A student-loan company's call center briefly shut down because of 'technical issues' after it started notifying borrowers of their monthly payment amount in October
- The student-loan company Nelnet started notifying borrowers of their monthly payments in October.
- Borrowers soon took to X to complain about their inability to reach the company's customer service.
After student-loan borrowers got word of how much their payments would be this fall, they had questions — and one student-loan company couldn't provide answers.
For the past few days, Nelnet — a major federal-loan servicer — started notifying borrowers of their monthly payment amount once repayment resumes in October after a pause of more than three years. The debt-ceiling bill President Biden signed into law at the beginning of June codified the end of the student-loan-payment pause. As a result, the Education Department instructed servicers to begin notifying borrowers of their monthly payments at least 21 days before the bill became due.
Nelnet followed the department's instructions and began sending emails to borrowers informing them of the looming payment restart, but it didn't seem to go smoothly. Many borrowers took to X, formerly Twitter, to express confusion with the emails they received from Nelnet — but those who attempted to call the company for help said they experienced hourslong hold times and were even told that the call center was closed.
"Hello, the call center line was closed to due some technical issues we were having. It is currently operating again," Nelnet wrote on X on Wednesday in response to a borrower who said she "just called your call center at 1:30pm on a Wednesday, just so the automated system can say your call center isn't open, yet your site says it is until 9pm. Hmm."
And on Thursday, in response to a borrower saying on X that they were experiencing a 54-minute hold time, Nelnet said, "we apologize for the higher than normal hold times as we are currently receiving an influx of calls."
A borrower said that the website wasn't loading and that they couldn't access their account. Another user said that "the last 5 times I've tried logging into your system the past 30 days, I'm stuck at the Login screen with no errors, just a blank page."
Nelnet continued to respond to borrowers on X about the large volume of calls and emails and recently wrote that "we are currently working emails as quickly as possible due to an influx of emails. There isn't an exact turn around time that I am able to give." It said borrowers with "in depth questions" should call 888.486.4722 or email nelnetcustomersolutions@nelnet.net. Insider was unable to immediately reach the company for comment.
The struggles borrowers are already experiencing could be a sign of the administrative issues to come once the student-loan system is officially overturned. The Education Department and student-loan servicers have never transitioned millions of borrowers back into repayment at this scale. The lack of funding for Federal Student Aid could contribute to the difficulties borrowers are experiencing.
House Republicans recently proposed $1.8 billion for student-aid administration. This would be a cut of $265 million below the current level — and could jeopardize how effectively student loans were administered, how well servicers were staffed, and the department's ability to implement reforms to repayment programs.
Federal Student Aid said in a January report that "return to repayment will be a huge undertaking for FSA."
"FSA's loan servicing partners are integral to the success of the future return to repayment plan, but the world of servicing federal student loans is changing rapidly," it continued. "Collaboration with the servicers in the development of detailed outreach strategies will support a successful end of the administrative forbearance period."
Do you have concerns with the return to student-loan repayment? Are you running into issues with your servicer? Share your story with this reporter at asheffey@insider.com.