IMPORTANT NOTICE This Borrower's Rights and Responsibilities Statement provides additional information about the terms and conditions of the loans you receive under the accompanying Master Promissory Note (MPN) for Direct PLUS Loans. Please keep this Borrower's Rights and Responsibilities Statement for your records. You may request another copy of this Borrower's Rights and Responsibilities Statement at any time by contacting your servicer. Note to Endorser: 1. THE WILLIAM D. FORD FEDERAL DIRECT LOAN PROGRAM. The William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program includes the following types of loans, known collectively as "Direct Loans":
The Direct Loan Program is authorized by Title IV, Part D, of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, 20 U.S.C. 1070 et seq (HEA). Direct Loans are made by the U.S. Department of Education. We contract with servicers to service, answer questions about, and process payments on Direct Loans. We will provide you with the address and telephone number of your servicer after the school notifies us that the first disbursement of your loan has been made. 2. LAWS THAT APPLY TO THIS MPN. The terms and conditions of loans made under this MPN are determined by the HEA and other applicable federal laws and regulations. These laws and regulations are referred to as "the Act" throughout this Borrower's Rights and Responsibilities Statement. Under applicable state law, excepted as preempted by federal law, you may have certain borrower rights, remedies, and defenses in addition to those stated in the MPN and this Borrower's Rights and Responsibilities Statement. NOTE: Any amendment to the Act that affects the terms of this MPN will be applied to your loans in accordance with the effective date of the amendment. 3. DIRECT PLUS LOANS. Direct PLUS Loans are loans made to graduate or professional students or to parents of dependent undergraduate students to help pay for the cost of education beyond high school. ("Dependent" is defined in the Act and is different from the definition used by the Internal Revenue Service.) To be eligible for a Direct PLUS Loan:
We will check your credit history each time you request a Direct PLUS Loan. If you have an adverse credit history, you may not borrow a Direct PLUS Loan unless you: (1) Obtain an endorser who does not have an adverse credit history, or document to our satisfaction that there are extenuating circumstances related to the adverse credit history, and (2) Complete Direct PLUS Loan counseling that we provide. An endorser is someone who agrees to repay the Direct PLUS Loan if you do not do so. If you are a parent borrower, the endorser of a Direct PLUS Loan may not be the student for whom you are borrowing the loan. If you are a graduate or professional student, you must complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) and your school must determine your eligibility for the maximum annual Direct Subsidized Loan and Direct Unsubsidized Loan amounts before you apply for a Direct PLUS Loan. If you have questions about your eligibility for a Direct PLUS Loan, contact the financial aid office at the school you attend or are planning to attend or, if you are a parent borrower, the school the student attends or is planning to attend. 4. About the MPN.
You may receive more than one loan under this MPN over a period of up to 10 years to pay for your educational costs (if you are a graduate or professional student borrower) or for the educational costs of the student identified in in the Dependent Undergraduate Student Information section of the MPN (if you are a parent borrower), as long as the school is authorized to use the multi-year feature of the MPN and chooses to do so. If the school is not authorized to use the multi-year feature of the MPN or chooses not to do so, or if you do not want to receive more than one loan under this MPN, you must sign a new MPN for each loan that you receive. If you do not want to receive more than one loan under this MPN, you must notify the school or your servicer in writing. If you are a parent requesting more than one Direct PLUS Loan to pay for the educational costs of more than one dependent undergraduate student, you must sign a separate MPN for each student. You must also sign separate MPNs if you are a parent borrowing on behalf of a dependent undergraduate student and you also wish to obtain a Direct PLUS Loan to pay for your own attendance in a graduate or professional degree program. If we determine that you have an adverse credit history and you obtain an endorser (see Item 3, "Direct PLUS Loans"), you may receive only one loan under this MPN. If you later want to receive another Direct PLUS Loan, you must sign a new MPN. If you receive a loan under this MPN without an endorser, but are later determined to have an adverse credit history and obtain an endorser for a future Direct PLUS Loan, you will have to sign a new MPN for that loan. 5. Direct PLUS Loans and eligibility for other financial aid. If you borrow a Direct PLUS Loan, this may affect your eligibility for other financial aid. Therefore, we suggest that you contact the school's financial aid office to determine eligibility for grants, work-study funds, or other forms of federal, state and private student aid that do not have to be repaid before you apply for a Direct PLUS Loan. 6. Use of your loan money. You may use the loan money you receive only to pay for your authorized educational expenses or, if you are a parent borrower, for the student's authorized educational expenses for attendance at the school that determined you were eligible to receive the loan. Authorized expenses include the following:
