Federal Borrower Defense covers only federal loans. But some private student loan contracts carry a school-fraud defense under the FTC’s Holder Rule – here’s how to check yours.
The Ninth Circuit’s July 17, 2026 ruling rejected the Department of Education’s appeal in Sweet v. McMahon. Here’s who gets automatic discharge and who doesn’t.
Court records show the Education Department’s own attorneys promised 170,000 student loan borrowers full automatic relief at three federal court hearings in 2025. Five months after the last promise, they asked for 18 more months. A federal judge called it ‘eleventh hour,’ documented ‘repeated failures,’ and closed with: ‘No further motions will be entertained.’
Two court rulings in 48 hours cleared the path for automatic student loan discharges to proceed for 170,000+ borrowers. The Supreme Court upheld the Sweet v. McMahon settlement, and a federal judge denied the Education Department’s second attempt to delay. Here’s who qualifies and what to do.
The Department of Education agreed to a $6 billion settlement to forgive loans for students defrauded by predatory schools. Now they’re doing everything possible to avoid honoring that promise, leaving 200,000+ borrowers in limbo.
Quick Answer: The U.S. Department of Education will discharge all federal student loans for ITT Technical Institute attendance from January 2005 through September 2016 closure. This automatic forgiveness covers 208,000 borrowers receiving $3.9 billion in full loan discharges without requiring additional applications.Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Education (Department) announced that it will discharge all remaining …
Quick Answer: Yes, applying for Borrower Defense discharge will not affect PSLF eligibility or progress. Students from Chicago School of Professional Psychology and other qualifying schools should apply for Borrower Defense immediately while continuing their PSLF payments and employment requirements.Question:Dear Steve,I just found out my school is now one of the schools part of the …
Quick Answer: The Department of Education has agreed to settle a case regarding delayed Borrower Defense to Repayment claims, providing full loan forgiveness for eligible borrowers within one year. Affected borrowers who attended specific schools listed in the settlement will receive notification within 90 days of the court’s approval.The Department of Education has agreed to …
Quick Answer: The FTC issued penalty notices to 70 for-profit colleges, enabling students to potentially apply for Borrower Defense Loan Discharge if their schools made false promises about job prospects. Violating institutions now face civil penalties up to $43,792 per violation under the resurrected Penalty Offense Authority.The FTC made the announcement below that seems to …
Quick Answer: Sweet v. DeVos reveals concerning practices where the Department of Education allegedly denied nearly all borrower defense claims using form letters citing “Insufficient Evidence” despite settling a class action lawsuit representing over 100,000 defrauded students. The DOE was accused of skirting settlement terms by arbitrarily denying relief rather than reviewing individual fraud claims …
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