The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has just published a report examining Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) programs and how they are being managed. The findings are not encouraging. The Department of Education approved forgiveness for a total of 157 loans under Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plans as of June 1, 2021, but has not taken the steps necessary … Read more
The Department of Education announced steps that will bring borrowers closer to public service loan and income-driven repayment (IDR) forgiveness by addressing historical failures in the administration of the federal student loan programs. Federal Student Aid (FSA) estimates that these changes will result in immediate debt cancellation for at least 40,000 borrowers under the Public … Read more
Our government spent trillions of dollars responding to COVID, and just about everybody got a little something from Uncle Sam. Sometimes I think my wife and I are the only people in the United States who didn’t get a COVID relief check. For example, 14,000 law firms got Payroll Protection money, ostensibly to help them … Read more
The Federal Trade Commission has taken action against a for-profit medical school in the Caribbean and its Illinois-based operators, alleging they deceptively marketed the school’s medical license exam test pass rate and residency matches to lure prospective students. The school and its operators are also charged with violating the Holder Rule, which preserves rights for … Read more
In the 1990s, Wendi LaBorde took out student loans totaling about $75,000, but she could not repay those loans. Over time, interest accrued on the debt. In 2010, the Department of Education obtained a judgment against Ms. LaBorde for approximately $395,000–five times what she borrowed. In 2014, LeBorde received the proceeds from her late mother’s … Read more
Question: Dear Steve, The DOJ has undone my daughter’s Trust and is putting the house I live in, in my name, so they can lien it to take it- they say I owe $438,000 in student loan debt. I took out approximately $75k in HEAL and Stafford loans in the 1990s. I’ve already been through … Read more
The White House is extending the pause on student-loan payments until August 31st–an extraordinary development. By the time this pause ends in September, millions of student borrowers will have been relieved from making payments on their student loans for almost two-and-a-half years. Indeed, as Ron Kline, President Biden’s chief of staff, pointed out: Joe Biden, … Read more
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently sanctioned Edfinancial Services, a student-loan servicer, for making deceptive statements to student loan borrowers and misrepresenting their forgiveness and repayment options to them. Edfinancial deceived borrowers, with Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP), loans about their eligibility for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). The Bureau is ordering the … Read more
In March 2020, the U.S. Department of Education allowed 37 million student-loan borrowers to pause their monthly loan payments due to the COVID pandemic. DOE extended the payment moratorium several times, allowing all these college borrowers to skip making payments for two years without accruing interest or penalties. This moratorium gave student debtors much-needed relief … Read more
Paolo Bacigalupi’s apocalyptic novel The Water Knife is a tale about the struggle for water in the desert Southwest. Lucy, one of the novel’s lead characters, is an investigative reporter trying to understand the major power players who use the law, violence, and vigilantes to control water for their various constituencies. At some point, Lucy … Read more
Betsy DeVos, the Wicked Witch of the Midwest, was perhaps the most despised member of President Trump’s cabinet. As Trump’s Education Secretary, she coddled the for-profit college industry and (in my opinion) bungled the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. Nevertheless, in a speech delivered in November 2018, DeVos revealed to the nation just how … Read more
Question: Dear Steve, I took out a student loan in 2007-2008. I was incarcerated in State prison shortly thereafter. (2008) I was released in 2020. I am now trying to buy a property but the student loan just caught up and took my credit score down 75 points, making the process difficult. Am I eligible … Read more
Rodger Love filed an adversary proceeding back in January 2020 that Richard Fossey wrote about here. In that Adversary Proceeding, Love made the argument the Department of Education should allow him to discharge his student loans because they “would place an undue hardship upon Plaintiff and his minor daughter if said debts are not discharged.” … Read more
Many people don’t realize while I’ve been a consumer debt expert since 1994 I am also an airplane pilot for the fire department. So public service issues are near to my heart. There has been a great uproar regarding the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program offered by the Department of Education since 2007. That program … Read more
Nearly 16,000 borrowers will receive $415 million in borrower defense to repayment discharges following the approval of four new findings and the continued review of claims. This includes approximately 1,800 former DeVry University (DeVry) students who will receive approximately $71.7 million in full borrower defense discharges after the U.S. Department of Education (Department) determined that … Read more