Federal PERKINS Loan Assignment // Financial Services Students // UCI

As part of the wind down of the Perkins Loan Program, the Secretary of the Department of Education (DoE) requires all institutions to assign to the department all Perkins Loans that have been in default for more than two years. Unless the institution has documentation that these borrowers are making payments toward their Perkins loan debt, institutions are required to assign all Perkins Loans that have been in default for more than two years to the Department.

Federal Perkins Loan Program Mandatory Assignment of Perkins loans in Default for More than 2 Years (EA ID: GENERAL-21-53)

A loan assignment is a process undertaken by an institution to assign its rights relating to a borrower’s loan to another entity. The institution relinquishes its rights to any share of payments collected for that loan after the loan has been successfully accepted and assigned.

When a school assigns a loan to the department and the loan is accepted for assignment, the school is transferring all rights and responsibility for servicing and collection on the loan to the United States government.

When the institution has exhausted all its available collection options to collect payments for a Perkins Loans in default over 2 years, the institution will assign these loans to the department so that additional steps can be taken to recover the loan funds. The department has collection tools that are not available to schools, such as administrative wage garnishment, Treasury offset, and litigation by the Department of Justice.

Once the institution initiates the loan assignment process, the institution’s Loan Servicer (ECSI) will send an initial notification letter to the borrower. This will inform the borrower that his/her Federal Perkins loan is being assigned to the department. A second letter is sent to the borrower once the loan has been accepted and assigned to the DoE.

Once the loan is accepted and assigned to the DoE, it becomes the property of the department, and the institution can no longer accept any payments from the borrower for that loan. DO NOT contact UCI as the institution no longer has ownership of the assigned loan.

If the borrower has any questions regarding the assigned loan or wishes to satisfy the debt, the borrower must contact the US Department of Education directly.

Perkins Loan Servicer Borrower Contact Information:

Borrower Payments should be mailed to:

U.S. Department of Education
ECSI Federal Perkins Loan Servicer
P.O. Box 6200-31 Portland, OR 97228

Borrowers wishing to satisfy their debts once their loans have been accepted for assignment should contact:

Department’s Borrower Customer Service Center at 866-313-3797.

Borrower Correspondence should be mailed to:

U.S. Department of Education
ECSI Federal Perkins Loan Servicer
P.O. Box 1079 Wexford, PA 15090