Paying for college and graduate school runs through private lenders more than it used to. Federal borrowing limits tightened sharply on July 1, 2026, when Grad PLUS loans went away and Parent PLUS borrowing was capped at $20,000 per year. More families are covering the gap with private student loans, and one forecast has private loan volume nearly doubling in 2026.
Private loans work differently than federal loans. There is no national database like StudentAid.gov, so tracking down who actually owns your loan takes real work, and the company that lent you the money is often not the company that collects your payments.
That gap is how borrowers lose track of a balance and slide into default without meaning to. If a letter, email, or phone call from Firstmark shows up, it usually means your servicer changed. Here is what that means and what to do next.
What Is Firstmark?
Firstmark Services is a division of Nelnet, one of the largest student loan servicers in the country. Nelnet services federal student loans under a contract awarded by the U.S. Department of Education. Firstmark does not. Firstmark handles private education loans only.
A servicer is not your lender. Firstmark collects payments, sends statements, reports your account to the credit bureaus, and processes requests like cosigner release, forbearance, and payoff letters. The loan itself is owned by a bank, credit union, state agency, or an investment trust. Firstmark is based in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Whose Loans Does Firstmark Service?
This is the part that has changed most in the last two years, and it explains why so many borrowers who never heard of Firstmark are suddenly getting mail from a servicer they don't recognize.
Former Discover student loans
Discover stopped accepting new student loan applications on January 31, 2024, and its website now says it no longer offers or services student loans. The company sold its roughly $10.1 billion private student loan portfolio to investment vehicles managed by Carlyle and KKR in a deal announced in July 2024.
The loans transferred in late 2024 and are now held by Olympic Student Loan Trust, with Firstmark handling servicing. If you had a Discover loan, your credit report probably shows the Discover account closed at a $0 balance and a new tradeline labeled FM/OLYMPIC. Your rate, term, and payoff amount did not change, though it is worth checking your report for errors after a transfer this large.
Former Wells Fargo student loans
Wells Fargo agreed to sell its private student loan portfolio in December 2020 and exited the business entirely. Those loans moved to Firstmark in 2021 and have stayed there, which makes Firstmark one of the more common answers when borrowers ask who owns their student loan debt now.
Bank, credit union, and state agency loans
Firstmark also services private loans for smaller banks, credit unions, and state-affiliated lenders that do not run their own servicing operations. If you borrowed from a regional lender or a no-cosigner private lender, your loan may sit with Firstmark even though the original lender's name is still on the account.
Why Firstmark Is Contacting You
There are four common reasons: your loan just transferred to them, your grace period is ending and repayment is starting, a payment is late, or you cosigned a loan for someone whose payments have fallen behind.
One thing to rule out first. A real servicer never charges a fee to enroll you in a repayment program, and student loan scams lean hard on that pitch. Private loans do not qualify for federal forgiveness, income-driven repayment, or PSLF, so anyone promising debt forgiveness on a private loan is running a scam.
What to Do If Firstmark Contacts You
Start by setting up your online account at FirstmarkServices.com. One catch worth knowing before you register: some Firstmark-serviced loans live on a separate portal at Firstmark.MyLoanManager.com with its own phone number. Your welcome letter says which one is yours, and this is a routine complaint among borrowers whose servicer changed without much explanation.
Turn on multi-factor authentication once you are in. Firstmark holds your Social Security number and full payment history, and that record is what feeds your credit report.
Then confirm these details and write them down:
- Current principal balance and accrued interest
- Interest rate, and whether it is fixed or variable
- Monthly payment amount and due date
- Whether the loan has a cosigner
- The original lender and the current loan owner
Compare all of that against your old statements. Payment application errors during transfers are one of the most frequent complaints against Firstmark, so confirm the balance carried over correctly and document the ownership trail while you still can. If a prior servicer login still works, download your final statement today.
Cosigners can create their own profile and see the same loan details, which matters if they are working toward a cosigner release.
How Do I Pay My Student Loans?
You have four options, and the one you pick can affect what you actually owe. Borrowers who struggle with the payment amount should read the next section before setting anything on autopilot.
- Auto debit. Log in and select Set Up Auto Debit. If your original promissory note included an interest rate reduction for automatic payments, usually 0.25%, enrolling protects it. That discount comes from your loan terms, not from Firstmark, which is one reason to keep a copy of your original loan documents.
- Online. Use Payment Options, then Make a Payment. Payments submitted before 4:00 p.m. Central process that day; later ones post the next business day. Timing matters because late payments hit your credit score faster on private loans than federal ones.
