Loan Exit Counseling

Payments may be made in the following forms:

• National Student Loan Data System
• Private school loans – contact the lender
• Biola-held loans (Federal Perkins, Federal Nursing, Biola University Loan, FAS Loan, Hermann Loan or Yates Loan) - Heartland ECSI
  • Educational Computer Systems, Incorporated (ECSI) is Biola’s loan servicing agency for Biola-held loans. Please visit ECSI online or call ECSI at (888) 549-3274 to:
    • Complete Loan Entrance or Exit Counseling
      
    • Make a loan payment
    • Set up automatic payments
    • Apply for a Perkins deferment or cancellation
    • View your Annual Disclosure Statements
    • Print your 1098-E Form
    • Set up an Authorized User using the Release of Information Authorization
To log into your account, you will either sign in or register to create a new profile. If it is your first time logging into the site, you will need your Heartland Key. To obtain your Heartland Key, call ECSI at (888) 549-3274 (Biola's school code is RG). 

Student Account Services Office, located in Lower Metzger West, administers Biola-held loans and can be contacted at (562) 903-4760 or loan.specialist@biola.edu.

Repayment begins when your grace period ends. Grace period begins when you:

• Graduate
• Drop below half-time
• Depart from the University

How long is the grace period?

• Most Federal loans - 6 months
• Private loans - contact the lender
• Biola-held loans (Federal Perkins, Federal Nursing, Biola, FAS, Hermann and Yates Institutional Loans) - 9 months

Please remember to inform your lenders within 10 days if your contact information changes (i.e. address, phone number, email address, etc.) in order to receive timely notifications about your loans. This is an important way to protect against delinquency.

• Lower credit scores
• Lose deferment benefits
• Late fees
• Sent to collection agency
• Collection costs
• Wages or tax refund garnished
• Trouble getting future loans for car, house or school

Timely loan repayment is vital for good credit. Your credit score is important and it is worth protecting!

• For Direct/Stafford Loan deferments, search postponing repayment at studentaid.ed.gov.
• For Federal Perkins deferments, go to Heartland ECSI or call (888) 549-3274.
• For other loan types, contact the lender to see if deferment options are available.

Contact each lender to find out where to send your payment. Multiple loans usually mean multiple payment addresses.

Consolidating your loans means combining all your federal loans into one loan with one monthly payment. Reasons to consolidate:

• One payment instead of several
• Easier to manage repayment
• Lower monthly payments
• If income is low, you may apply for income based repayment after consolidating

Reasons not to consolidate:

• Possible loss of loan cancellation benefits
• You plan to pay off some loans right away

For more information, visit studentloans.gov.