§ 682.305 - Procedures for payment of interest benefits and special allowance and collection of origination and loan fees.

§ 682.305 Procedures for payment of interest benefits and special allowance and collection of origination and loan fees.

(a) General.

(1) If a lender owes origination fees or loan fees under paragraph (a) of this section, it must submit quarterly reports to the Secretary on a form provided or prescribed by the Secretary, even if the lender is not owed, or does not wish to receive, interest benefits or special allowance from the Secretary.

(2) The lender shall report, on the quarterly report required by paragraph (a)(1) of this section, the amount of origination fees it was authorized to collect and the amount of those fees refunded to borrowers during the quarter covered by the report.

(3)

(i)

(A) The Secretary reduces the amount of interest benefits and special allowance payable to the lender by -

(1) The amount of origination fees the lender was authorized to collect during the quarter under § 682.202(c), whether or not the lender actually collected that amount; and

(2) The amount of lender fees payable under paragraph (a)(3)(ii) of this section; and

(3) The amount of excess interest, as calculated in accordance with paragraph (d) of this section.

(B) The Secretary increases the amount of interest benefits and special allowance payable to the lender by the amount of origination fees refunded to borrowers during the quarter under § 682.202(c).

(ii)

(A) For any FFEL loan made on or after October 1, 1993, a lender shall pay the Secretary a loan fee equal to 0.50% of the principal amount of the loan.

(B) For any FFEL loan made on or after October 1, 2007 and prior to July 1, 2010, a lender shall pay the Secretary a loan fee equal to 1.0 percent of the principal amount of the loan.

(iii) The Secretary collects from an originating lender the amount of origination fees the originating lender was authorized to collect from borrowers during the quarter whether or not the originating lender actually collected those fees. The Secretary also collects the fees the originating lender is required to pay under paragraph (a)(3)(ii) of this section. Generally, the Secretary collects the fees from the originating lender by offsetting the amount of interest benefits and special allowance payable to the originating lender in a quarter, and, if necessary, the amount of interest benefits and special allowance payable in subsequent quarters may be offset until the total amount of fees has been recovered.

(iv) If the full amount of the fees cannot be collected within two quarters by reducing interest and special allowance payable to the originating lender, the Secretary may collect the unpaid amount directly from the originating lender.

(v) If the full amount of the fees cannot be collected within two quarters from the originating lender in accordance with paragraphs (a)(3)(iii) and (iv) of this section and if the originating lender has transferred the loan to a subsequent holder, the Secretary may, following written notice, collect the unpaid amount from the holder by using the same steps described in paragraphs (a)(3)(iii) and (iv) of this section, with the term “holder” substituting for the term “originating lender”.

(4) If an originating lender sells or otherwise transfers a loan to a new holder, the originating lender remains liable to the Secretary for payment of the origination fees. The Secretary will not pay interest benefits or special allowance to the new holder or pay reinsurance to the guaranty agency until the origination fees are paid to the Secretary.

(b) Penalty interest.

(1)

(i) If the Secretary does not pay interest benefits or the special allowance within 30 days after the Secretary receives an accurate, timely, and complete request for payment from a lender, the Secretary pays the lender penalty interest.

(ii) The payment of interest benefits or special allowance is deemed to occur, for purposes of this paragraph, when the Secretary -

(A) Authorizes the Treasury Department to pay the lender;

(B) Credits the payment due the lender against a debt that the Secretary determines is owed the Secretary by the lender; or

(C) Authorizes the Treasury Department to pay the amount due by the lender to another Federal agency for credit against a debt that the Federal agency has determined the lender owes.

(2) Penalty interest is an amount that accrues daily on interest benefits and special allowance due to the lender. The penalty interest is computed by -

(i) Multiplying the daily interest rate applicable to loans on which payment for interest benefits was requested, by the amount of interest benefits due on those loans for each interest rate;

(ii) Multiplying the daily special allowance rate applicable to loans on which special allowance was requested by the amount of special allowance due on those loans for each interest rate and special allowance category;

(iii) Adding the results of paragraphs (b)(2)(i) and (ii) of this section to determine the gross penalty interest to be paid for each day that penalty interest is due;

(iv) Dividing the results of paragraph (b)(2)(iii) of this section by the gross amount of interest benefits and special allowance due to obtain the average penalty interest rate;

(v) Multiplying the rate obtained in paragraph (b)(2)(iv) of this section by the total amount of reduction to gross interest benefits and special allowance due (e.g., origination fees or other debts owed to the Federal Government);

(vi) Subtracting the amount calculated in paragraph (b)(2)(v) of this section from the amount calculated under paragraph (b)(2)(iii) of this section to obtain the net amount of penalty interest due per day; and

(vii) Multiplying the amount calculated in paragraph (b)(2)(vi) of this section by the number of days calculated under paragraph (b)(3) of this section.

