He has been with MOHELA for nearly 21 years. Prior to taking the interim post, Bayer directed MOHELA's School and Lender Relations efforts for 17 years, and served as MOHELA's associate director of business operations, including loan consolidation, loan origination, loan servicing and system development.
MOHELA is one of the largest nonprofit student loan secondary markets in the nation, with more than $5.2 billion in assets, and loan purchase activity in excess of $1.2 billion per year.
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About 74,000 current and former college students will be paying hundreds of dollars in higher interest rates to the S.C. Student Loan Corporation unless they lock in lower rates by the end of Friday.
The agency's 130 phone lines were jammed Wednesday with callers trying to find out how to avoid a nearly two percentage-point rise in rates that takes effect Saturday under new federal rules.
"People are calling left and right. Everyone wants to consolidate," said Mike Fox, spokesman for the Columbia-based nonprofit agency.
Consolidation is not the right term, Fox said, because borrowers with just one student loan also need to fill out the paperwork to lock in their current interest rate — 4.7 percent while they're still in school and 5.3 percent six months after they leave.