7. INFORMATION YOU MUST REPORT TO US AFTER YOU RECEIVE YOUR LOAN. You must notify your servicer and/or the financial aid office at the school about certain changes. Until you or (if you are a parent borrower) the student graduate or otherwise leave school, you must notify the school's financial aid office if:
You must also notify your servicer if any of the above events occur at any time after you receive your loan. In addition, you must notify your servicer if you:
Note to Endorser: You must notify your servicer if you change your address, telephone number, name, or employer, or if your employer's address or telephone number changes. 8. AMOUNT YOU MAY BORROW. For each academic year, you may borrow up to - but not more than - the amount of your estimated cost of attendance (if you are a graduate or professional student borrower) or the student's estimated cost of attendance (if you are a parent borrower), minus the amount of any other financial aid received for that academic year. The school determines the cost of attendance using federal guidelines. It is important not to borrow more than you can afford to repay, even if you are eligible to borrow more. 9. INTEREST RATE. The interest rate on a Direct PLUS Loan is a fixed rate that is calculated in accordance with a formula specified in the Act. The interest rate is calculated each year. When the rate is calculated, it applies to all Direct PLUS Loans for which the first disbursement is made during the period beginning on July 1 of one year and ending on June 30 of the following year. Different interest rates may apply to separate loans made under this MPN depending on when the loan is first disbursed. The maximum interest rate for Direct PLUS Loans is 10.5%. We will notify you of the interest rate for each loan you receive in a disclosure statement that we send to you. If you qualify under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, the interest rate on your loans obtained prior to military service may be limited to 6% during your military service. Contact your servicer for information about how to request this benefit. Note to Endorser: You are eligible for the reduced interest rate described above based on the borrower's military service or your own military service, but only for a Direct PLUS Loan for which you signed an Endorser Addendum prior to the earlier of the beginning date of the borrower's military service or the beginning date of your military service. 10. Payment of interest. Except as provided below for borrowers who serve in the military, you are required to pay the interest that accrues on each Direct PLUS Loan you receive from the date the loan is first disbursed until it is repaid in full, including during periods of deferment or forbearance. No accrual of interest benefit for active duty service members Under the no accrual of interest benefit for active duty service members, you are not required to pay the interest that accrues on any type of Direct Loan Program loan first disbursed on or after October 1, 2008 during periods of qualifying active duty military service (for up to 60 months). Interest capitalization If you do not pay the interest as it accrues on a Direct PLUS Loan, as described above, we will add the accrued interest to the unpaid principal balance of your loan. This is called "capitalization." Capitalization increases the unpaid principal balance of your loan, and interest then accrues on the increased principal balance. We capitalize unpaid interest when you resume repayment after periods of deferment or forbearance. We may also capitalize unpaid interest that has accrued since the first disbursement of your loan when you enter repayment for the first time.The chart that follows shows the difference in the total amount you would repay on a $15,000 Direct PLUS Loan if you pay the interest as it is charged during a 12-month deferment or forbearance period, compared to the amount you would repay if you do not pay the interest and it is capitalized
The example in the chart above shows payments made under the Standard Repayment Plan at an interest rate of 10.5%, the maximum interest rate for a Direct PLUS Loan. In this example, you would pay $22 less per month and $975 less altogether if you pay the interest as it is charged during a 12-month deferment or forbearance period. 11. LOAN FEE For each Direct PLUS Loan you receive under this MPN, we charge a loan fee that is a percentage of the principal amount of each loan. This fee will be subtracted proportionately from each disbursement of your loan. The loan fee will be shown on a disclosure statement that we send to you. 12. INTEREST RATE REDUCTION FOR AUTOMATIC WITHDRAWAL OF PAYMENTS Under the automatic withdrawal option, your bank automatically deducts your monthly loan payment from your checking or savings account and sends it to us. Automatic withdrawal helps to ensure that your payments are made on time. In addition, you receive a 0.25% interest rate reduction while you repay under the automatic withdrawal option. Your servicer will provide you with information about the automatic withdrawal option. You can also get the information on your servicer's web site, or by calling your servicer. Your servicer's web site address and toll-free telephone number are provided on all correspondence that your servicer sends you.13. DISBURSEMENT (HOW YOUR LOAN MONEY WILL BE PAID OUT) Generally, the school will disburse (pay out) your loan money in more than one installment, usually at the beginning of each academic term (for example, at the beginning of each semester or quarter). If the school does not use academic terms or does not have academic terms that meet certain requirements, it will generally disburse your loan in at least two installments, one at the beginning of the period of study for which you are receiving the loan, and one at the midpoint of that period of study. The school determines the schedule for disbursing your loan money in accordance with the Act.