(3) The Secretary pays penalty interest for the period -

(i) Beginning on the later of -

(A) The 31st day after the final day of the quarter covered by the request for payment; or

(B) The 31st day after the Secretary's receipt of an accurate, timely, and complete request for payment from the lender; and

(ii) Ending on the day the Secretary pays the interest benefits and the special allowance at issue, in accordance with paragraph (b)(1)(ii) of this section.

(4) A request for interest benefits and special allowance is considered timely only if it is received by the Secretary within 90 days following the end of the quarter to which the request pertains.

(5) A request for interest benefits and special allowance is not considered accurate and complete if it -

(i) Requests payments to which the lender is not entitled under §§ 682.300 through 682.302;

(ii) Includes loans that the Secretary, in writing, has directed that the lender exclude from the request;

(iii) Does not contain all information required by the Secretary or contains conflicting information; or

(iv) Is not provided and certified on the form and in the manner prescribed by the Secretary.

(c) Independent audits.

(1)

(i) A lender holding more than $5 million in FFEL loans during its fiscal year must submit an independent annual compliance audit for that year, conducted by a qualified independent organization or person.

(ii) The Secretary may, following written notice, suspend the payment of interest benefits and special allowance to a lender that does not submit its audit within the time period prescribed in paragraph (c)(2) of this section.

(2) The audit required under paragraph (c)(1) of this section must -

(i) Examine the lender's compliance with the Act and applicable regulations;

(ii) Examine the lender's financial management of its FFEL program activities;

(iii) Be conducted in accordance with the standards for audits issued by the United States General Accounting Office's (GAO's) Government Auditing Standards. Procedures for audits are contained in an audit guide developed by and available from the Office of the Inspector General of the Department;

(iv) Be conducted at least annually and be submitted to the Secretary within six months of the end of the audit period. The initial audit must be of the lender's first fiscal year that begins after July 23, 1992, and must be submitted within six months of the end of the audit period. Each subsequent audit must cover the lender's activities for the period beginning no later than the end of the period covered by the preceding audit; and

(v) A lender must conduct the audit required by this paragraph in accordance with 31 U.S.C. 7502 and 2 CFR part 200, subpart F - Audit Requirements.^[1]

(3) The Secretary may determine that a lender has met the requirements of paragraph (c) of this section if the lender has been audited in accordance with 31 U.S.C. 7502 for other purposes, the lender submits the results of the audit to the Office of Inspector General, and the Secretary determines that the audit meets the requirements of this paragraph.

(d) Recovery of excess interest paid by the Secretary.

(1) For any loan for which the first disbursement of principal is made on or after April 1, 2006, the Secretary collects the amount of excess interest paid to a lender on a quarterly basis when the applicable interest rate on a loan for each quarter exceeds the special allowance support level in paragraph (d)(2) of this section for the loan. Excess interest is calculated and recovered each quarter by subtracting the special allowance support level from the applicable interest rate, multiplying the result by the average daily principal balance of the loan (not including unearned interest added to principal) during the quarter, and dividing by four.

(2) The term special allowance support level means a number expressed as a percentage equal to the sum of -

(i) The average of the bond equivalent rates of the quotes of the 3-month commercial paper (financial) rates in effect for each of the days in such quarter as reported by the Federal Reserve in Publication H-15 (or its successor) for such 3-month period; plus

(ii) 2.34 percent for a Federal Stafford loan in repayment;

(iii) 1.74 percent for a Federal Stafford loan during the in-school, grace, and deferment periods; or

(iv) 2.64 percent for a Federal PLUS or Consolidation Loan.

(Approved by the Office of Management and Budget under control number 1845-0020)

(Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1077, 1078, 1078-1, 1078-2, 1078-3, 1082, 1087-1)

[57 FR 60323, Dec. 18, 1992, as amended at 58 FR 9119, Feb. 19, 1993; 59 FR 61428, Nov. 30, 1994; 60 FR 31411, June 15, 1995; 64 FR 18978, Apr. 16, 1999; 64 FR 58627, Oct. 29, 1999; 71 FR 45705, Aug. 9, 2006; 71 FR 64398, Nov. 1, 2006; 72 FR 62003, Nov. 1, 2007; 74 FR 55996, Oct. 29, 2009; 78 FR 65814, Nov. 1, 2013; 79 FR 76105, Dec. 19, 2014]

Footnotes - 682.305

^[1] None of the other regulations in 2 CFR part 200 apply to lenders. Only those requirements in subpart F-Audit Requirements, apply to lenders, as required under the Single Audit Act Amendments of 1996 (31 U.S.C. Chapter 75).