over who said what, I recommend borrowers communicate with their lenders and servicers by email. AES borrowers can send an email directly to AES.
Borrowers can call AES at this number: 1-800-233-0557.
AES uses several different addresses, depending on what you are sending:
Send payments to:
American Educational Services (AES)
Box 65093
Baltimore, MD 21264-5093
Send letters and correspondence to:
American Educational Services
Box 2461
Harrisburg, PA 17105-2461
Send Express Payments/Next Day Deliveries to:
American Educational Services
Box #65093
1800 Washington Blvd., 8th Floor
Baltimore, MD 21230
Send express/overnight letters and correspondence deliveries to:
American Educational Services
1200 7th Street North.
Harrisburg, PA 17102
Send conditional payments to:
AES – Conditional payments
Box 2251
Harrisburg, PA 17105-2251
Send credit disputes to:
AES credit
Box 61047
Harrisburg, PA 17106-1047
Additionally, AES has a Consumer Advocate. This office can help you if you think AES has made a mistake. Contact details for the Consumer Advocate are available here.