ED began a process of notifying certain PLUS Loan applicants of their opportunity to be reconsidered for a loan. Those being notified were previously denied a PLUS Loan based upon their credit check that showed an adverse credit history, but are individuals whom ED believes will likely be approved if they request reconsideration of their original credit check. The first notification of such PLUS Loan applicants began on April 21, 2013. The individuals being informed of this opportunity are being notified by e-mail, unless ED does not have a valid e-mail address for them. In such cases, the individual is sent a letter by traditional mail. Applicants that are notified are instructed to contact ED’s Student Loan Support Center at 1-800-557-7394 for more information. If the applicant requests reconsideration in a timely manner, it may alleviate the need for an additional credit check. It is important that the PLUS Loan applicant is the one to contact the Student Loan Support Center and not the school or the student on behalf of the parent applicant. While ED does not guarantee that those who are reconsidered for the PLUS Loan will be approved, ED indicates that its experience shows that most of these applicants that ED has notified to request reconsideration are subsequently approved
To assist schools in knowing which applicants have been notified to request reconsideration, ED began including a flag in the Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) Web system. This method of alerting schools began on June 30, 2013. Schools are also made aware of the notification that occurred through the new Credit Check Reconsideration Eligibility Report that provides a list of these applicants. This report is only available via the Web and will be posted each week in the school’s COD Reporting Newsbox. It is delivered in a comma-separated-values format. It will not be offered through the Student Aid Internet Gateway (SAIG), and is not available to be requested on an ad-hoc basis, but rather only through the school’s Newsbox. The applicant that has been notified to request reconsideration of his or her credit check will only show on the report for a maximum of 180 days after the date of the credit check. Also, if the credit check is reconsidered and the PLUS applicant is subsequently approved for the loan, the applicant will no longer show on future Reconsideration reports.
(EA041913; EA062513)
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