Before 2020, Great Lakes was one of nine companies that managed federal student loans. But then, Great Lakes became a private student loan servicer and their contract with the US Department of Education was not renewed.
If you have previously had a loan with Great Lakes, you will see that it has been transferred to another servicer. Of course, your loan details have not changed, but from 2020 you are making payments to another company.
Great Lakes is not responsible for lending loans to borrowers. Their main task is to manage people’s loan payments. This company processes payments for its customers, sends them billing statements, checks loan balances, and answers and guides any questions and problems that may arise for their customers.
Great Lakes side duties to customers
After you graduate from college, you are responsible for repaying your student loans. If you have any problems, Great Lakes is committed to helping you.
- Great Lakes is responsible for helping and providing solutions to customers who have problems with repayment.
- They can help clients temporarily reduce payments and defer student loans.
- They can change the repayment plan of customers.
- They provide advice on student loan consolidation and help to complete the process.
For example, if you want to deferment your payment or change your payment plan, you should do this through Great Lakes and apply to them. Great Lakes allows students to choose their loan repayment plan. For example, if the student can’t afford the total monthly payment after graduation, they offer a plan for that student where the payment amount is small at the beginning and increase over time. They explain the payment plan and interest cost to the students.
Create your Great Lakes account
You must have your social security number to create an account at Great Lakes. You can find this number in your financial or bank statements. If you have no documentation to access this number, you should apply to the Social Security Administration for a new Social Security card.
To create an account, you should enter your information, such as your social security number, full name, and date of birth. After creating your account, you must also enter your phone number, address, and email. Be sure to save your username, password, and personal identification number in a safe place.
How to contact Great Lakes
If you need to contact this company for any reason, you can use the following methods:
- You can use your Great Lakes account and log in to it.
- Another method is to go to the contact page of the Great Lakes website. There is a form to fill in to request a contact via email.
- There is a phone number (800) 236-4300 for phone calls. You can call from 7 am to 9 pm, Monday to Friday.
- One of the other ways is (800) 375-5288 to send a fax.
- You can even send them mail. P.O. Box 7860, Madison, WI 53707-7860.
Great Lakes loan repayment methods
- Manual online payment
In this method, you should log into your account monthly and before the due date to make the payment manually.
- Automatic payment
You don’t need to do anything using this method. The payment amount will be deducted automatically on the due date. It is worth mentioning that in the automatic payment method (compared to the manual payment method), you will be given a 25% interest rate deduction. In addition, the lender may give you a discount.
- Payment using the mobile app
You can install the Great Lakes app on your phone and log in to your account. You can make your payments and see your loan details there. You can also activate the Great Lakes app notification to warn you before the payment is due and remind you to pay.
- Make a phone call to pay
You can call Great Lakes Mondays to Fridays, from 7 am to 9 pm, to make the payment. The phone number is 800-236-4300 for US customers and 608-246-1700 for international callers.
One of the ways to pay a loan is to mail money or a check. You must mention all the required details and information, including the reference number and payment insert.
Pay off your debt to the lender
When you pay off the entire loan, you will receive a letter from the lender wishing you well and announcing that your loans have been paid. You should keep this letter with you so that you can show it if there is a problem in the future or if the lender claims that you owe money.
