Campus Partners

Update Newsletter
September 30, 2004

Keep Those Letters Coming!

Campus Partners would like to extend a huge “thank you” to those of you who have contacted your congressman or senator. Although we are not out of the woods yet, we feel confident that your letters and phone calls have been instrumental in letting them know how important Perkins Loan funding is. Based on additional news from COHEAO, the Senate Appropriations Committee marked-up the FY2005 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education appropriations bill during the week of September 15, 2004. The full committee approved the subcommittee’s decision to fund the Perkins Loan Federal Capital Contribution and Loan Cancellations at FY2004 levels. This will mean that for FY2005, the Perkins Loan Program will receive $98.8 million for the Perkins Loan Federal Capital Contribution and $66.7 million for Loan Cancellations. At this point, there is no information on when the appropriations bill will be brought to the Senate floor for debate.

During the week of September 6, the House passed its FY2005 Labor, Heath and Human Services, and Education bill, which does not fund the Capital Contribution.

So keep those phone calls and letters coming to ensure that the Perkins Loan Program continues to receive funding in FY2005 and beyond. Want to learn more about COHEAO? Please see this month’s “How To” for information on joining this vital organization.

New Billing Number Using RAAN Implemented

As we previously published, Campus Partners has been working to develop and implement a new billing number that will help protect your borrowers from privacy theft. We are pleased to announce that we are now using a Randomly Assigned Account Number (RAAN) as your borrowers’ account number.

On September 23, 2004, we began printing the RAAN on correspondence sent from our office to your borrowers. Prior to using the RAAN, a borrower’s 16-digit account number appeared as follows on all correspondence and statements:

System Number-Borrower Number-Consolidation Number

System Number – (5 digit number that identifies the lender)
Borrower Number – (9-digit number that usually was the borrower’s social security number)
Consolidation Number – (the number that references the loan(s) contained within the correspondence or statement)

With the implementation of the RAAN number, account numbers now appear in this format:

System Number – RAAN–Consolidation number

Please note that we only changed the middle nine-digits of the borrower account number.

Because many of our customers use the social security number as the Loan Number, we will stop printing the Loan Number on any written communication sent to the borrower. We will continue to print the Program Number and Sequence Number. Our Exit Packages, E-Exits, and On-line Disclosures have been changed to accommodate new state or federal privacy laws by removing the borrowers’ social security number, changing the account number to use the RAAN number, and removing the loan number.

The goal of Campus Partners has been to implement a new way of identifying your borrowers that would protect their social security number with minimal impact on customers, lenders, and borrowers. In order to do this we programmed the RAAN number and the Borrower number (the middle nine digits of the account number) to be interchangeable. If a borrower tries to register on mycampusloan.com, they can use their old account number or their new RAAN-based account number. The system has been programmed to find the borrower regardless of the number that is used. Borrowers will also be able to obtain information from the IVR by using either account number.

We have enhanced our search feature so that you can use either the borrower number or the new RAAN number in the Borrower number/Account number field to locate the borrower on System III or System 3i. The System 3i Web site will reflect the account number as System-RAAN-Consolidation. You and your borrowers can use either the old or new account number, when sending correspondence to our office. (Please see the article below for a related article concerning borrower privacy.)

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Compliance With Fair Debt Collection Practices Act


Due to heightened awareness of identity theft and privacy concerns, Campus Partners is dedicated to an on-going review of our policies and procedures. We want to ensure that we are protecting the loan information on our system for you and your borrowers. With respect to communicating with third parties, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act indicates that no loan information should be disclosed to a third party without consent from the borrower. The only exceptions are:

1. You, as the lending institution
   
2. Specific individuals identified on a Federal Perkins Privacy Act Waiver signed by the borrower
   
3. Co-signers
   
4. Attorneys representing the borrower – we will ask for a written request on the firm’s letterhead
   
5. Parents, if the borrower is 18 years or younger

Campus Partners has a Federal Perkins Privacy Act Waiver QuikLetter available for you to send to your borrowers if you have access to System III, our on-line processing system. Borrowers can send us the Waiver so we can discuss their loan with the individuals that they designate. We will continue to look for ways to better serve you and your borrowers.

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Mandatory Date for New Master Promissory Note Approaches

Although use of the new Master Prom Note (MPN) is not mandatory until November 1, 2004, many of you are already implementing the new MPN with your fall disbursements. Campus Partners previously published a Question and Answer Guide on our Web site that you may find helpful. There are also important links at the end of this Q & A that allow you to view the MPN in addition to the Dear Colleague Letter that provides guidance on implementing the new note. To view this important information, go to

http://www.campuspartners.com/documents/FAQonMPN.pdf.

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Reminder – Guidance For Those Impacted by Recent Disasters

An electronic announcement from the Department of Education (ED) reminds their partners of previously published general guidance regarding Title IV participants affected by disasters. GEN-04-04, published on February 24, 2004, provides regulatory and administrative relief to lessen the impact of a federally declared disaster on students, schools, lenders, and guaranty agencies. Because of the extreme damage and wide spread damage caused by recent hurricanes, this guidance will be of interest to many of our customers. You can find this guidance
by visiting

http://www.ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/GEN0404.html.

