What Aspire Servicing Center student loan borrowers need to know

Written by

Ben Luthi,

Edited by

Hannah Smith

Published on March 27, 2024 | 4 min read

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Key takeaways

Aspire Servicing Center is a student loan provider that services parent and student loans from an Aspire affiliate. They also serviced Direct loans until 2015 when they transferred them to MOHELA.
If your loan originated with Iowa Student Loan or its partners, there’s a good chance Aspire services your student loan.
You can see who services your student loans by checking your credit reports or logging into your Federal Student Aid account.
Pay Aspire loans by check, set up automatic withdrawal through its app or website or call the provider.

Aspire Servicing Center is a student loan servicer that handles administrative tasks and customer service for various student loan lenders. If you have a student loan with Aspire, here’s what you need to know about the company and how to manage your account.

What is Aspire Servicing Center and what does it do?

Aspire Resources, Inc. is a for-profit subsidiary of the nonprofit organization Iowa Student Loan and offers customer service for student loan borrowers under the name Aspire Servicing Center.

Aspire was created in 2001 and received a contract from the Department of Education to service federal student loans in 2012. The company exited the contract three years later because its revenue didn’t offset the operating costs. At that time, federally-held Aspire student loans were transferred to MOHELA. Now Aspire services loans that are not federally held.

Is Aspire Servicing Center a good loan servicer?

It’s difficult to say whether Aspire is a good loan servicer. Aspire claims it received high ratings from the Department of Education for its customer satisfaction on Direct Loans. The company has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau but isn’t accredited. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau received only two complaints about the student loan servicer in 2020.

What type of student loans does Aspire Servicing Center service?

Aspire Services Center services parent and student loans from an Aspire affiliate. The company serviced federally held loans until 2015.

How do I know if Aspire Servicing Center is my student loan servicer?

If your student loans were originated by Iowa Student Loan or one of the organization’s partners, your account is likely serviced by Aspire Servicing Center. You should be able to confirm that’s the case by reviewing your monthly statement or the original loan documents you received.

If you had federal Direct Loans serviced by Aspire, they were transferred to MOHELA in 2015. You can check your credit reports to see a list of all of your student loan servicers.

How do you make payments to Aspire Servicing Center?

If you have Aspire student loans, there are several different ways you can make a payment. Options include:

Aspire Servicing Center mobile app: Download the servicer’s mobile app on iOS or Android.
By mail: Send your payment with a payment stub to Aspire Servicing Center, P.O. Box 659705, West Des Moines, IA 50265-0970.
By phone: Call 800-243-7552 or 515-243-5626 to use the automated payment service.
Online account: Log in using your username and password. If you’re creating an account with Aspire, you’ll need your account number or Social Security number and date of birth.

To avoid making payments manually every month, you can set up automatic payments through your online account or by filling out an authorization form and mailing or faxing it to the loan servicer.

If you need payoff information to refinance your loan or pay it in full, contact Aspire at 800-243-7552.

How can you contact Aspire’s Servicing Center?

If you have questions about your Aspire student loan account, you can contact the servicer in a few ways. The loan servicer’s customer service team is available from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. CT Monday through Friday, and you can reach them at 800-243-7552 or 515-243-5626.

If it’s not urgent, you can also send a message through the Aspire website to receive an email response. Other reasons and methods for contacting Aspire include:

Mail: If you need to send a form or another type of correspondence via mail, send it to Aspire Servicing Center, P.O. Box 659705, West Des Moines, IA 50265-0970.
Fax: If you need to fax a form, use the number 515-471-3983.
Private loan application assistance: If you need help applying for a private student loan with one of Aspire’s partners, call 800-542-6005 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CT Monday through Friday.
Technical support: If you need technical assistance, call 888-584-0016 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. CT Monday through Friday.

How has Aspire Servicing Center responded to the student loan repayment pause?

When the COVID-19 pandemic started, Aspire Servicing Center implemented measures to assist student loan borrowers, including extending the interest-free pause to borrowers with Federal Family Education Loans and private student loans owned by ISL until the payment pause ends. Borrowers will have the option to make interest-only payments on all private loans through December 2026.

Aspire Servicing Center also stopped initiating any new legal action related to defaulted private loans and is reaching out to affected borrowers to make them aware of assistance. Aspire added staff to help communicate with those borrowers.

The bottom line

While imperfect, Aspire Servicing Center hasn’t received many complaints from customers, and if you have a problem, you have a lot of flexibility with how you want to contact Aspire.

If you have a significant problem, you can also file a credit dispute or enlist the help of a student loan advocate directly with the student loan servicer. If you can’t handle your issue with Aspire directly, consider filing a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Federal Trade Commission and your state attorney general’s office.