Sallie Mae unveils no-fee student checking
21 March, 2011
category: Education
Schools faced with rapid refund disbursement to thousands of students each semester now have a new option–the new no-fee student checking account from student loan giant Sallie Mae. The new program includes a debit MasterCard, allowing schools to disburse financial aid and tuition refunds to students the same day.
The new Sallie Mae no fee student checking account builds on the company’s Campus Solutions suite of products which, in addition to tuition refund disbursement, also includes interest-free tuition payment plans, electronic billing and payment processing, and student loans. The FDIC-insured checking accounts are offered through Sallie Mae Bank, and students can withdraw cash surcharge-free with their Sallie Mae Debit MasterCard at 35,000 ATMs across the country.
Students can use the checking account’s debit MasterCard for no-fee PIN and signature- based point of sale transactions. With online access, students can also track their disbursements, make payments or add money to their account with no minimum balance and no low-balance or inactivity fees. Banking services include bill pay, check writing, transfers and links to other bank accounts.
Outsourcing refund disbursements to Sallie Mae, based in Reston, Va., can help schools comply with new Title IV regulations which, beginning in July, will require certain refunds to be made within seven days, half the prior standard time allowed.
“Sallie Mae has been helping colleges and universities focus on educating students rather than processing payments for more than a decade,” said Kelly Christiano, who leads the Campus Solutions and Savings businesses at Sallie Mae. “Our state-of-the-art technology and 40 years of experience enables us to be the lowest cost provider in the market…”
Sallie Mae in the last year alone supported $8 billion in transactions at over 1,000 schools.