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American Education Services Defined
AES is owned by the student aid organization Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, also called PHEAA, which is a major provider of student loan services at the national level. It includes a large federal student loan portfolio. As of June 2021, PHEAA serviced more than $400 billion federal student loans held by more than 8.5 million borrowers, according to the Office of Federal Student Aid. PHEAA provides student loan services at a national level through AES and FedLoan Servicing. While AES and FedLoan are sister companies, they are different student loan servicers that operate separately.
AES manages PHEAA’s portfolio of private student loans and federal student loans through the now-discontinued FFEL Program.FedLoan Servicing services student loans that are federally owned, including Direct Student Loans.
Example of American Education Services
As an example, AES offers help to students who are having difficulty making their payments. Through AES, students can change their due date, reduce their monthly payments by changing their payment plan, and have the option of forbearance or postponement of payments to avoid default. AES also helps students consolidate their student loans into one loan to help manage their debt more effectively. A consolidation loan can help make life easier and lower your monthly payment but usually leads to a higher total interest cost over the life of the loan.
How AES Student Loans Work
AES student loans are the educational debt accounts managed by this loan servicing company. These debts may be either private student loans or federal student loans borrowed through the FFEL Program. The FFEL Program ended in 2010, however, and FFELP loans have not been offered for more than 10 years. Even so, many borrowers are still repaying these types of loans, including those that AES services. AES also manages private student loans, so some borrowers will have AES servicing loans that they took out with a private lender.
How to Get Information About Your AES Student Loans
If it’s been years since you took out your student loans, or if you’re not sure whether AES is, in fact, your servicer, it’s easy to check that.
Log into the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS): This is the database that records all student aid you receive, including federal student loans. You can log in with your FSA ID to view your student loan balances and history, including the servicers assigned to each account. Check your credit reports: AES reports loan information to credit reporting agencies, so if you have an AES student loan, you should see it listed on your reports. You can request a free credit report from all major credit bureaus at AnnualCreditReport.com.
In addition to verifying AES student loans independently, you can also reach out to AES for information about these accounts.
How AES Can Help Borrowers
AES will be your go-to for any actions or assistance you may need with these accounts. Here are some of the specific ways AES helps borrowers manage their student loans.
Billing and Processing Payments
AES accepts student loan payments through direct debit, online transfers, checks, and its mobile app. If you want to pay more or less than the amount due, AES provides the capability to designate specific funds to specific accounts. That allows you to pay down certain loans before others.
Help Struggling Borrowers
AES can help borrowers who are finding it hard to keep up with student loan payments. Some options include changing a due date or learning about options to lower or pause payments.
Access Federal Student Loan Benefits
According to its site, AES can help you find, apply for, and use protections and programs offered to federal student loan borrowers, including:
Lowering or adjusting payments with federal repayment plans, such as graduated and income-based repayment Postponing payments with deferment or forbearance Learning about programs to forgive, cancel, or discharge federal student loans Federal student loan consolidation Rehabilitating federal student loans in default
Contacting AES Student Loans
One of the easiest ways to manage AES student loans is through its online account access. There, you can create a customer account or sign in to view your student loan balance, make payments, or otherwise manage this debt. AES also has mobile apps for iOS and Android devices, so you can even view loans or manage payments on the go. Here are other ways to contact AES customer service directly:
AES email: Log into your online AES account to email the customer service team.AES phone number: Call 1-800-233-0557 during business hours: Monday–Friday, 7:30 a.m.–9 p.m. ET.AES fax: Fax documents to 717-720-3916.AES mailing address for correspondence: American Education Services, P.O. Box 2461, Harrisburg, PA, 17105.
