Voya Financial today unveiled its latest collaboration with Savi to provide additional tools for employees managing their student loan debt.
The new features offered by Savi include a student loan dashboard that displays all loans and the borrower’s total debt balance; a personalized repayment calculator for borrowers to understand the impact of income-driven repayment plans and lifetime savings potential; forgiveness-eligibility detection and a federal program enrollment guide; an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbox; live educational workshops; and the ability to add one-on-one assistance from Savi student loan experts for an additional fee.
The provider also prides itself in offering features that complement SECURE 2.0’s student loan match provision, which allows employers to make matching contributions to an employee’s retirement plan based on their student loan payments.
“Balancing student loans and day-to-day expenses, while still saving for retirement and other key milestones, can be overwhelming and stressful,” said Aaron Smith, co-founder of Savi. “To date, we have helped borrowers find billions of dollars in education savings and look forward to helping even more borrowers reduce the burden that can come along with higher education. We’re thrilled that Voya chose to team up with Savi.”
Outside of its partnership with Savi, Voya also offers a financial wellness program to its clients and employees, including education on saving for college and managing student loan debt.
“Financing an education and then being burdened with college debt upon graduation is a significant challenge, regardless of where you are in your career. We recognized this challenge early on and continue to work with our clients to provide a range of solutions and programs,” said Amy Vaillancourt, president, Wealth Solutions at Voya Financial. “One such solution is allowing employees to benefit from a plan sponsor’s matching contributions to their retirement plan based on their student loan payments. Additionally, our collaboration with Savi provides a flexible suite of solutions that enhances our current offerings, helping employees access retirement plans, participate more and achieve better outcomes.”
More industry firms and providers are offering student loan matching programs and debt services, as the industry recognizes the impact of student loans and debt on short- and long-term savings like emergency funds and retirement accounts. Regulatory efforts, like SECURE 2.0’s student loan matching provision, have also helped to increase awareness surrounding debt solutions.
Employers are also noticing the positive effects in offering such features. A Voya Financial Consumer Insights & Research survey found that 42% of employees say they are likelier to stay with their employer if offered assistance to pay off student loan debt.
Another 2024 DC Plan Participant Survey by J.P. Morgan Asset Management showed that nine in 10 respondents believe financial wellness programs are valuable. Well over half of these respondents also described the SECURE 2.0 student loan matching provision as an attractive feature.
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Amanda Umpierrez is the Managing Editor of 401(k) Specialist magazine. She is a financial services reporter with nearly a decade of experience and a passion for telling stories and reporting news. She is originally from Queens, New York, but now resides in Denver, Colorado.