NOTE: The United States Department of Education has announced the ending of the Federal Perkins Loan Program as of September 30, 2015. Federal Perkins Loans cannot be disbursed after this date.
Terms and Repayment
Interest will begin to accrue nine (9) months after a borrower graduates or ceases to be a half time student at an annual percentage rate of 5% based on the unpaid balance. Depending on the amount you borrowed you may be allowed up to ten years for repayment of your Federal Perkins Loan.
All disclosure notices and invoices for the Perkins loan will come from our billing agent, Heartland ECSI. Please visit ECSI's website, home.ecsi.net.
The borrower is responsible for informing either Student Account Services or ECSI when there is any change in the borrower's name, address, telephone number, email address, or social security number. The Perkins Loan database is not updated when changes are made with the Registrar's Office.
If you are willing but unable to meet your loan payment obligation, then you may qualify for a deferment or forbearance. There are many options available. All deferment and forbearance requests must be made in writing. Click here to download the request forms.
Borrowers working in certain public service areas may qualify to have all or part of their Perkins Loan cancelled over a five year period. Examples of positions that qualify for the Perkins loan cancellation benefit are full time nurses, law enforcement, public defenders, and teachers working in low income areas. All cancellation requests must be made in writing. You can download the ECSI request form here. The borrower is responsible for submitting the appropriate requests on time, and may lose this benefit if requests are not on time.
If a borrower defaults, it means you failed to make payments on your student loan according to the terms of your promissory note, the binding legal document you signed at the time you took out your loan. NKU and the federal government both take action to recover the money the borrower owes. Here are some consequences of default:
National credit bureaus are notified of your default which will harm your credit rating.
You will be ineligible for additional federal student aid if you decide to return to school until the Perkins loan is brought up to date.
State and federal income tax refunds can be withheld and applied toward the amount you owe.
You will have to pay late fees and collection costs on top of what you already owe.
You can be sued.
The school will also accelerate a defaulted loan. Acceleration means that the school demands immediate payment of the entire unpaid balance of the loan, including principal, interest, late charges, and collection costs. The borrower will lose their right to receive cancellation benefits for service that is performed after the date the school or the department accelerated the loan.
Loan Rehabilitation is a special type of payment arrangement developed by the federal government to assist student loan borrowers who have entered default. To complete rehabilitation of your Perkins Loan, you must make nine consecutive, on time monthly payments. Once rehabilitation is completed on your loan, your account will be returned to current status and all prior negative credit history will be removed. You will also receive the full benefits of your original promissory note, including deferment, forbearance and cancellation. Rehabilitation may only be completed one time on a Perkins Loan.
You are able to consolidate the Perkins Loan with other Federal Direct Student Loans. If you have already consolidated your Direct Loans, please contact your lender to see if the Perkins Loan can be added. Please reach out to Heartland ECSI with any questions.
