Hurricane Katrina Victims Get Some Much Needed Student Loan Repayment Relief

Here's a snippet from a recent press release:

"American Education Services (AES) announced today that it is suspending student loan debt payments for borrowers residing in those areas affected by Hurricane Katrina to help alleviate their financial burden.

With sympathy for the tremendous losses facing these individuals and families, AES is identifying customer accounts and automatically applying the three-month Disaster Forbearance to these Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) loans starting on the date of Hurricane Katrina.

'Our hearts go out to the people and families affected by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina,' said Dick Willey, AES President and CEO. 'As individuals there are many ways in which we can help, but as a student aid agency we felt that the obvious first step was to lift some of the burden of student loan debt off of their shoulders. These people have lost too much already and there's no need to place the added threat of default on top of that, if they should fall behind on a payment while dealing with this
disaster.'

Borrowers with private loans should contact AES directly at 1-800-233-0557 for guidelines and eligibility requirements.

Borrowers called to Active Duty due to Hurricane Katrina are eligible for a three-month Administrative Military Mobilization Forbearance. The request may be made by the borrower himself or by a reliable third party to 1-800-233-0557.

Earlier this week, AES announced the Hurricane Katrina Emergency Grant Assistance Fund for students and families affected by Hurricane Katrina. This $2 million fund will provide free grant assistance to students through postsecondary schools in Pennsylvania, West Virginia or Delaware.

The schools will award these funds to displaced students who lived in or attended a postsecondary school within the federally designated disaster area and have transferred to a school in Pennsylvania, West Virginia or Delaware. AES is the federally designated student loan guarantor in those states.

Grant awards are available to residents of any state; however, the student or family must have experienced financial loss due to Hurricane Katrina.

The Fund will provide grant awards of up to $2,500 per student and will be funded by AES business earnings, not tax dollars."

--> CLICK HERE TO VOTE IN THE STUDENT LOAN POLL <--