If you are a parent borrower, you may authorize the school to pay the credit balance to the student. 14. CANCELING YOUR LOAN Before your loan money is disbursed, you may cancel all or part of your loan at any time by notifying the school. After your loan money is disbursed, there are two ways to cancel all or part of your loan:
You do not have to pay interest or the loan fee on the part of your loan that is cancelled or returned within the timeframes described above. We will adjust your loan amount to eliminate any interest and loan fee that applies to the amount of the loan that is cancelled or returned. 15. REPAYING YOUR LOAN The repayment period for each Direct PLUS Loan made under this MPN begins on the date of the final disbursement for that loan. This means that the repayment period for each loan you receive under this MPN will begin on a different date. Unless you receive a deferment or forbearance (see Item 21), your first payment on each loan will be due within 60 days of the final disbursement of that loan. Your servicer will notify you of the date your first payment is due. Repayment plans for all Direct PLUS Loan borrowers: The following repayment plans are available to all Direct PLUS Loan borrowers:Standard Repayment Plan Under the Standard Repayment Plan, you will make fixed monthly payments and repay your loan in full within 10 years (not including periods of deferment or forbearance) from the date the loan entered repayment. Your payments must be at least $50 a month ($600 a year) and will be more, if necessary, to repay the loan within the required time period.Graduated Repayment Plan Under the Graduated Repayment Plan, you will usually make lower payments at first, and your payments will gradually increase over time. You will repay your loan in full within 10 years (not including periods of deferment or forbearance) from the date the loan entered repayment. Your scheduled monthly payment must at least be equal to the amount of interest that accrues each month. No single scheduled payment will be more than three times greater than any other payment.Extended Repayment Plan You are eligible for the Extended Repayment Plan only if (1) you have an outstanding balance on Direct Loans that exceeds $30,000, and (2) you had no outstanding balance on a Direct Loan as of October 7, 1998 or on the date you obtained a Direct Loan after October 7, 1998. Additional repayment plans only for graduate and professional student Direct PLUS Loan borrowers (parent Direct PLUS Loan borrowers may not repay their Direct PLUS Loans under these plans): If you are a graduate or professional student Direct PLUS Loan borrower, the following additional repayment plans are available: Revised Pay As You Earn Repayment Plan (REPAYE Plan) Under the REPAYE Plan, your monthly payment amount is generally 10% of your discretionary income. Discretionary income for this plan is the difference between your adjusted gross income and 150% of the poverty guideline amount for your state of residence and family size, divided by 12.If you are married, the income used to determine your REPAYE Plan payment amount will generally be the combined income of you and your spouse, regardless of whether you file a joint or separate federal income tax return. While you are repaying under the REPAYE Plan, you must provide documentation of your income (and, if you are married, your spouse's income) and certify your family size each year so that we may recalculate your payment amount. Under the REPAYE Plan, if all of the loans you are repaying under the plan were obtained for undergraduate study, any remaining loan amount will be forgiven after you have made the equivalent of 20 years of qualifying monthly payments over a period of at least 20 years. If any of the loans you are repaying under the REPAYE Plan were obtained for graduate or professional study, any remaining loan amount will be forgiven after you have made the equivalent of 25 years of qualifying monthly payments over a period of at least 25 years. You may have to pay federal income tax on the loan amount that is forgiven. Pay As You Earn Repayment Plan (PAYE Plan) Under the PAYE Plan, your monthly payment amount is generally 10% of your discretionary income. Discretionary income for this plan is the difference between your adjusted gross income and 150% of the poverty guideline amount for your state of residence and family size, divided by 12.If you are married and file a joint federal income tax return, the income used to determine your PAYE Plan payment amount will be the combined adjusted gross income of you and your spouse. If you are married and file a separate federal income tax return from your spouse, only your individual adjusted gross income will be used to determine your PAYE Plan payment amount.
