Membership offers schools, lenders service options
USA Funds Renews Membership in ELM Resources
INDIANAPOLIS—USA Funds® today announced that it has renewed its membership in ELM Resources, a mutual benefit corporation that supports the delivery and management of education loans. Previously an ELM member since 1999 through its affiliation with USA Group, USA Funds has assumed the ELM membership in its own name, as an unaffiliated, nonprofit education-loan guarantor.
In announcing the decision, USA Funds President and CEO Carl C. Dalstrom reported that the action is consistent with USA Funds' mission in support of access to education and its long-standing commitment to improve service under the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP).
"We are dedicated to meeting the diverse needs of our customers," Dalstrom explained. "ELM is a preferred delivery option for some of our school customers. In addition, we seek to work with all education lenders, and those lenders that are members of ELM obviously believe the advancement of ELM services furthers their business objectives. We want to be supportive of our customers' preferences."
Dalstrom noted that USA Funds will continue to support other education-loan-service options for its customers.
"Membership in ELM is consistent with our support of collaborative efforts among FFELP participants to strengthen the student-loan program," Dalstrom noted. "Because we believe strongly in these cooperative efforts, we will be assertive advocates for the cooperation of ELM with other industry initiatives, like the Meteor Project."
USA Funds is one of the sponsors working with the National Council of Higher Education Loan Programs (NCHELP) on the Meteor Project. The project aims to provide guarantors, lenders and student-loan secondary markets with the capability of offering students comprehensive financial-aid data from all sources and to deliver these services in real time over the World Wide Web.
While supporting ELM and other FFELP-improvement initiatives, USA Funds also continues to enhance its own loan-delivery solutions. "We plan to invest approximately $25 million annually in research and development of new and enhanced education-loan services, including improved origination and disbursement processes," Dalstrom reported. "We intend to make available to our customers the widest range of high-quality loan-delivery services."
ELM Resources is an alliance of lenders that created interactive Web software to assist in the uniform delivery of student loans to schools, lenders and guarantors.