- Phone. Call (888) 538-7378 during business hours, listed on the Firstmark contact page. Worth doing if you are comparing your balance against what you think you owe.
- Mail. Firstmark Services, P.O. Box 2977, Omaha, NE 68103-2977. Use the address printed on your own statement, since the MyLoanManager portal uses a different box, and servicer transitions are exactly when payments get misrouted.
If you pay extra, tell Firstmark in writing how to apply it: to a specific loan, to principal only, or to your highest-rate balance. Without instructions the money gets spread proportionally across every loan in the account, which quietly undercuts any payoff strategy you are running.
Keep your 1098-E in mind too. Firstmark issues it each January, and the student loan interest deduction applies to private loans just as it does to federal ones.
What If You Cannot Afford The Payment?
Private loans have far fewer outs than federal loans. There is no income-driven repayment, no forgiveness track, and no federal forbearance rules, which is why the options for unaffordable private loans are so limited. Depending on your contract you may get short-term forbearance capped over the life of the loan, an interest-only period, or a temporarily reduced payment.
Call before you miss a payment rather than after. Private lenders often report delinquency at 30 days and can declare default far faster than the federal system, and what happens after you stop paying is harder to unwind without federal rehabilitation programs.
Refinancing is the other route if your credit and income improved since you borrowed. It can lower the rate and remove a cosigner in one move. It is not reversible, but private loans carry no federal protections to give up, so the math is cleaner than it is on federal debt.
How Can I Contact Firstmark?
All of the details below come from the Firstmark contact page, and it is worth checking there before mailing anything, since servicer contact info shifts after portfolio transfers.
Phone: (888) 538-7378, Monday through Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Central
MyLoanManager accounts: (844) 649-2917, same hours
Payments by mail: Firstmark Services, P.O. Box 2977, Omaha, NE 68103-2977
Correspondence: Firstmark Services, P.O. Box 82522, Lincoln, NE 68501-2522
Online: FirstmarkServices.com — secure message through your logged-in account is the better channel for anything you may need to prove later
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Firstmark Services legitimate?
Yes. Firstmark is a division of Nelnet, a publicly traded company. If you are unsure whether a call is really from Firstmark, hang up and dial (888) 538-7378 yourself, which is the same rule that protects you from student loan scams.
Does Firstmark service federal student loans?
No. Nelnet services federal loans, but Firstmark handles private education loans only. If the loan shows up on StudentAid.gov, Firstmark is not your servicer for it.
Why did my Discover student loan become a Firstmark loan?
Discover exited student lending and sold its portfolio to funds managed by Carlyle and KKR in 2024. The loans now sit in Olympic Student Loan Trust with Firstmark servicing them, and your terms did not change.
Can my Firstmark loans be forgiven?
Not through any federal program, and claims otherwise are a common forgiveness myth. Some individual contracts include death or permanent disability discharge, so read your promissory note before assuming you have no options at all.
Does Firstmark offer new student loans?
No. Firstmark services loans other companies originated. If you need to borrow for school, compare private student loan lenders or, for graduate programs, graduate school loan options.
Does Firstmark report to the credit bureaus?
Yes, and that reporting moves your score in both directions. Former Discover borrowers usually see the account listed as FM/OLYMPIC, so check your report if a tradeline looks unfamiliar.
Final Thoughts
Firstmark is a payment processor, not a decision maker. The rate, the cosigner rules, and the hardship options all trace back to the contract you signed with the original lender, which is why proving what you owe and to whom is step one.
Set up the account, keep records, and check the balance against your own math a few times a year. If your credit and income look better than they did when you borrowed, run the refinancing numbers — that is the one lever on a private student loan that actually changes the terms.
Editor: Clint Proctor Reviewed by: Chris Muller
Robert Farrington is the founder of The College Investor and is widely recognized as one of the nation’s leading voices on student loan debt and saving for college. He holds an MBA from UC San Diego Rady School of Management and has spent over 15 years researching, writing, and advising on student loans, 529 plans, financial aid programs, and saving and investing for young professionals.
Robert has been featured in the The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, NBC News, and Forbes, where he has been a regular personal finance contributor for over a decade. His work combines both professional expertise and personal experience – he successfully navigated his own student loan repayment journey and has helped thousands of readers do the same.
He is committed to making the intersection of personal finance and education transparent and accessible. You can learn more about Robert on the About Page or on his personal site RobertFarrington.com.