“Federal Family Education Loan Program” (“FFEL”)- is a federal program under which private lenders used their own funds to make federal student loans to borrowers to pay for secondary education (college). These Loans were guaranteed by guaranty agencies that insured these funds, which were, in turn, reinsured by the federal government.
The FFEL loan program was discontinued as of July 1, 2010 by enactment of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. No new FFEL Program loans have been made since then.
The largest originator of FFEL loans was the well-known student loan company Sallie Mae (now called Navient). FFEL loans are serviced by the guarantors, nonprofit companies that provide support for the administration of FFEL Loans. The most well know of these guarantors are:
- Educational Credit Management Corporation (“ECMC”),
- Higher Education Loan Authority of the State of Missouri (commonly referred to as “MOHELA”); and
- Great Lakes Educational Loan Services, Inc. (“Great Lakes”); and
- Nelnet Diversified Solutions, LLC.
Because FFEL loans are federal loans, all the benefits of federal loans like income driven repayment and loan forgiveness are available to FFEL borrowers.