Today, the U.S. Department of Education (Department) proposed regulations to reduce the cost of federal student loan payments, especially for low and middle-income borrowers. The regulations fulfill the commitment President Biden laid out in August when he announced his Administration’s plan to provide student debt relief for approximately 40 million borrowers and make the student loan …
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 …
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 …
Question: Dear Steve, I took a federal student loan for grad school in 1975. My Social Security now is garnisheed. Since 1993 loan collection has taken $35,000 from me, and not one cent has been applied to the loan amount only to interest. Is it legal not to put payments on to loan principal? Do …
Everyone knows the story about the hapless motorist who gets lost in rural Maine. When he finds a farmer and asks for directions, the farmer says, “You can’t get there from here.” The U.S. Department of Education must be staffed by Maine farmers. DOE has made it almost impossible for student-loan debtors to benefit from …
Question: Dear Steve, Went to Remington College after getting let go from my employer of 25 years. Was not able to apply the training. $20000 worth of federal student loans. I am 62 years old. Is there an age that you don’t have to pay loans? Thanks Horses Answer: Dear Horses, Unfortunately, when it comes …
Congress has been dropping “helicopter money” into the national economy–adding significantly to the national debt, which now exceeds $25 trillion. That’s a lot of money for our grandchildren to pay back. My own grandkids are ambivalent about this situation. My four-year-old says he thinks he can do it if his dad will increase his allowance, …
The Department of Education under Betsy DeVos seems to be broken when it comes to overseeing student loan programs. Deep issues are preventing debtors from getting access to programs and forgiveness under the law. The biggest broken programs are Public Service Loan Forgiveness, Borrower Defense to Repayment, Closed School Discharges, and now a new class-action …
A long implemented trick by some student loan assistance companies has been to tell consumers they can inflate the number of people they support in order to reduce the monthly payment on Income-Drive Repayment (IDR) Plans. Consumers have reported and I’ve covered stories where sales representatives of student loan assistance companies, sometimes pretending to be …
Question: Dear Steve, I have like 150k in loans, most federal but about 30k private, I My degree was worthless, fine art. I sure wish I never went to graduate school, but thought it would lead to a college job, thanks 2008. I’ve been putting the loans off for 10 years now. making some payments …