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Information on the Default Reduction Assistance Program

ED recently published Dear Colleague Letter CB-04-11 that provides information, in a question-and-answer format, on the Default Reduction Assistance Program that is available to assist schools in collecting on defaulted Federal Perkins Loans. This is a free service, so you may want to check it out at http://ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/CB0411.html.

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FSA Coach Training Course Now Available

In a recent announcement, ED announced that the 2004-05 Edition of FSA COACH is now available on the Web. The 36-lesson course is a comprehensive introduction to Title IV student aid management that offers around 40 hours of self-paced, on-line training. This is a great tool for you to use in training new staff. Check it out at www.ed.gov/fsacoach.

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Perkins Loans and Federal Student Loan Consolidation

Federal student loan consolidation has become very popular as a way for borrowers to lock in extraordinary low interest rates. Fixed rates in the 3%-4% range are not uncommon. In recent years, Perkins loans have played an increasingly important role in loan consolidation as a way to enable borrowers to choose their lenders, regardless of the owners of their loans. And, consolidation helps Perkins lenders replenish loan funds, as proceeds are returned to schools to lend to other students.

1. Locking in Today’s Low Rates
   Up until recent years, it was not uncommon for borrowers to leave Perkins loans out of their consolidation loans. With their low balances, low interest rates and cancellation provisions, it often behooved the borrower to repay them separately. (The loan consolidation interest rate is arrived at by taking the weighted average interest rate of the loans selected for consolidation and rounding to the nearest 1/8%.) Now that Stafford rates have fallen even lower than the 5% Perkins interest rate, more borrowers are including their Perkins loans in their consolidation loans to help lock in today’s low rates on all their eligible loans. And there is another important benefit to including them as well.
   
2. Freedom to Choose a Consolidation Lender
   Perkins loans have been used in consolidation in recent years to circumvent what is called the “single lender rule” which specifies that borrowers who have borrowed from the same Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) lender must first seek consolidation from that lender. In the case where a borrower has only a Perkins loan and Stafford loans owned by a single FFEL lender, for example, a consolidation lender can consolidate the Perkins loan first to create a FFEL consolidation loan. Therefore, the borrower has two FFEL loans, and his loans no longer fall under the single lender rule for the purposes of consolidation. Throughout the industry, this is called a “two-step consolidation.”

In the past, two-step consolidations have represented as much as a quarter of consolidation lenders’ total loan volume. But, there is concern, especially among Perkins schools and servicers, that consolidation lenders may not be aware of the forgiveness provisions available to certain Perkins borrowers, and may not provide borrowers with the counseling they require to make a sound financial decision.

• Loan Counseling Opportunity
  Campus Partners’ sister company and loan consolidator, Student Trust is committed to providing Perkins borrowers the very best advice and counsel, to ensure that their financial interests are always in the forefront. Student Trust will either suggest inclusion of a Perkins loan or exclusion, if it appears the borrowers’ cancellation benefits may be at risk.

Loan consolidation in today’s interest rate environment is a win-win for graduating students; however, they are being inundated with offers from lenders who may not have graduates’ financial interests at heart. That is why Student Trust offers a Loan Counseling Program whereby they contact your borrowers, educate them about loan consolidation and help them make the best choice for them. This service is free to you and your borrowers, and benefits you in another important way. As Perkins loans are paid in full through consolidation, the proceeds are returned directly to your Perkins loan fund to lend again to needy students.

To join the Student Trust Loan Counseling Program, sign the attached form and fax it to 336-607-2025.

ATTACHMENT: Student Trust Loan Consolidation Authorization Form

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Archive Criteria and Reminder

We will archive loans meeting the following criteria on the weekend of October 23, 2004.

1. In loan status 91(disability cancellation), 92 (bankruptcy cancellation), or 96(death cancellation) if the reprocessing date, paid-out date and the last monetary activity date are all over two years in the past.
   

• In loan status 94 (automatic write-off) or 95 (manual write-off) if the reprocessing date, paid-out date, and the last monetary date are all over five years in the past.
  
• In loan status 90 (paid-in-full) if the reprocessing date, paid-out date, and the last monetary date are all over twenty-four months in the past.
  

1. All year to date paid fields are equal to zero.
   
2. Calendar year interest paid is equal to zero.
   

• Calendar Year Capitalized Balance Paid must equal 0.00 before a loan can be archived.
  
• TRA Prior Year Interest Paid must equal 0.00 before a loan can be

archived.

1. Prior Year Interest Paid must equal 0.00 before a loan can be archived.

Note: Loans are archived at the borrower level. Therefore, all loans for a borrower must meet the above criteria before any loans for that borrower are archived. This includes loans that a borrower has with different lenders or loans that a borrower has with the same lender.

