Where Do You Pay Your Student Loans?

Happy graduates celebrating graduation outdoors with caps and gowns, symbolizing academic success and college achievement.

BIG Ideas:

  • Making on-time payments on your student loans can help you build the credit history you’ll need to reach other financial goals in life.
  • If you have student loans from the federal government, you must make your loan payments to your loan servicer, the company that manages your account, not the government.
  • Since loans are often transferred between servicers, ensure that your contact information is up to date.

Time flies when you’re having fun.

It may seem like yesterday you were attending orientation and moving into your dorm room. Now you’ve graduated or are about to graduate, and are ready to take the real world by storm. YES!

There’s a lot to love about the world of full-blown adulting. You’ll pursue your career dreams, earn more money, and start building your independent life.

There is, however, something you must do that you might not love: begin paying back your student loans.

While making payments may not sound like fun, it’s super important for your financial future. It can help you build the credit history you’ll need to achieve your goals for the future – like renting an apartment, buying a car, and getting a mortgage to buy a home one day.

But many borrowers aren’t always sure how to make their payments, especially when their loans get transferred. Not having this info could cause you to send your payments to the wrong place, which could result in late or missing payments and damage to your credit.

To help ensure that doesn’t happen to you, we’re sharing these important tips:

Where to Send Your Payments

If you have a federal student loan, your payments must always be made to the servicer of your loan, not the federal government. The servicer is the company that manages your account.

Pro tip: If you’re not sure about the servicer on your federal loan, you can find out by visiting studentaid.gov. If you have a private student loan from a bank, credit union, or other non-government lender, you can find the payment address on your monthly statement. You can also call the lender.

How to Make Your Student Loan Payments

Lenders like getting paid on time. That’s why they offer many options for sending payments. You could pay online on the servicer’s website or mobile app, or pay by mail using good-old-fashioned checks (if you know what they are).

One of the easiest ways to make your student loan payments is to enroll in autopay. With this method, your payments are automatically deducted from your bank account each month. So, you won’t have to worry about missing a payment or sending your payment late. There’s also a very good incentive for using autopay: Many servicers offer rate discounts that can save you money.

Pro tip: If you enroll in autopay, ensure you have sufficient funds in your bank account to cover your payment each month.

Watch for Loan Transfers

Loan servicers are always changing. If that should happen to your loan, you’ll be notified and instructed about where to send your payments.

Pro tip: To ensure you’re notified about servicing transfers, check and update your contact information (address, phone number, and email) with your servicer online or via phone.

Beware of Scams

Scammers are always looking for ways to take advantage of victims. If you receive an unsolicited email, text, or call from a “servicer” or “company” offering to help you get student loan forgiveness if you pay a fee, don’t believe it.

Pro tip: If you aren’t sure if an email or phone call is authentic or if an offer sounds too good to be true, visit the servicer’s official website and log in to your account from there. Never click on links or download files without verifying that the sender is legitimate.

You Got This

Knowing how to pay your student loans will help you master Adulting 101 and pave the way for the bright future you worked so hard to build in college.

Brazos is Here to Help You Manage Student Loan Debt

For more than 40 years, Brazos has helped parents and students manage higher-interest student loan debt. If you’re looking to refinance higher-interest student loan debt with a private student loan, we offer competitive rates that can help. Contact us to learn more.