To assure that your Common Manual remains current, please record this document on your LPM/LPB index, and retain it in Appendix E of your manual.

The following summary informs schools, lenders, and servicers of the latest Common Manual policy changes. These changes will appear in the manual's next annual update in 2003. These changes will also be incorporated into the January 2003 Integrated Common Manual, available on the NCHELP website at www.NCHELP.ORG in the e-library. However, all of the following changes are effective before the next paper manual update is scheduled to be delivered.

Foreign Income for Economic Hardship Deferment
The Common Manual has been revised to clarify that a borrower may be eligible for an economic hardship deferment if documentation of the borrower's income is in foreign currency, provided that, after conversion to U.S. dollars, the borrower's income meets the deferment eligibility criteria applicable to poverty guidelines for the last state in which the borrower resided.

Treatment of Payments after Total and Permanent Disability Claim Filing
The Common Manual is revised to standardize policy applicable to a lender's receipt of payments from or on behalf of a borrower after the lender has filed a total and permanent disability claim but before the lender receives the claim payment. The policy specifies that, under these circumstances, the lender must hold the borrower payment. After the lender receives the claim payment, the lender must forward the borrower payment to the guarantor and notify the borrower or other party who sent the payment that there is no obligation to make further payments, unless otherwise directed.

Mandatory Administrative Forbearance
The Common Manual has been updated to clarify that a lender must grant a mandatory administrative forbearance due to a local or national emergency, disaster, or military mobilization until the Department or guarantor notifies the lender that the forbearance period no longer applies. For other situations requiring a mandatory administrative forbearance, the lender determines the ending date of the forbearance period.

Applying for a Stafford Loan
The Common Manual has been updated to align subsection 2.2.A with existing policy language that clarifies that the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is the only application a student may use to apply for a Stafford loan.

Deferment Eligibility for Consolidation Loans
A new footnote has been added to the Deferment Eligibility Chart to clarify that a borrower who obtains a Federal Consolidation loan that repaid a loan(s) made before July 1, 1987, for a period of enrollment beginning before July 1, 1987, is eligible for an in-school deferment only if the borrower is attending school full time. In addition, this deferment eligibility requirement will be added to appendix H.