The PAYE Plan is available only to new borrowers. You are a new borrower for the PAYE Plan if: Income-Based Repayment Plan (IBR Plan) Under the IBR Plan, your monthly payment amount is generally 15% (10% if you are a new borrower; see Note below) of your discretionary income. Discretionary income for this plan is the difference between your adjusted gross income and 150% of the poverty guideline amount for your state of residence and family size, divided by 12.
If you are married and file a joint federal income tax return, the loan amount we use to determine whether you qualify for the IBR Plan will include your eligible loans and your spouse's eligible loans.
If you are married and file a separate federal income tax return from your spouse, the loan amount we use to determine whether you qualify for the IBR Plan will include only your eligible loans. Under the IBR Plan, if your loan is not repaid in full after you have made the equivalent of 25 years (20 years if you are a new borrower) of qualifying monthly payments over a period of at least 25 years (20 years if you are a new borrower), any remaining loan amount will be forgiven. You may have to pay federal income tax on the loan amount that is forgiven. NOTE: You are a new borrower for the IBR Plan if you have no outstanding balance on a Direct Loan or a FFEL Program loan on July 1, 2014, or if you have no outstanding balance on a Direct Loan or a FFEL Program loan on the date you obtain a Direct Loan after July 1, 2014. Your servicer will determine whether you are a new borrower based on the information about your loans in the U.S. Department of Education's National Student Loan Data System. Income Contingent Repayment Plan (ICR Plan) Under the ICR Plan, your monthly payment amount will be either 20% of your discretionary income or a percentage of what you would repay under a Standard Repayment Plan with a 12-year repayment period, whichever is less. Discretionary income for this plan is the difference between your adjusted gross income and the poverty guideline amount for your state of residence and family size, divided by 12. Additional repayment plan information If you are a graduate or professional student, these repayment plans will be explained in more detail during your exit counseling session
Under each plan, the number or amount of payments may need to be adjusted to reflect capitalized interest and/or new loans made to you. Note to Endorser: If you are making payments on the borrower's Direct PLUS Loan, you may request a change of repayment plans by contacting your servicer. We apply your payments made under any repayment plan other than the IBR Plan and the Pay As You Earn Plan in the following order:
There is no penalty if you make loan payments before they are due, or pay more than the amount due each month (prepayments). We apply any prepayments in accordance with the Act. Your servicer can provide more information about how prepayments are applied. When you have repaid a loan in full, your servicer will send you a notice telling you that you have paid off your loan. You should keep this notice in a safe place. 16. TRANSFER OF LOAN We may transfer one or all of your loans to another servicer. If there is a change in the address to which you must send payments or direct communications, we will notify you of the new servicer's name, address and telephone number, the effective date of the transfer, and the date when you must begin sending payments or directing communications to that servicer. Transfer of a loan to a different servicer does not affect your rights and responsibilities under that loan.17. LATE CHARGES AND COLLECTION COSTS If you do not make any part of a payment within 30 days after it is due, we may require you to pay a late charge. This charge will not be more than six cents for each dollar of each late payment. If you do not make payments as scheduled, we may also require you to pay other charges and fees involved in collecting your loan.18. DEMAND FOR IMMEDIATE REPAYMENT The entire unpaid amount of your loan becomes due and payable (this is called "acceleration") if you:
19. DEFAULTING ON YOUR LOAN. Default (failing to repay your loan) is defined in detail in the Terms and Conditions section of your MPN (Section F). If you default:
20. CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCY NOTIFICATION. Note to Endorser: 21. DEFERMENT AND FORBEARANCE (POSTPONING PAYMENTS). General If you meet certain requirements, you may receive a deferment that allows you to temporarily stop making payments on your loan.If you cannot make your scheduled loan payments, but do not qualify for a deferment, we may give you a forbearance. A forbearance allows you to temporarily stop making payments on your loan, temporarily make smaller payments, or extend the time for making payments. Deferment You may recieve a derferment:
You may be eligible to receive additional deferments if, at the time you received your first Direct Loan, you had an outstanding balance on a loan made under the FFEL Program before July 1, 1993. If you meet this requirement, contact your servicer for information about additional deferments that may be available. Note to Endorser: You are not eligible to receive a deferment.
