Getting Your Cash is As Easy
1.Apply for cash loan
Applying for the student loan is now so easy with Great Lakes student loans. We make every step as simple as possible for you to apply for a loan.
2.Get Approved
Here you get easy and fast approval after applying for a loan. Once you get an offer, you can easily review the offer and get your cash.
3.Get Your Cash
Your money can often be paid into your account within just few minutes.
About
Great Lakes Student Loans
Great Lakes student loans service is one of the finest and largest loans handling service in the country. It handles about 1 in every 4 student’s loan issued by federal government. Great Lakes in based in Madison, Wisconsin and has been in business since 1967. Until now they have worked with over 6000 colleges and universities.
After American Education Services (AES), Great Lakes is the 2nd largest servicer of federal student loans. It handles nearly about 25% of the U.S department of Education’s direct loans. The role of Great Lakes is to manage borrowers’ accounts, processes monthly payments, and communicates directly with borrowers about their loans.
Great Lakes student loans review
The basics
Today Great Lakes is the 2nd major servicers for federal student loans after American Education Services (AES). Great lakes have one of the lowest numbers of complaints from its recipients compared to other servicers. Here we have reviewed great lakes student loans so that you can know about the benefits and advantages and about the pay off your loans.
Great lakes services your student loans by looking at your school enrollment, help you get the best repayment plan and it also serves in processing your student loan payments. Along with federal student loans, Great Lakes also process private student loans. It is easy to make payments through Great lakes online portal for any kind of student loan you have. You can also sign up for auto pay which automatically withdraws payments from your bank account each month. For those who have federal student loans, they will be placed on the standard 10 year plan and that too with fixed monthly payments.
Great Lakes help students to find the right plan for successful debt payoff.
What we like about Great Lakes
Below we have mentioned 4 easy ways by which servicer can help if you have Great Lakes student loans.
- Helps you apply for a variety of student loan repayment plans
- Accepts payments while you’re still in school
- Offers a useful repayment planner tool to borrowers
- Provides social media support
Is Great Lakes Federal or Private?
Great lake is the second largest federal loan servicer and it manages over 40% of the outstanding debt held by student loan borrowers. Great Lakes is known as a federal loan servicer but it does offer private loan processing for other lenders. Great lakes currently serve both Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) loans and Federal Direct Loan Program. Other than it, Great lakes also serve 4 other types of loan and these are as follow:-
- Direct Subsidized
- Direct Unsubsidized
- Direct PLUS
- Direct Consolidation
What is Private Loan and Federal Loan?
Loans that are funded by the government at relatively low interest rates and with flexible repayment options are known to be federal loan. One should only borrow the loan that is really needed.
Private Loan
Extra help in education is always needed even after scholarships, grants, and federal loans. If any student needs it then private loan is always an option available. Students can borrow private loan either from bank or from a school itself. These loans have high interest rates and less flexible repayment options when compared to federal loans.
Great Lakes do not initiate any of the loans but it act as the intermediary and guarantor between the borrower and lender.
How to Switch to a New Student Loan Servicer?
Generally student’s loan last up to 25 years and loan servicers like Great Lake plays a huge role in student loan repayment. Unfortunately, when someone gets a federal student loan, you are not able to pick your loan servicer, which can be a problem for some borrowers. So when you do not like your loan servicer that is assigned to you by the Department of Education then you have to consolidate your federal loans, apply for public student loan forgiveness or refinance with a private lender.
Always keep in mind that refinancing a federal student loan would potentially mean paying higher interest rates and losing federal repayment options and PSLF loan repayment programs.
What Can Great Lakes Help You With?
Great lakes can help you with many issues and these are described as follow:-
Student loan repayment
Great lakes can help students with monthly payment, they can sign up for automatic payments, or make an additional student loan payment, they can do it easily online through mobile app and they can even call customer support.
