NEW YORK-When one door closes, the old saying goes, another one opens. According to Fynanz, which offers private student lending programs through CUStudentLoans.org, the end of the FFEL Program is just such a situation.
The company, founded in 2009 in conjunction with a group of New Jersey credit unions, currently is working with 50 credit unions.
Chirag "C.C." Chaman, president of Fynanz, said the end of FFELP was set in motion two years ago, although lobbying by lenders managed to get it extended by 12 months. "A lot of credit unions used to participate in the FFEL Program and it was a source of revenue for them," he said. "That is where a solution like ours comes in, because we allow credit unions to offer their members a private student loan."
Government takeover of student lending, "helps us a lot," Chaman said.
Fynanz allows every CU to create its own private loan program to meet its specific needs, he explained. "The credit union comes to us and says it wants to offer private student loans. We create the program for them, which takes about three weeks to get them live on our system. We create a customized website for them and we do all the work, but the lender is the credit union."
