9 million student loan borrowers will soon be getting a new servicer. Here's why

About 9 million people with federal student loans will start getting their bills from a new agency after one of the government's biggest servicers said Thursday that it will end its contract with the Department of Education in December.

The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA), which is better known as FedLoan -- its arm that handles federal student debts -- has been contracted by the government to collect payments for the past 12 years. It's currently one of four main servicers that the Department of Education uses, processing more than $400 billion in student loans, or roughly a quarter of the total federal student debt portfolio. RELATED: When do student loan payments restart?