September/October 2005 Online Publication    




For information regarding the submission of claims, please contact Ron Stroud.

TG Update
By Cynthia Mayberry, TG

It’s October and the busy time of the processing season is finally coming to an end. To help you catch up on news from recent weeks, we would like to provide you with updates on TG’s products, services, and processes. Please share this information with your colleagues, and contact us if you need any assistance.

TG offers solutions for automating alternative loans
By Neil Mac Quarrie, TG
When alternative loans first emerged on campuses, most financial aid offices considered them a last resort. Higher interest rates, cosigner requirements, and mandatory credit checks made them less attractive to both borrowers and financial aid professionals than federally guaranteed loan options. Today however, the realities of federal loan program loan limits and tuition increases have made alternative loan funding not only more attractive, but often a necessity for families and students funding a higher education.

Automation – a hot topic
The automation of alternative loans has become a hot topic at industry conferences and within institutional work groups. Although CommonLine standards have accommodated alternative loan processing, from origination through disbursement, some FFELP participants have been slow to upgrade their systems to automate alternative loan processing. Often, the reasons cited for this include limited resources and competing priorities.

One common challenge is that lender loan management systems are typically programmed to produce CommonLine responses only for FFELP loans. In addition, most school financial aid management systems (FAMS) are not programmed to accept a CommonLine Unique ID initiated by another institution, as is the case in the typical lender-initiated alternative loan flow. In the lender-originated model, this becomes an issue since borrowers often apply for alternative loans on lender Web sites, and lenders then perform credit checks and submit a certification request to the school. This process flow is efficient for some schools, because there is certainty that the loan will be funded, and there are fewer adjustments and cancellations than in the model where loans are originated by the school prior to the credit check.

There are some options available to schools to resolve this issue. Some of these options are:

  • To modify the school FAMS to accept Unique IDs generated by the lender.
  • To find a workaround outside the FAMS' normal process flow. For example, some FAMS will allow the Unique ID to be modified after the certification has been exported.
  • To request that lenders retain the school's CommonLine Unique IDs by matching the school's certifications to the certification requests sent to the school.
  • To allow the school FAMS to generate the Unique ID and allow the lender certification request to be deleted from AdvanTG Web™.
  • If your FAMS system will accept a blank Unique ID then set your AdvanTG Web profile to strip the CL Unique ID upon export of a certification requests.

These workarounds for alternative loan processing can help to minimize manual and cumbersome alternative loan processes.

TG can help
TG is available to help schools automate their alternative loan processes via AdvanTG Web. As of July 2005, TG has helped 26 schools and eight lenders using AdvanTG Web to automate their alternative loan processing. We also have 41 lenders and 35 schools using TG's electronic funds transfer (EFT) process for the funding of alternative loans which is reported on the CommonLine disbursement roster along with FFELP disbursements. AdvanTG Web's robust reporting features can help both schools and lenders track and audit the alternative loan process.
If your institution would like to learn more about how to use these alternative loan processing functions to simplify or streamline your operations or why other TG business partners are participating in the process, please contact your school consultant at consultantschoolinquiries@tgslc.org or your lender consultant at lenderrequests@tgslc.org. Our team is committed to delivering an effective solution to your alternative loan processing needs.

TG announces upcoming Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) enhancements
By Renee Gilmer, TG
This fall, TG will introduce its Next Day Funding (NDF) EFT process, which will compress our three-day funding into an overnight process. In addition to faster funds delivery, TG's Change Transaction and Disbursement Roster processing will be enhanced from the evening batch method to hourly processing.

TG EFT customers can expect to see these enhancements late November.

NDF timeline
Next day funding will shorten TG's EFT process by moving the approval/roster deadline to 1 p.m. (CST) each business day (Day 1). At 2 p.m. (CST), TG will begin the funding process for disbursements and return transactions that are to be credited or debited the next business day. EFT reports and files will be available a short time later. EFT funds will be available the morning of the next business day (Day 2).

