Student-loan servicer Edfinancial Services reports a 120% increase in nonprofit colleges signing up since last year, to 51 schools.

WSJ: Weighing Merits of Loan Deferments Today to Keep Defaults Away

Make sure your bank, employer and student-loan servicer have your current address.

WSJ: Tax Preparation for the Novice

For those in the income-based repayment program, or applying for it, it is important to make sure your loan servicer has calculated your bills correctly.

FORBES: Magazine Article

But if you are having difficulty communicating with your loan servicer which has been a common complaint through the credit crisis, leading in part to the regulatory cease and desist orders against the largest national mortgage servicers Chapter 13 can lead to a court-supervised loan modification.

FORBES: Going Bankrupt in 2012, but Keeping Your Home

In mortgage securitisation, for instance, the lender is supplanted by the broker, the loan originator, the servicer (who collects payments), the investor and the arranger, not to mention the rating agencies and mortgage-bond insurers.

ECONOMIST: Securitisation

Whether it's owned by a servicer, whether your loan got packaged up in some Wall Street securitization, or whether your loan is owned by some bank.

FORBES: Intelligent Investing

While most residential-mortgage-loan servicing is concentrated among a few banks, Nationstar is a nonbank servicer, and has said it believes the industry is shifting toward nonbank servicers as banks seek to exit from the business, which can be volatile and capital-intensive.

WSJ: Nationstar to Buy $10.4 Billion in Mortgage-Servicing Rights from BofA