TG Solutions and Tools

Alternative Loans, Non-TG FFELP Loans, and TG's EFT Q&A

The TASFAA Regional Rallies always produce much discussion about emerging issues and changes to the student loan process. One topic that has been receiving a great deal of attention at the 2002 rallies is TG's ability to disburse alternative loan funds along with both TG-guaranteed and non-TG-guaranteed FFELP funds through our enhanced Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) process.

The following Q&As offer answers to some of the most common questions about this new process:

Q: Can AdvanTG™ receive CommonLine response files for alternative and non-TG FFELP loans?

A: Many TG school partners currently have AdvanTG 3.0 Build 4a, which does facilitate the exchange of alternative loan and non-TG FFELP loan applications and the exchange of responses for non-TG FFELP loans. However, Build 4a is unable to accommodate response files from alternative loan providers. AdvanTG 3.0 Build 5 (released in March 2002) and AdvanTG Web™ do, however, accommodate processing of CommonLine response files for alternative loan processes when the alternative loan provider returns a response. (Some alternative loan providers do not include the return of a response file.)

Q: Some alternative loan processes are borrower initiated. Does AdvanTG facilitate these borrower initiated alternative loan processes?

A: When lenders facilitate borrower initiated processes (for FFELP and alternative loans), a CommonLine Certification Request is created and forwarded to the school. AdvanTG Web Phase II will facilitate the submission of Certification Requests from the lender to the school and will also facilitate borrower initiated TG FFELP loan requests through TG Loans By Web™.

Q: How do schools receive notification of EFT disbursements for alternative and non-TG FFELP loans?

A: Schools can receive notification of alternative and non-TG FFELP loan EFT disbursements from TG via the CommonLine Disbursement Roster received through AdvanTG or via POP3. TG's proprietary reports, the Advance Debit Notification and the Payment Detail Report, do not include alternative and non-TG FFELP loan disbursement information.

Q: How can schools process cancellations and loan reductions on alternative and non-TG FFELP loans through AdvanTG?

A: AdvanTG users process cancellations and loan reductions through CommonLine Change Transactions. However, AdvanTG simply passes these change transactions on to the alternative or non-TG FFELP loan provider. Processing depends on the capabilities and processes of the alternative loan and non-TG FFELP loan providers. (TG's EFT project, which is scheduled for completion in late spring, will process post-disbursement returns for non-TG FFELP or alternative loans that were previously disbursed via TG's EFT.)

Q: Which schools are currently set up to process alternative and non-TG FFELP loans via AdvanTG?

A: As of March 2002, Hardin Simmons University, Howard Payne, UT - El Paso, McMurry University, Texas Tech University, UT - Southwestern Medical, Texas A&M Health Science Center, and West Texas A&M are set up to process these loans.

Q: Which schools currently receive alternative and/or non-TG FFELP disbursements via TG's EFT process?

A: Although the process has been available since the fall of 2001, the lender providing the funds must be able to send a CommonLine roster to TG to initiate this disbursement process. Several schools are interested in pursuing this process and a few lenders have completed testing of the CommonLine Disbursement Roster exchange. However, as of March 2002, no lenders or schools are using this EFT disbursement enhancement.

Questions
For questions about processing alternative and non-TG FFELP loans with TG's AdvanTG and/or TG's EFT process, contact TG Product Support at (800) 332-1455 or send an message to product.support@tgslc.org.

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