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Loan Consolidation Payment Code

Beginning in October, a new payment source code ‘H’ will be available to use in posting Loan Consolidation payments to your loans. To ensure that your Loan Consolidation payments are properly coded with the new ‘H’ source code, please report them to Campus Partners on a separate “Payment Transmittal – Itemized by Loan.’ Reporting consolidation payments separately and not intermingled with your ‘regular’ borrower payments will help ensure correct reporting of payments.

The new source code will also be reflected on the Cash Activity, Transactions and Adjustments Journal, and Monetary Transaction by Fund Issue reports. This new source code will allow you to isolate these specialized payments on the reports and can be used as a sort/selection option for report data downloaded from eXpressReports.

Please contact your customer service representative if you have any questions regarding the use of this new payment source code.

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New Products Update

Since March of this year, Campus Partners has undertaken a very aggressive product development schedule. We are happy to say that we released all these products-Cohort Right Track, E-Bill, eXpressReports, iPROMise, and E-Exit on time, as scheduled.

We also are on schedule for the beta launch of myReports, our new reports on demand tool, at the end of October. This product, with its easy to use interface, will allow you to create customized reports on your terms. Please see the attached Fact Sheet, which provides more details on myReports.

We are already enhancing our products to better meet your needs. Our thanks go to our customers who helped test these products and made recommendations for future enhancements. If you would like more information about any of our products or have any suggestions, please contact your School Relations Coordinator.

ATTACHMENT: myReports Fact Sheet

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DocumentDirect to be Discontinued

As we announced in the August Campus Partners Update, we are discontinuing access to DocumentDirect on October 15, 2004. Most customers have already transitioned to eXpressReports, our new report tool, because it is so easy to use. We are also releasing myReports this fall, which will be another powerful tool for report generation. (Please see the article above for more information on myReports.)

If you already have a DocumentDirect ID and password, you can get started using eXpressReports today. Just click on the eXpressReports icon on the home page of campuspartners.com, and you are ready to go. A link to eXpressReports documentation also is available on the eXpressReports log in page. If you have questions about eXpressReports, please contact our Help Desk at 1-800-458-4492 ext. 2111.

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Whirl Wind of Activity

It is that time of year when names are thrown around in the media. No, I do not mean George or John. I mean Bonnie, Charley, Frances, Ivan, Jeanne, and others. These hurricanes have hit the East Coast, just this year. If you have been watching the news, particularly the weather, you realize what damage these storms can cause. Although our office is located hundreds of miles inland, we can still feel the impact of these storms if high winds and torrential rains cause loss of power due to downed trees. This is another reason why we performed a disaster recovery test on August 25 through August 26 to make sure that we are ready for any catastrophe, no matter which way the wind is blowing. We were successful in recovering our systems while continuing to provide you with the level of service you have come to expect. These tests are part of our ongoing commitment to maintain reliable, effective processing services.

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If you are interested in registering for the workshop, please contact Debra Pitts at 1-800-458-4492, ext. 2272 or via e-mail at dpitts@campuspartners.com. Click here for a registration form and information on the workshop.

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Teleconference Schedule

Thinking about participating in one of our teleconferences, but don’t know how to sign up? Just e-mail Debra Pitts at dpitts@campuspartners.com at least three days before the scheduled teleconference to register. She will notify you of the telephone number that you need to call in a return e-mail. It’s free and is well worth your time to learn more about different aspects of servicing student loans.

Offering this training gives us the opportunity to reach student loan administrators who cannot attend a Student Loans 101 or 202 session in Winston-Salem. Each teleconference is geared towards understanding a particular topic and is an opportunity to gain new insights, ask questions of Campus Partners staff, and hear helpful suggestions from other schools.

All of our sessions are important and informative, but you will be especially interested in participating in the November 8 session on E-Exit, our new online Exit Counseling product

2004 Teleconference Training Schedule

Regional Meetings

We have four more regional meetings scheduled for the end of the year. Attending these meetings is a great way to learn about our new products and share your thoughts and opinions with our staff and other student loan administrators.

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Conference Schedule

Representatives from Campus Partners will attend the conferences listed below.

PDG will present its 25th National Student Loan/Receivables Collection Conference at East and West coast locations. The East Coast Conference will be held October 3-6 at the Registry Resort and Club in Naples, FL.

The West Coast Conference will be held on November 7-10 at Harvey’s Resort and Casino in Lake Tahoe, NV. More information about both conferences is available at https://www.prodev.com.

The 2004 Texas Bursars and University Cashiers' Conference (Texas BUC$) will be held on October 17-20 at the Embassy Suites-Love Field in Dallas, TX. The telephone number for the hotel is 214-357-4500.

The Minnesota Collection Network Mega Conference XII will be held October 25-27, 2004 at the Sheraton Bloomington in Bloomington, MN. The telephone number for the hotel is 952-835-7800. Information about the conference is available at www.mncollectionnetwork.com.

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Cutoff Dates

Cutoff dates for September and October 2004 are presented below. Cutoff dates for 2005 follow.

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2005 Cutoff Dates