Alternative repayment plans
Great Lakes student loans can help you get alternative repayment plans and only thing you need to do is contact them and explain your situation. It depends on your situation that up to what amount your payment can be reduced. There are chances that some of the applicants can even $0 monthly payments.
Loan Forgiveness
Great Lakes can help you get loan forgiveness if you work for a non-profit organization or government agency full-time. You just need to call them and let them know you like to pursue Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF).
Lender | APR | Get Started |
 | Fixed: 2.95% - 8.77% | |
 | Fixed: 2.98% - 5.79% | |
 | Fixed: 2.95% - 8.77% | |
 | Fixed: 2.99% - 6.2% | |
 | Fixed: 2.99% - 6.28% |
Great Lakes Customer Service and How to Submit a Complaint
Reaching Great Lakes Student Loans customer service is very easy. If you are facing any issue that can be easily addressed by Great lakes then you can contact them through phone call, email or through social media accounts. You can also reach them through their Facebook page where their response time is less than one hour.
- Phone number: (800) 236-4300
- Email: borrowerservices@glhec.org
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/MyGreatLakes
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mygreatlakes
- Fax: (800) 375-5288
If you want to file a complaint about Great lakes then you need to take following steps
FSA feedback system
You can use this federal student aid feedback system to file a complaint with the student loan servicer about your experience. You must explain the problem you are facing and how you want it to be addressed, and attach any related document that is relevant. The office of Federal Student Aid will respond to your report as soon as possible.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)
You may also send a report to the CFPB, another government website, where a prompt response to their query is made. The website will ask a few questions in order to file a complaint to categorize the issue you are having and then have a section where you can explain what happened to the servicer.
Better Business Bureau (BBB)
The Better Business Bureau aims to address the problems customers have with organizations. With them, you can file a complaint in which you must provide your name , address and email with information about the problems you are experiencing . The BBB will forward your report to the company and will request a reply within 14 days. If the company fails to reply, they can send out another request
How to Make Great Lakes Payments?
There are different ways by which you can make Great Lakes payments:
- Phone: You simply need to call at 1-800-236-4300 to make your payment.
- Mobile App: You can also download MyGreatLakes app that is available in both Google play store as well as in Apple app store to make your payment through smartphone.
- Mail: You also have another option through mail to pay your payments via check.
- Online: You can pay your monthly bill online too.
If you wish you pay online then there are few easy steps:
Create an account on Greatlakesstudentloans.co
Go to the site greatlakesstudentloans.co and click on “Sign Up” button. Now you need to provide your Social Security number and birth date. The site will prompt you to create a username, password, and PIN number.
Select Your Loan Account
After your account is verified, you can easily select your Loan account and schedule a payment. If you opt for automatic payments then you will get a 0.25% interest rate discount.
Common Problems with Great Lakes Student Loans
When compared to other loan servicers, Great lakes do not have many complaints with CFPB. From March 2017 to March 2018 they have only received 310 complaints. Great Lakes even have A+ rating with BBB.
Below we have discussed few major problems that they received by many borrowers and these are as follows
Trouble with how payments are being handled
There are complaints by many borrowers related to payments which include misallocation of payments, false reporting of late payments and problems making extra payments. Also, CFPB says that all these issues were solved in a timely manner. It is also important for the borrower to keep track of their payments each month even if they sign up for autopay.
Receiving bad information about loan
Another common concern is that, especially when borrowers have tried to file for deferment and forbearance, borrowers receive inaccurate information about their loans. Again, it is important to keep track of your payments and requests, particularly when you try to stop the payments. In case you have problems with your account, it is best to contact the servicer as soon as possible.
Can’t get other flexible options for repaying loan
Borrowers either have a tough time adjusting repayment plans with Great Lakes or the company has not adequately switched its repayment strategy. The easiest way to manage this is to record the process of converting repayment plans including the date you applied for converting and the acknowledgement you got. Then you should use that information to contact Great Lakes to get it sorted out quickly.
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