Change Transaction processing
  • Nightly Change Transaction (CT) batch processing now will occur hourly during the day.
  • Responses generated in the change process will to be sent to TG's business partners after the hourly runs.
  • Money-moving CTs successfully processed prior to TG's 2 p.m. (CST) EFT processing (see chart) will generate EFT reports and files available that afternoon and funds will move the following business day.
  • Changes that are processed after the 2 p.m. (CST) EFT processing will generate reports and files the following business day and funds will move on the third business day (TG's current EFT flow).
  • CTs will continue to be processed hourly through 6 p.m. (CST).
Disbursement Roster processing
  • Disbursement Roster processing will be enhanced from once-a-night to hourly, following the CT processing. This will give lenders the opportunity to correct any error roster records and re-submit them for the next hourly run.
  • At the end of each processing hour an 'acknowledgement file' containing only error records will be sent for every roster submitted. One consolidated 'acknowledgement file' of all successfully processed records will be sent to each lender after the last hourly Disbursement Roster run at 1 p.m. (CST).

    Please note: The last roster processing hour results will be combined with the consolidated 'acknowledgement file' and may contain both successful and error records.
  • Disbursement roster processing will continue hourly through 6 p.m. (CST). Rosters and approvals that are received and processed after 2 p.m. (CST) will generate reports and files the following business day and funds will be available on the third business day (TG's current EFT flow).
Lender considerations
  • To participate in TG's NDF process, Disbursement Rosters or online approvals must be submitted and successfully processed prior to 2 p.m. (CST).
  • Lenders who submit rosters or approvals multiple times prior to 1 p.m. (CST) have the potential to receive multiple, error-only 'Acknowledgement files' in addition to the consolidated 'Acknowledgement file' that will be produced.
  • Lenders who wish to receive only one 'Acknowledgement file' should submit rosters or approvals between noon and 1 p.m. (CST).
  • Funding in the NDF flow will occur on Day 2 of the process when debits and credits settle to the lender and school EFT accounts.
  • If an online approval or Disbursement Roster is received after 1 p.m. (CST), the approval or roster will be processed on Day 1, and the funds will move in TG's current three-day process. Lenders will receive the 'Acknowledgement file' on the next business morning (Day 2), and funds will move the following business day (Day 3).

School considerations
Schools will receive EFT reports and files at a new time:

  • EFT reports and files now will be available to all institutions by 5 p.m. (CST).
  • In the NDF flow, disbursements will be credited to the school's EFT account the next business day.
  • For CT processing, all changes received and successfully processed by 1 p.m. (CST) will result in reports and files available the same business day (Day 1). Funds will be debited and credited to and from the lender's and school's EFT account the following business day (Day 2).

Institutional work flows
To successfully take advantage of the enhanced funding timeline and hourly processing, TG encourages all institutions to consider how the proposed enhancements will affect the operational work flows within their own offices and within their bursar, loan origination, and cash management teams.

To learn more
For more information about TG's Next Day Funding or the new Change Transaction and Disbursement Roster processing cycles, contact TG product support at (800) 332-1455, or send an e-mail message to Renee Gilmer at renee.gilmer@tgslc.org.

Reminder: Where to mail TG claims documentation
Recently, TG has received several claims requests from lenders at our physical address. To serve you more effectively, TG wants to remind all of our customers that all claims submittals, including overnight deliveries, must be sent directly to the TG distribution center at the following address:

TG Claims Department
3500 Wadley Place, Bldg C, Ste 303
Austin, TX 78728-1244

This address should be used for all claim types, including default, specialty (e.g., bankruptcy), and supplemental claims. Failure to route claim submittals to the appropriate address may delay or otherwise jeopardize claim payment.

More information
If you have any questions regarding the submission of claims, please contact Ron Stroud at (800) 252-9743, ext. 4779, or send an e-mail message to ron.stroud@tgslc.org.

Cynthia Mayberry is TG’s assistant manager for customer services. She can be reached at (800) 252-9743, ext. 4683, or by e-mail at cynthia.mayberry@tgslc.org.