Student Loan Debt Help
Getting a clear read on your student loans
Before anything else, a counselor wants to know exactly what you're carrying: which loans, who services them, and where each one actually stands right now.
Chapter 01
WHAT THE FIRST CALL COVERS
If you call about student loan debt, you'll talk to a counselor who wants the specifics before anything else. That means going through each loan you have, who it's owed to or serviced by, and where it currently stands, rather than talking about student debt as a category in the abstract.
Nothing gets recommended off assumptions. Every borrower's mix of loans is different in ways that matter, and the right next step for one person's loans can be the wrong one for someone else's, even when the total balance looks similar on paper.
A closed leather folio on a desk with one blank sheet under a brass clip
Federal and private loans aren't the same conversation
Student loans generally fall into two broad categories: federal loans, issued or guaranteed by the government, and private loans, issued by a bank or other lender. They come with different servicers and different sets of rules, and a counselor will be upfront about which category each of your loans falls into before discussing anything specific to it.
This page won't tell you which path fits your loans, because that depends entirely on the loans themselves, who services them, and where your accounts stand today. That's exactly what the call is for, not a page written before anyone's seen your paperwork.
Chapter 03
Why it's worth calling before things feel urgent
Student loan debt tends to get harder to deal with the longer it sits unlooked-at, not because the loans themselves change but because the paperwork, statements and servicer details are easier to track down early than after an account has drifted into a difficult status.
Calling doesn't commit you to anything. It puts your specific loans in front of someone who can tell you plainly what your situation looks like once they've actually reviewed it, rather than guessing from a general description over the phone.
What to have ready
A recent statement for each loan helps, or at minimum the servicer's name and an approximate balance. If you're honestly not sure who services a loan anymore, that's common, and a counselor can help you work out where to look.
There's no credit check required to have this conversation, and no cost for the call itself. Any fees that apply to a specific path forward are explained plainly by your counselor once they understand your loans, never assumed in advance and never charged before you've agreed to anything.
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If credit card or other debt is part of the picture too
Student loans are often only one piece of what someone's carrying. If credit cards or other unsecured balances are also weighing on the budget, a counselor can look at those in the same call, and debt help is a good place to start for the wider picture. If it's specifically owed to the IRS, see IRS tax debt help.
Bring your loan details to the call
A counselor will go through your specific loans with you, at no cost, and explain plainly what your options look like once they've actually seen them.