New USA Funds Program Offers Student Loan Borrowers Periodic Debt Check

"Because most students can take out federal student loans for multiple years of study without having to sign additional paperwork, many postsecondary institutions desire an 'interim' counseling program, like USA Funds Loan Review, that keeps students informed of the amount they already owe and helps them estimate what their loan payments will be," said Denise B. Feser, USA Funds senior vice president, customer relations. "This information can encourage students to limit additional borrowing to what is necessary to meet their educational expenses and to what they can afford to repay."

USA Funds Loan Review displays student loan information - including lender, loan type and loan amount - from the Meteor network, a source of aggregated financial aid information. Students have the option of including information about additional student loans.

The tool also provides a graphical representation of the various loan repayment options, as well as a table of projected monthly payments and total interest costs under each repayment option for the student's specific outstanding loan balances and loan types.

Students can return to the tool whenever they wish to view updated information about their student loan balances and to re-evaluate their loan payment options.

USA Funds Loan Review is the latest addition to the USA Funds Loan Counselor(R) suite of online loan counseling programs, which includes the following additional components:

• USA Funds Stafford Loan Guide(SM) entrance counseling for undergraduate students.
• USA Funds Student Loan Transition Guide(SM) exit counseling for undergraduates.
• USA Funds Grad Guide(SM) entrance counseling for graduate students.
• USA Funds Grad Guide exit counseling for graduate students.
• USA Funds Parent PLUS Guide(SM) entrance counseling for parent PLUS loan borrowers.

The online programs help postsecondary institutions meet federal requirements for counseling student loan borrowers, while providing student- and parent-borrowers memorable guidance about federal education loan terms and options through easy-to-understand language, engaging graphics and videos, and interactive resources.

For additional information about USA Funds Loan Counselor and USA Funds Loan Review, visit the Financial Aid Professionals section of the USA Funds Web site, www.usafunds.org, and select "Default Prevention."

Headquartered in Indianapolis, USA Funds is a nonprofit corporation that works to enhance postsecondary education preparedness, access and success by providing and supporting financial and other valued services. For more information about USA Funds, visit www.usafunds.org.