Throughout the past couple of decades, Great Lakes has stood as one of the most successful student loan service providers in the US. Today, it deals with more than $240 billion worth in loans, related to 7+ million borrowers.
The idea behind this service is that students are helped to repay their loans issued by the US Department of Education.
In order to help you figure out whether Great Lakes is the right service provider for your needs, we have prepared a review of a few programs. Take a look.
Great Lakes Student Loans (with Features)
The first thing that you should know is that Great Lakes doesn’t offer loan programs per se. On the other hand, it does serve as a guarantor for a student when it comes to both federal and private loans.
This service does work with more than 1000 different lenders across the country which means that the chances of you enjoying a repayment aid are quite high.
Among the main highlights of the work done by Great Lakes is the Student Loan Forgiveness Program done in cooperation with the US Department of Education.
Great Lakes and Public Service Loan Forgiveness
If you are employed or a current volunteer at PeaceCorps and AmeriCorps than you will be able to enjoy the PSLF. By complying with all the requirements you will be able to get your student loan moved to FedLoan Servicing.
It is quite common for a full-time PSLF employee to have issues with getting accepted for the PSLF program, in which case you should consult with the temporary Expanded PSLF. Keep in mind is that being a full-time employee or a volunteer at the aforementioned organizations is not the only requirement, as you have to have made at least 120 consecutive down payments on your loan.
Great Lakes and Other Student Loan Discharges
It is a fact that not everyone may be eligible for the PSLF which is why you might be interested to find out more about different loan discharge programs. There is a couple offered by Great Lakes that can help you in some circumstances.
- False Certification disclosure
- Unpaid refund discharge
- School closure discharge
However, what you should know is that for these loans you will need to comply with more than a couple of requirements that you can find more about at the Great Lakes official website.
Great Lakes and Income-Driven Repayment Plans
There is a chance that your student loan may not be initially eligible for the PSLF in which case your best bet is to go through a refinancing or consolidation plan. This includes Income-Based Repayment, Pay as You Earn Repayment, as well as plans such as REPAYE and IPR.
By successfully managing one of these repayment plans, you will be able to go through lower monthly payments and enjoy longer repayment periods. Not only this but after a certain time, you can even become debt-free and qualify for PSLF.
Who is Eligible
As we have mentioned above, Great Lakes is a loan servicer for student loans mostly. This doesn’t mean that you currently have to be at a college because there are a lot of people left with student loans even once they have a degree.
The main idea with Great Lakes is that you use this service in order to get a better repayment period or become debt-free. For being eligible to the PSLF program you will need to have made at least 120-consecutive down payments to a lender that is partnered with Great Lakes.
Additionally, you should either be a full-time employee or a volunteer at AmeriCorps/PeaceCorps.
When it comes to other student loan discharges and repayment plans, you can find out more about the featured qualifications at the Great Lake website.
How to Apply
You should choose the repayment program/PSLF that you want to get accepted for and fill all the necessary details (in the adequate form). It can be done online by submitting all the requested loan info to the Great Lakes team.
Summary
If you are still repaying a student loan, chances are, you will want to try and get help from Great Lakes, which is seen as the best loan service provider out there.
Among the many different programs, there is also the PSLF that can set you debt-free. So what are you waiting for? Go ahead and apply for it!
