National Student Loans Service Center on standby as requests for aid soar

Crowds of former students have been unable to reach the Canada Loans Centre, which is processing a backlog of more than 30,000 applications for repayment assistance.

The National Student Loans Service Center’s phone lines have been clogged since the lifting in late September of a pandemic-induced moratorium on student loan collections, the agency said, pointing to a message on its website warning of long timeouts and dropped calls.

“We are currently experiencing unprecedented call volumes and are receiving a higher than usual volume of requests (reimbursement assistance plan), said spokesperson Isabelle Maheu.

The agency said it saw 169,000 RAP applications between October 1 – when loan repayments resumed – and the end of November. Of these, 30,600 had not yet been treated.

The plan saves borrowers from having to repay their Canada Student Loan until they earn at least $25,000 a year, and caps payments for those who go over the threshold.

But current and former students said their issues with the service center went beyond long wait times.

Jaylen Bastos, a master’s student at the University of British Columbia, tried unsuccessfully to reach anyone at the center after receiving an email in mid-October about the resumption of payments.

Bastos, who uses the gender-neutral pronouns them and them, said they called every week but could never come through.

And throughout November, they said, calls resulted in a message that the phones were overloaded.

But even so, on December 1, the service automatically withdrew $400 from his account.

“They just took money out of my account the same day I had to pay the rent, and I didn’t expect that to happen. So I was like, ‘Oh, okay, now I just have to come up with an extra $400 during this pandemic, which is questionable for everyone’s income,” they said.

Bastos tried calling his bank to see if there was anything they could do about it, but to no avail, they said.

“It’s super frustrating because there are no options, right? There’s only one number to call, they don’t accept emails, there’s no There is no other way to access this service or get in touch with anyone,” they said.

For the foreseeable future, Bastos said, they will continue to call the center in an attempt to pass – and take screenshots after each failed attempt to show they have done their due diligence.

The service center said it was still receiving a high volume of calls, but call center capacity had increased, so students could call again – although it wasn’t the Bastos experience.

The agency spokeswoman also said calls were higher in part because the fall is when new grads are expected to start paying off their loans.

There are also more calls due to enhanced security protocols introduced after a “computer incident” that affected a number of ministries, Maheu said.

“Customers who need help accessing their account online due to heightened security measures represent a significant portion of borrowers who call the NSLSC,” she said.

This report from The Canadian Press was first published on December 6, 2020.