How Payments Are Applied

You may pay your loans in full at any time without penalty. If you would like to pay one or more loans in full, please call (800) 243-7552 or log in to your online account for an accurate payoff amount.

Note: The loan balance listed on a billing statement is not a valid payoff amount because it does not include daily interest accrued since the bill was created. Insufficient payoff amounts may be returned to you.

After obtaining your payoff amount, send payment in full to:

Special Handling
Aspire Servicing Center
Attn: Payment Processing Supervisor
6775 Vista Drive
West Des Moines, IA 50266-9305

Payments received with a bill stub will be applied to loans listed on that billing statement.

Payments received without a bill stub will be applied proportionately to all loans in your account.

Allocate your payment in a different manner.

Interest accrues daily, and your payment is first applied to either outstanding interest or late charges, as shown below. Any remainder after interest and late charges are paid is applied to principal.

More about late charges

Late charges may be assessed when a payment is not received by the due date. The amount of the charge and the day it is assessed depends on loan type.

More about outstanding interest

Any outstanding interest that has accrued must be paid before any amount is applied to principal.

View example under "How is interest calculated on student loans?" in Frequently Asked Questions.

A payment may be applied — reflected on your account transactional history and viewed through your online account — one to two business days after it is received but it will be treated as effective according to the guidelines below.

The frequency of your payments can affect the amount of interest that accrues on your student loans. Student loans accrue interest on a daily basis. If more days pass between payments, more interest accrues and less of your payment is applied to principal.

Making payments before the due date

If your previous payment was received on your due date, and the next month's payment is received prior to the due date, less daily interest will have accrued than if you had waited until your due date to make the payment.

If you consistently make your payments fewer than 30 days apart, your account may pay off earlier than the final payoff date or maturity date, and you may pay less in overall interest.

Making payments on the due date

When your payments are applied to your account on your due date every month, your loan will be paid in full by the end of its term.

Making payments after the due date

If your previous payment was received on your due date, and the next month's payment is received after the due date, more daily interest would have accrued than if you had made your payment on your due date.

Billing statements are created approximately 20 days before your next due date. If you make a late payment after your next statement is created, that statement will not reflect your recent payment.

If you continually make payments late and pay more interest than your repayment plan originally set forth, your monthly payment amount may increase so that your loan pays off within the term of the loan.

The amount of your payment in relation to the amount due affects future payments.

Paying more than the amount due

You may pay more than your minimum monthly payment on your Aspire Servicing Center account at any time without penalty. Paying more than the minimum monthly payment amount may save you money on interest.

Paying less than the amount due

If you are not able to pay the full amount due each month and make only a partial payment, the remaining amount will be considered past due and added to the amount due for the next billing period. If your account has multiple loans, you can give us special instructions to allocate partial payments to individual loans within your account. Doing so may allow you to avoid late charges or negative credit reporting on those individual loans. Without special payment instructions, partial payments will be allocated proportionally to multiple loans in your account, which may result in late charges or negative credit reporting for each loan.

Making no payment or skipping a payment

If you don't make a payment, your next billing statement will reflect the past due amount along with the current payment amount.

If you are unable to make your monthly payment, you may be able to delay a payment.

Aspire Servicing Center reports all borrower accounts to the national consumer reporting agencies every month and may report late or missing payments at 30 days or more past due. Even if you later bring your account current through payment or assistance, or even pay your account in full, that does not change previous, accurate credit reporting.

In addition, if you make partial payments, miss payments or pay late, more daily interest accrues on your account and you may incur late charges. Greater portions of your subsequent payments will apply to outstanding interest and late charges and less to principal. Over time, partial missing or late payments can increase your loan balance through capitalization of accrued interest.

You may pay more than your minimum monthly payment at any time without penalty. Your account may become paid ahead.

Sending an additional amount along with my required monthly payment

When you send an additional amount along with your required monthly payment, the additional amount will apply to principal as long as all outstanding interest and late charges have been satisfied.

Sending an additional amount separate from the required monthly payment

When you send an additional payment separate from your required monthly payment amount, your payment will apply to interest accrued from the date of your most recent payment, any late charges and then to your principal balance proportionately across all loans unless you request to apply the funds to a specific loan.

Your account becomes paid ahead when you have paid more than the required monthly payment amount and have either satisfied or paid a portion of a future bill.

Note: Interest continues to accrue on student loans every day, even if your billing statement shows $0.00 or a reduced amount due. Continuing to make payments that at least cover interest will ensure that more of your next payment is applied to principal.

Satisfying one or more full payments

If you have satisfied the entire amount of a future bill, your billing statement will reflect a $0.00 amount due, but it does not mean that the interest has stopped accruing. If you choose to not make a payment while paid ahead, your loan will not be considered past due, but the next payment you make will first be applied to the outstanding interest that has accrued since the last time you paid and then any remaining amount will be applied to the principal balance.

Satisfying a partial payment

If you satisfy only part of a future bill, your billing statement will reflect a reduced amount due, but it does not mean that the interest has stopped accruing. If you choose to make a reduced payment while paid ahead, your loan will not be considered past due, but the next payment you make will first be applied to the outstanding interest that has accrued since the last time you paid and then any remaining amount will be applied to the principal balance.

Removing the paid ahead status from billing statements

If you prefer to have your billing statement reflect the monthly installment due, please request the paid ahead status be removed from your account.

Without special instructions, payments are allocated to multiple loans in your account. You may allocate payments as you choose, but please consider paying at least the minimum monthly amount due for each loan to avoid delinquency.

You may allocate a one-time payment differently or you may provide allocation instructions for all future payments. You may use the Future Payment Allocation Form (PDF) to allocate all future payments.

Note: Regardless of any special handling instructions, all outstanding interest on the affected loans must be satisfied before funds may be applied to principal.

For mailed payments, include your account number, the sequence number of the loan(s) you want the payment to be applied to and the payment amount for each loan sequence. For example, if you want half of a $100 payment to be applied equally to loan sequence numbers 005 and 006, include a note indicating that $50 should be applied to loan sequence number 005 and $50 should be applied to loan sequence 006.

You may also designate payments made online by:

1. Creating an online account using the Account Access box on this page, if you do not already have an online account. Use your (the cosigner's) name, date of birth, Social Security or account number, and email address.
2. Log in to your online account.
3. Select the appropriate account if you have other loans or have cosigned loans for more than one borrower.
4. In the payment center, choose the “Specify Loan Payment Amounts” tab and follow the instructions to complete your payment.

For bill pay service payments, upload, fax or mail your allocation instructions, including your account number, the sequence number of the loan(s) you want the payment to be applied to and the payment amount for each loan sequence, to us separately. You may allocate phone payments by following the instructions provided by a customer service representative or our automated phone system.

You may also use the Future Payment Allocation Form (PDF) to allocate all future payments to specific loans.

If your payment fails or is rejected, Aspire Servicing Center will notify you by mail. Please resubmit your payment as soon as possible either by mailing a check, paying over the phone or paying online.

When a payment is rejected your account may become past due, which in turn may result in late charges, more accrued interest and negative reporting to the consumer reporting agencies.

Payments are viewable online after you create or log in to your online account.