Testimonials

June 21 , 2006

I am a new customer of NextStudent. I had contacted NextStudent a few months ago to consolidate a significant amount of loans I had with other lenders.

A very nice man named Tom H. helped me through this process. He was extremely courteous, professional and seemed to possess a great deal of knowledge about his product. I began the consolidation process through him.

Over the next few weeks I was bombarded with offers for consolidation from other sources. I'll be honest with you; one of the other offers in particular was extremely enticing. I even contacted Tom and asked him to stop the process, and that I wanted to go with a different lender. He continued to be courteous and professional. Fortunately for me, the consolidation with NextStudent was already too far along to change.
I began to fully understand how fortunate this was just a few days ago.

I mentioned that I am a new customer. I have just recently made my first payment. Due to some issues with my mail that payment was late.  I received a letter from ACS that because my payment was late, I was ineligible for the NextStudent incentive program.

The program I am referring to is the program in which you offer a 1 percent interest rate deduction after 36 months of on-time payments.  Of course, this would make a tremendous financial impact in the future.  I contacted ACS and asked about forbearance or deferment for that one month. The person I spoke with informed me that I was not eligible for deferment, and forbearance would not make a difference in my eligibility for the special program. I remembered that did not agree with what Tom had explained to me at the onset, so I looked up Tom's number and gave him a call.

I think Tom answered his phone on the second or third ring.
(It is SOOOO nice to get a person – not a voice mail or the dreaded voice activated operator!) I explained the situation to Tom and asked him about forbearance.
 
Tom had originally explained that forbearance time could be used to count toward my 36 months of on-time payments.
He said he could refer me to customer service where they could look into this further. I was a little worried when he said he would transfer me. I feel very comfortable with Tom, and I didn't think there was much chance I would get to talk to someone as attentive. 

I was wrong to worry!!! I was on hold for maybe a minute. When customer service rep Cherri H. came on the line with me, Tom had already explained to her what my dilemma was. Cherri was just as nice as Tom.

She seemed genuinely interested in my situation. She activated a retroactive forbearance to cover the time and told me I would be eligible for the special program. She even sent me a copy of the e-mail she sent to ACS. I spent probably 20 to 30 minutes of my afternoon that day dealing with extreme anxiety over this situation. Cherri Hurst alleviated that anxiety within about 90 seconds. 

I realize I have been quite "wordy" in my e-mail. I wanted you to understand where I am coming from when I compliment your staff. Bottom line... The members of the NextStudent staff that I have come in contact with thus far have been nothing short of exemplary. They are some of the most courteous and professional individuals I have come in contact with. I absolutely feel that I am safe in my dealings with NextStudent.

I work in health care, an industry saturated with people carrying student loan debt. I also am a member of the adjunct faculty at a regional community college. I will absolutely tell anyone who is looking into lenders to contact you (I've actually already been able to tell one friend about you. My friend was not having a good experience where she was)!

Thank you for employing such competent individuals to handle my business! 

Sincerely,

Gina A

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