SAVE deadline if your servicer is CRI

What we know about CRI

• CRI (Central Research, Inc.) is an official Department of Education servicer. Some accounts were moved to it from Nelnet and MOHELA; your loan wasn’t sold, and the Department still owns it.¹
• Its letters come from a Lincoln, Nebraska address, like Nelnet’s, but it is a separate company.¹
• Like every servicer, CRI gives SAVE borrowers 90 days from the date on the notice. There’s no single national date: notices go out in waves through the end of 2026.³
• If you don’t choose in time, you’re moved to the Standard or Tiered Standard plan. While you stay in the SAVE forbearance, interest keeps accruing. More on the forbearance.
• CRI phone: 1-833-355-4311. Monday 8 a.m.–9 p.m., Tuesday and Wednesday until 8 p.m., Thursday and Friday until 6 p.m. (Eastern). Website: cri.studentaid.gov.^2,1

If your loans were just transferred, check this

• Your repayment plan is the one you had, or the one you applied for.
• Your status: repayment or forbearance. A transfer shouldn’t change it.
• Autopay: it doesn’t always carry over. Sign up again on cri.studentaid.gov if it’s missing.
• Your balance matches the last statement from your old servicer. Payment history can take up to 30 business days to show up.¹

Your PSLF count is kept by the Department, not by CRI. What counts for PSLF.

Find your date

How to switch

You switch at studentaid.gov/idr; you don’t need to call CRI.⁴ Step-by-step guide. First, compare what you’d pay on each plan in the calculator.

Frequently asked questions