Aidvantage – Learn How They Work
Updated: January 8, 2022?
Once it's time to start paying back your student loans, you might be surprised to learn you don’t deal directly with the U.S. Department of Education. The federal government doesn’t actually administer repayment of those loans. It assigns them to a few authorized servicing companies that handle processing your payments and answering your questions.
Aidvantage is one of the newest servicing companies, but it's part of a larger company called Maximus Education that administers many programs for state and federal governments. If Aidvantage is your student loan servicer, learning who they are and what resources they offer could save you time and money. Here’s what you need to know about Aidvantage.
About Aidvantage
Aidvantage is a new player on the student loan servicing scene. When Navient got permission from the Dept. of Education to end its contract for servicing federal student loans starting in 2022, it transferred its existing loan portfolio to Aidvantage.
What does Aidvantage do?
Like all servicers, Aidvantage manages borrowers’ accounts, processes monthly payments, and communicates directly with borrowers about their loans. The company helps borrowers change repayment plans or request deferment or forbearance, if they’re experiencing economic hardship. It also certifies borrowers for loan forgiveness.
Once you have an account on Aidvantage's website, you can use the online portal to check your statements, make payments, change due dates, calculate payoff times, switch payment plans, print tax documents, and more.
What repayment options does Aidvantage offer?
Loan servicers don’t have much discretion when it comes to designing repayment plans. For federal student loans, they can only offer the payment plans established by the U.S. Department of Education. Aidvantage offers a set of repayment options:
- Standard 10-year plan, with fixed payments
- Extended 25-year plan, with fixed payments
- Graduated 10- or 25-year plan, with payments that increase at regular intervals
- Income-driven plans, in which payments are a fixed percentage of the borrower’s income
How does Aidvantage help people who are having difficulty paying their student loans?
If you have a loan (or loans) being serviced by Great Lakes and you’re struggling to make your payments, the first step is to contact their customer service department. All graduates are entitled to a six-month grace period immediately after finishing college, but entry level salaries can be meager and unexpected financial difficulties can arise at any time. If you’re unemployed, underemployed, or experiencing hardship, you might qualify for forbearance or deferment. You might be able to decrease your monthly payments by extending the term of your loan. These are some of the remedies that servicers can offer, but the options are limited.
Are there better options to manage my student loans?
Many grads with federal student loans have been able to cut their monthly payments significantly by refinancing with a private lender at a lower interest rate. If you owe at least $5,000 and you’re paying more than 4% interest, it’s a good idea to explore refinancing. Lowering your interest rate by just a few percentage points could have a huge impact on your overall repayment. In a recent analysis we found that people who refinanced with private lenders saved an average of $259 a month and $19,231 over the life of their student loans.
If you have multiple student loans, you can also consolidate them into a single monthly payment, simplifying your finances and making it easier to chart a path out of debt. It’s easy to find out if refinancing or consolidation can save you money. Online applications take less than 5 minutes, with no impact to credit. With most modern lenders, you can get a personalized quote in less time than it takes to brew a pot of coffee.
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Aidvantage Contact Information
The easiest way to access your loan information or contact Aidvantage is through their website, but there are other options if you need them.
Office Hours: Mon.-Thu.: 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM; Fri.: 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM (ET)
Email: To email Aidvantage, log into your account and use the Email Us feature in the Help Center
Phone: 1-800-722-1300
Mailing Addresses:
Loan Payments:
Aidvantage – U.S. Department of Education Loan Servicing P.O. Box 4450
Portland, OR 97208-4450
General Correspondence:
Aidvantage – U.S. Department of Education Loan Servicing P.O. Box 9635
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18773-9635
Website: https://aidvantage.com
Click here for more information on the other main student loan servicers.
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Special offers for medical resident and fellow refinance products
- Fixed rates: 4.39% - 9.24% APR
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Splash Financial is a leader in student loan refinancing with some of the lowest fixed in the industry which can save you tens of thousands of dollars over the life of your loans. No application or origination fees and no prepayment penalties. Splash Financial is in all 50 states and is intensely focused on customer service. Splash Financial is also one of the few companies that offers a great medical resident and fellow refinance product. You can check your rate with Splash in just minutes.
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SoFi is the leading student loan refinancing provider.
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Save thousands on your student loans and pay off your loans sooner. Find your rate.
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Works with 300+ community lenders for higher approval chances
- Fixed rates: 2.49% - 7.75% APR
- Variable rates: 1.90% - 5.25% APR
- Minimum credit: 660
Connecting student borrowers to a network of over 300 community lenders with low interest rates. By partnering with these lenders, LendKey is able to give consumers direct access to the best rates available from the most borrower friendly institutions. As the servicer of all loans obtained through its platform, you can rest easy knowing your personal information will be safe and that the best customer service team will be ready to answer your questions from application until your final payment.
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Best for borrowers who want to customize their repayment schedule to pay off debt fast.
- Fixed rates: 4.39% - 8.99% APR (with 0.25% autopay discount)
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- Minimum credit: 650
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I reduced my student loan payment by $152 per month, by refinancing thru Nitro