Forbearance
We may give you a forbearance if you are temporarily unable to make your scheduled loan payments for reasons including, but not limited to, financial hardship and illness.
To request a forbearance, contact your servicer. Your servicer can explain the eligibility and documentation requirements for the type of forbearance you are requesting. You may also obtain information on forbearance eligibility requirements from your servicer's web site.
You are responsible for paying the interest on a Direct PLUS Loan during a period of forbearance. Note to Endorser: You may request a forbearance. 22. DISCHARGE (having your loan forgiven). Death Bankruptcy Total and permanent disabilityWe will discharge (forgive) your loan if:
School closure False certification Identity theft Unpaid refund In certain cases, we may also discharge all or a portion of your loan if:
Public Service Loan Forgiveness A Public Service Loan Forgiveness program is also available. Under this program, we will forgive the remaining balance due on your eligible Direct Loan Program loans after you have made 120 payments on those loans (after October 1, 2007) under certain repayment plans while you are employed full-time in certain public service jobs. The required 120 payments do not have to be consecutive.Additional loan discharge information The Act may provide for certain loan forgiveness or repayment benefits on your loans in addition to the benefits described above.For a discharge based on your death or the death of the child on whose behalf you obtained a Direct PLUS Loan, a family member must contact your loan servicer. To request loan discharge or forgiveness based on one of the other conditions described above (except for a discharge due to bankruptcy), you must complete an application. Your servicer can tell you how to apply. In some cases you may assert, as a defense against collection of your loan, that the school did something wrong or failed to do something that it should have done. You can make such a defense against repayment only if the school's act or omission directly relates to your loan or to the educational services that the loan was intended to pay for, and if what the school did or did not do would give rise to a legal cause of action against the school under applicable state law. If you believe that you have a defense against repayment of your loan, contact your servicer. We do not guarantee the quality of the academic programs provided by schools that participate in federal student financial aid programs. You must repay your loan even if you or (if you are a parent borrower) the student do not complete the education paid for with the loan, are unable to obtain employment in the field of study for which the school provided training, or are dissatisfied with, or do not receive, the education paid for with the loan. Note to Endorser: If we discharge the full amount of the borrower's loan for any of the conditions described above, you are no longer obligated to make any payments on the loan. However, if a loan is reinstated after a discharge, you will again be obligated to make payments on the loan if the borrower does not make payments. 23. LOAN CONSOLIDATION. A Direct Consolidation Loan Program is available that allows you to consolidate one or more of your eligible federal education loans into a new loan with a single monthly payment, and may allow you to extend the period of time that you have to repay your loans. This may make it easier for you to repay your loans. However, you will pay more interest if you extend your repayment period through consolidation, since you will be making payments for a longer period of time. Contact your servicer for more information about loan consolidation. Note to Endorser: You are not eligible to apply for a Direct Consolidation Loan to repay a Direct PLUS Loan for which you are the endorser.
24. Department of Defense and other federal agency loan repayment. Under certain circumstances, military personnel may have their federal education loans repaid by the Secretary of Defense. This benefit is offered as part of a recruitment program that does not apply to individuals based on their previous military service or to those who are not eligible for enlistment in the U.S. Armed Forces. For more information, contact your local military service recruitment office. |