Schools Share Best Practices, Discuss Enhancements for USA Funds Debt Manager
Financial-aid professionals from 12 postsecondary institutions recently gathered in Denver to share best practices in using USA Funds® Debt ManagerSM, and to learn more about USA Funds’ plans for the Web-based tool. USA Funds Debt Manager makes it easy for schools to stay in contact with student-loan borrowers to promote successful loan repayment and combat loan defaults.
Using USA Funds Debt Manager, schools can design their own strategies for contacting borrowers by mail or by telephone. They can select which borrower groups to contact and determine when and how to contact them. By targeting their communications to specific borrower groups, they can maximize the impact of their communications to help former students avoid the additional costs of late payments and loan default.
In addition to discussing best practices for using USA Funds Debt Manager, participants learned about new features, such as e-mail capability, that will be available in the spring-2006 updates to USA Funds Debt Manager.
Sharing ideas
Erma Ruiz, debt-management supervisor, International Academy of Design & Technology, Tampa, Fla., was pleased to learn that one strategy her staff employs with USA Funds Debt Manager was of particular interest to other meeting participants. Rather than waiting for the 60-90-day loan-delinquency period, Ruiz and her staff send letters to students who are 20 days or more late with their loan payments. Ruiz says she wants to reach students before their credit reports are affected and notes that the strategy also plays into the school’s student-retention efforts. Additionally, she says that students who are 20 days late often are easier to locate than those in the 60-90-day-late period.
“Our logic is that if a student is 20 days late with a payment, there already is a problem,” Ruiz says. “If we can eliminate those students who fall behind in the 20-to-30-day period, we will drastically decrease the number in the 60-to-90 and 120-plus delinquency periods. This idea was like giving a piece of candy to the other participants. They really want to try this too.
“I wouldn’t have missed this meeting for anything,” she continues. “I was proud of my staff. I learned that we’re doing as much and even more than other schools. I’m a strong believer in USA Funds Debt Manager.”
Debbie Beck, assistant director of financial aid at Yavapai College in Prescott and Verde Valley, Ariz., was surprised to learn that schools are using USA Funds Debt Manager in many different ways.
“The meeting was an eye-opener,” Beck says. “I learned that USA Funds Debt Manager is not just for letters. Schools are using it to the fullest extent. I came away from the meeting with a lot of great ideas. I plan to change my strategies due to the other schools’ input.”
Looking to the future
Beck plans to participate in USA Funds Debt Manager webcasts to learn how to get the most out of the tool. She also notes that in learning about the next release, she found that USA Funds had incorporated suggestions from those using the tool in developing updates.
Pamela Weidner, default-prevention manager, Professional Careers Institute (now owned by Kaplan Higher Education), Indianapolis, enjoyed the camaraderie among the schools as they shared best practices and gave suggestions on how to enhance USA Funds Debt Manager.
“It was nice to relate to others who work on the same issues that I do,” Weidner says. “I used to do all of our communications to student borrowers manually. As soon as I heard that this was a queue-oriented system, I wanted to use it. It’s so much easier. We send letters to all of our students and use different strategies for current borrowers and defaulted borrowers.”
She will change some of her strategies based on what she learned at the meeting. Weidner looks forward to the 2006 release because of the new e-mail capability that will be available.
For more information about USA Funds Debt Manager, contact your debt-management consultant.