Revenues related to services performed on FFELP Loans accounted for 68 percent and 66 percent, respectively, of total Business Services segment revenues for the quarters ended September 30, 2017 and 2016, and 66 percent and 65 percent, respectively, of total Business Services segment revenues for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 and 2016.
Servicing Revenue
Our Business Services segment includes intercompany loan servicing fees from servicing the FFELP Loans in our FFELP Loans segment. The average balance of this portfolio was $84 billion and $91 billion for the quarters ended September 30, 2017 and 2016, respectively, and $85 billion and $93 billion for the nine months ended September 30, 2017 and 2016, respectively. The decline in the intercompany loan servicing revenue from theyear-ago periods was due to the decline in the average balance of FFELP Loans serviced.
The Company services education loans for approximately 12 million DSLP Loan, FFELP Loan and Private Education Loan customers (including cosigners), including 6.1 million customer accounts under the ED Servicing Contract as of September 30, 2017, compared with 6.2 million customer accounts serviced at September 30, 2016. Third-party loan servicing fees in the quarters ended September 30, 2017 and 2016 included $37 million and $38 million, respectively, of servicing revenue related to the ED Servicing Contract. On June 13, 2014, ED extended its servicing contract with us to service Direct Student Loan Program federal loans for five more years.
On April 4, 2016, ED published the first part of atwo-part RFP related to a new servicing platform for the Direct Student Loan Program. However, in the third quarter of 2017, ED cancelled this solicitation. As of the date of this report, ED has not published any update to its plans for a new RFP.
Asset Recovery and Business Processing Revenue
Our asset recovery and business processing revenue consists of fees we receive for asset recovery of delinquent and defaulted debt on behalf of third-party clients performed on a contingent basis. Business processing revenue consists of fees we earn processing transactions on behalf of our municipal, public authority and hospital clients. Asset recovery and business processing revenue increased $60 million primarily due to the recognition of $47 million of previously deferred asset recovery revenue, net of a reserve, related to loans for which the Company performs default aversion services. In connection with providing these services, a fee is received when a loan is initially placed with us and we provide the services for the remaining life of the loan for no additional fee. As a result, in accordance with GAAP, the fee was deferred net of estimated rebates, and recognized as revenue as it was earned over the expected lives of the related loans. In the third quarter of 2017, the Company was notified that it would no longer perform these services after 2017 due to the termination of the related contract as of December 31, 2017. In accordance with GAAP, we recognized this previously deferred revenue during the three-month period ended September 30, 2017 to reflect a shortened period over which it is expected to be earned. The remaining increase in revenue is primarily related to Duncan Solutions, a transportation revenue management company serving municipalities and toll authorities, acquired by the Company in July 2017.
In December 2016, Great Lakes Higher Education Assistance Corp. (“Great Lakes”) assumed control of United Student Aid Funds, Inc. (“USAF”). As part of this transfer, Great Lakes terminated our contracts with USAF and Northwest Education Loan Association (“NELA”), effective as of December 31, 2017. At the same time, they notified us their intent to rebid the services we provided for USAF, NELA and Great Lakes. In the third quarter of 2017, we agreed to a new contract with Great Lakes to provide asset recovery and portfolio management services to Great Lakes on the combined, Great Lakes, USAF and NELA portfolios. Also, in the third quarter of 2017, we learned that we would not continue to provide guarantor services to these entities which resulted in the recognition of $47 million of previously deferred revenue discussed above.
Since 1997, Navient has provided asset recovery services on defaulted education loans to ED. This contract expired by its terms on February 21, 2015 and our Pioneer Credit Recovery (“Pioneer”) subsidiary received no new account placements under the contract. In March 2015, Pioneer filed a bid protest with the U.S. Government
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