Publication Date: June 2002
Bulletin ID: DLB-02-17
Summary: Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) Implementation Issues
June 2002
DLB-02-17
Subject: Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) Implementation Issues
Dear Partner:
This bulletin provides important information regarding issues that Common Origination and Disbursement (COD) is currently experiencing. Please take some time today to review this information, as it will have considerable impact on your normal processing of Direct Loan records.
COD is in the process of validating various records and has experienced some issues; therefore, on June 6, 2002 we temporarily suspended processing. Processing was stopped in order to resolve a code conflict involving loan limits on origination and disbursement records. COD resumed processing of records on June 10, 2002. The additional issues identified are described below.
Batch Acknowledgements
There are several batches that COD sent to SAIG that may not have been received by your school. This includes a variety of batch types. If you are missing an acknowledgement, please contact the COD School Relations Center to have the batch acknowledgement resent.
# B Batch Acknowledgements: Booking Notification
COD has been sending #B batches back to schools in multiple files as opposed to a single file. In addition, COD has identified several cases in which the booking date in the #B does not appear to be accurate. As a result of these two items, COD suspended the return of #B batches. We have now corrected these issues and will begin sending records to schools June 11, 2002.
#A Batch Acknowledgements: Notification of MPN
Similar to the #B batches, COD was returning #A batches with only a single record per batch. COD has corrected the problem and is now returning multiple records in a single #A batch.
Schools may have received a status of "R" for a promissory note in #A batches. This is not correct. We are correcting our code and are in the process of determining a method to inform you of the accepted status of the promissory note if a "rejected" status was provided previously in error.
PLUS Credit Decisions
Schools may have noticed a slight increase in the number of "pending credit decisions" for their PLUS borrowers. The credit decision is considered "Pending" when a credit check is requested (by any means) and the person data submitted matches enough of the credit bureau data to indicate a match MAY exist, but not enough to match the information and return a decision. COD has reviewed the matching criteria and has made modifications to increase the number of credit decision matches.
Effective June 3rd, all credit decisions are processed by COD regardless of the Direct Loan award year. Credit checks can be done numerous ways:
· Online from COD site
· Online from LOS site
· Initiated by a school's incoming file to COD (PLUS origination)
· Initiated by a school's incoming file to LOS (PLUS origination)
Any credit decision rendered by the LOS 90 days prior to June 3rd remains in effect and COD should not request another credit decision. We have discovered a few instances in which COD is requesting another credit decision and the decision is different than the first. COD development staff is currently investigating this issue.
We apologize for any inconvenience resulting from these operational issues. We will begin reporting updates to these items on the COD Web site at www.cod.ed.gov. If you do not currently have a user id and password, please see the posting on IFAP for additional information: http://ifap.ed.gov/eannouncements/0603SchoolUserID.html
If you have any questions concerning this bulletin, you may contact the COD School Relations Center by telephone at 1-800-848-0978 for Direct Loan or by email at CODSupport@afsa.com.
We thank you for your support in the COD system and for your ongoing partnership in the Direct Loan Program.
Sincerely,
�
Jane Holman
Acting Director, Title IV Delivery
Schools Channel