AMS Servicing Group

Update Newsletter
December 31, 2003

Inside AMS Servicing
William Witt
Network Administrator

COHEAO Gets Clarification from ED on Electronic Disclosures


The Torch, COHEAO’s bi-weekly publication for its members, recently published a clarification that COHEAO received from the Department of Education (ED) on the use of electronic formats to provide Federal Perkins borrowers with required loan disclosure information before the first disbursement of each award year’s loan.

A question had been asked in reference to 34CFR 674.16(a) of the Federal Perkins regulations which states that schools must provide this loan disclosure information to the borrower “in writing. ” ED responded that references made to “written” or “in writing” in the Higher Education Act Title IV regulations may be interpreted to include electronic transmission.

2004-2005 ISIR Guide Posted

The 2004-2005 ISIR Guide is now available on-line. The guide helps administrators interpret the information contained in electronic Institutional Student Information Records (ISIRs) returned to schools by the CPS. In addition to an overview of the ISIR, the guide includes appendices on Reject Codes and Reject Reasons, Database Matches and Match Flags, Loan Status Codes and Eligibility Charts, SAR/ISIR Comment Codes and Text, Correspondence Addresses, Sample ISIR, and the Worksheet for Question 35. You may view this release at http://www.ifap.ed.gov/eannouncements/1118ISIRGuide.html.

Process Guide for 2004-2005 FAFSA On the Web

ED has posted the Process Guide for 2004-2005 Student Web Application Products on its Web site. The Guide includes a description of the changes and enhancements that ED is making for 2004-2005 to FAFSA on the Web and the PIN Web Site. For additional information regarding this announcement, visit http://www.ifap.ed.gov/eannouncements/1125ProGuideforStudentWebApp0405.html.

NASFAA Unveils Chart Outlining Reauthorization Legislation

Details of the major House and Senate reauthorization bills released year-to-date are now available on NASFAA’s Web site in Word format.

You may view this user-friendly, printable chart by going to http://www.nasfaa.org/publications/2003/ReauthChart120403.doc.

These bills form the basis of the comprehensive legislation that will reauthorize the Higher Education Act of 1965.

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Interest Reporting in January 2004

During the first week of January, we will begin providing borrowers with information about interest paid during 2003:

• Interest paid in 2003 will be available to borrowers via our borrower Web site, myamsloan.com, and toll-free via our Interactive Voice Response system.

• Interest paid in 2003 will be reported to borrowers on billing statements generated during January, February, March, and April.

• Borrowers who use AutoDraft or Coupon Book billing will receive an Annual Statement indicating interest paid in 2003.

• Borrowers who paid more than $600 in interest during 2003, to a single institution, will receive Federal Tax Form 1098-E. These forms will be mailed prior to January month-end. Per IRS requirements, borrowers who paid interest greater than $600 will be reported to the IRS by February month-end.
  
  

You can obtain interest paid information for your borrowers using either System 3i, WebConnect, or your monthly Masterfile.

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Enhanced Service Provides Additional Support


If you’re a one-person shop or are swamped with competing job demands each day, Enhanced Service can HELP! Enhanced Service is a service level that goes above and beyond Full Service. In addition to the benefits of Full Service, we provide the
following:

· Storing borrowers’ promissory notes and other critical loan documents,
· Counseling borrowers who are having difficulty making payments,
· Managing your NSLDS Load Error Report,
· Placing loans with designated Collection Agencies,
· Assigning loans to ED,
· Reviewing borrower credit balances and issuing refund checks,
· Skip tracing borrower addresses, and
· Processing credit verification and loan consolidation requests.

For more information on Enhanced Service, please contact your School Relations Coordinator.

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Workshop Schedule for 2004

If you are currently reviewing training needs for 2004, please consider registering for one of our workshops. We will be offering Student Loans 101, our training class for less experienced student loan administrators or those new to AMS Servicing Group, on March 11-12, 2004 and again on July 8-9, 2004. If you and your staff have more experience, then Student Loans 202 is for you. This workshop will be offered on May 13-14, 2004 and October 7-8, 2004. Registration information is available from our Web site. If you have additional questions, please contact Debra Pitts at 1-800-458-4492, ext. 2272, or via e-mail at dpitts@amsweb.com.

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Teleconference Schedule

Teleconference Interval Training: Student Loans from A-Z
The first year of our Teleconference Training was a great success. Thanks go to all who participated and provided feedback to us. Offering this training gives us the opportunity to reach out to schools who cannot attend a Student Loans 101 or 202 session in Winston-Salem. Each teleconference is geared towards understanding a particular area of student loans and is an opportunity to gain new insights, ask questions of AMS Servicing Group staff, and hear helpful suggestions from other schools.

As we prepare for the upcoming year, we look forward to continuing this service for all our customers. Please see the 2004 Teleconference Training Schedule listed below.

Regional Meetings

Our Georgia Regional Meeting will be held on January 26, 2004 at Spelman College in Atlanta. As these meetings continue in 2004, our School Relations staff will bring you the latest news about myamsloan.com, which allows your borrowers to access their accounts on-line, and System 3i, which allows you to view your borrowers’ accounts on-line, in addition to other pertinent information. To learn more, please contact your School Relations Coordinator, or call Debra Pitts at (800) 458-4492 ext. 2272 or via e-mail at dpitts@amsweb.com.

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Conference Schedule

Representatives from AMS Servicing Group will attend the conferences listed below.

The 2004 COHEAO Annual Meeting will be held at the Ritz-Carlton Pentagon City in Arlington, VA on January 25-28, 2004. More information is available at www.coheao.org.

The NACUBO Student Financial Services Conference will be held at the Point Hilton Tapatio Cliffs in Phoenix, AZ on March 7-9, 2004. More information is available from www.nacubo.org.

The 13th Annual EARMA Conference will be held on March 30-31, 2004 at the National Conference Center at the Ramada Inn in East Windsor, NY. Please visit http://rci.rutgers.edu/~earma for more information.

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Holiday Schedule
Our office will be closed for the following holidays in 2004:

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Cutoff Dates

Cutoff dates for January and February 2004 are presented below:

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Cutoff Dates for 2004

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