Summary: Approval of the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Forbearance Form for the Federal Family Education Loan Program and Approval of the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Application and Unpaid Refund Discharge Form for the Federal Family Education Loan and the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Programs

November 2001

Gen-01-15

G-01-333

L-01-227

Subject: Approval of the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Forbearance Form for the Federal Family Education Loan Program and Approval of the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Application and Unpaid Refund Discharge Form for the Federal Family Education Loan and the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Programs

Dear Guaranty Agency Director:

This letter will serve as approval of the enclosed forbearance, forgiveness and discharge forms. There is one form used to evaluate a borrower's eligibility for a Teacher Loan Forgiveness Forbearance of a Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program loan and two separate forms used to evaluate a borrower's eligibility for Teacher Loan Forgiveness or Unpaid Refund Discharge of a FFEL Program and William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program loan. The forms reflect the unique federal requirements pertaining to--

· Granting forbearance to an eligible borrower who is performing qualified teaching service and who, after completing five consecutive complete academic years of teaching, will have an outstanding balance of $5,000 or less,

· An eligible borrower obtaining loan forgiveness benefits after performing qualified teaching service in an elementary or secondary school in a low-income community for five consecutive complete years, and

· Granting a discharge to an eligible borrower who should have received a refund from his or her school, but did not.

Implementation and Transition to New Forms

These OMB-approved forms may be made available for immediate use. They are the only forms that should be distributed to borrowers, schools, and lenders on or after May 1, 2002. However, borrowers' submissions made under other methods used to provide these forbearance, forgiveness, or discharge benefits in place prior to May 1, 2002 may be accepted for processing on or after that date.

Imaging Technology

Each of the enclosed forms (forbearance, forgiveness and discharge) request the borrower to complete and sign the form in ink. This request is made to accommodate imaging technology, but a pencil signature does not invalidate the form. This is consistent with the use of other common FFEL and Direct Loan forms.

In developing the forms, consideration was given to bar coding. Accordingly, the space at the top, bottom, or sides of the forms may be used for this purpose.

Page 2 - Dear Guaranty Agency Letter

Printing Instructions

The enclosed forms must be printed with black ink on white paper. The type face, point size and general presentation of the forms may not be changed from the enclosed forms approved by the Secretary. However, you have the option of removing the bold type in the field names. You may also add bold and italic type to the instructions. The order of the program names that appear throughout the forms (“William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program/Federal Family Education Loan Program”) may be reversed depending on which program is using the forms.

Obtaining Copies for Reproduction

Arrangements have been made to provide the necessary distribution of these forms. Forms will be available on the NCHELP Web Site in PDF format. Guaranty agencies are responsible for ensuring that the forms used by the agency and its lenders are identical to the forms approved by the Secretary. No changes may be made to the forms except those expressly authorized above.