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Mandatory Wage Garnishment for All Student Loan Borrowers?

February 12, 2019
by Persis Yu
Comments are off
Last week, Senator Lamar Alexander, the Chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, proposed a program that would require student loan borrowers to repay their loans through mandatory automatic deductions from their paychecks. Yesterday, the National Consumer Law Center released a policy brief, The Dark Side of Payroll Withholding to Repay Student Loans, […]
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96 Out of 28,000 Borrowers Approved for Public Service Loan Forgiveness … What Does This Mean for Everyone Else?

October 05, 2018
by Persis Yu
department of education, Federal student loans, IBR, Income-driven repayment, Public Service Loan Forgiveness
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It has been one year since student loan borrowers have been theoretically eligible to have their loans forgiven under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. And yet, out of the 28,000 borrowers who applied, only 96 have had their loans forgiven. That is less than 1 percent of applicants. That number is shocking and […]
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Help Keep Income-Driven Student Loan Payments Affordable!

March 06, 2018
by Persis Yu
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For student loan borrowers struggling to repay their loans, income-driven repayment plans are a lifeline that helps millions of people stay out of default. There are several income-driven repayment plans: Pay As You Earn – PAYE, Revised Pay As You Earn – REPAYE, Income-Based Repayment – IBR, Income-Contingent Repayment – ICR.  These programs let borrowers […]
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Tax on Death and Disability Discharges Is Gone … For Now

February 08, 2018
by Persis Yu
department of education, Disability, Federal Loans, Federal student loans
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Student loan borrowers who apply to have their loans canceled due to their disability or the death of their child can worry about one less thing: possible tax consequences. When a borrower dies or becomes permanently disabled before paying off student loans, the loans can be discharged, relieving the disabled borrower or surviving family members […]
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Earned Income Tax Credits Seized from Struggling Student Loan Borrowers

January 22, 2018
by Persis Yu
Collection, Default, EITC, Federal student loans, taxes
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Defaulted student loan borrowers planning to file their taxes should know that any refund they were expecting will likely wind up at the Department of Education (ED) instead of their bank account. Tax refund offsets are one of the powerful tools the government uses to collect defaulted federal student loans. For many struggling student loan borrowers, […]
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ED Turns 325,000 Student Loan Borrowers Over to Debt Collectors It Fired for Breaking the Law

December 14, 2017
by Persis Yu
Collection, debt collection, Default, Federal Loans, Federal student loans, Rehabilitation
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With nearly a quarter of federal student loan borrowers in default, borrowers need a system that will help them to successfully repay their loans. Unfortunately, the Department of Education continues to reward contractors that lie to borrowers and to incentivize programs that set borrowers up for failure. InsideARM reports that over the weekend, the Department […]
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Scammers Cost Student Loan Borrowers Millions of Dollars

October 18, 2017
by Persis Yu
Consolidation, debt relief company, department of education, Federal Loans, Federal student loans, student loan scam, student loan servicing, student loans
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Many of the 44 million borrowers are struggling to repay their more than $1.4 trillion in student loan debt in the United States. The options for federal student loan borrowers can be good, but as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s many reports and recent lawsuit against Navient demonstrate, accessing those options can be a confusing […]
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Education Should Not Rush Into Another Failing Debt Collection Contract

August 16, 2017
by Persis Yu
CFPB, Collection, Consolidation, debt collection, Default, department of education, Federal Loans, Federal student loans, Rehabilitation
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According to Politico, late Monday night, the Department of Education told a federal appeals court that a court order blocking its ability to send any newly defaulted student loan borrowers to its hired debt collectors has cost taxpayers more than $5 million in lost collections since March. This lawsuit came about because private debt collection […]
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Education’s New Servicing Plan Eliminates Helpful Options for Borrowers

June 16, 2017
by Persis Yu
department of education, Federal Loans, Federal student loans, student loan servicing, student loans
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Earlier this week, over 150 Members of Congress sent a letter to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos highlighting concerns surrounding the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED’s) decision to make changes to the student loan servicing contract procurement process. A month after withdrawing guidance intending to ensure greater consumer protections in the contracting process for student […]
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Parent PLUS Borrowers Lose Affordable Repayment Option Under Trump’s Budget

May 31, 2017
by Persis Yu
budget, Federal student loans, IBR, older borrowers, parent plus, REPAYE, student loans, Trump
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Last Thursday, President Trump announced his budget plan, which includes some dramatic changes for student loan borrowers. One of these big changes is to income-driven repayment. The budget proposes to eliminate the multiple existing income-driven repayment plans and replace them with a single income-driven repayment plan. The proposed plan offers some pros and cons. However, […]
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Recent Posts

Temporary Expanded Public Service Loan Forgiveness
Feb 18, 2019
Mandatory Wage Garnishment for All Student Loan Borrowers?
Feb 12, 2019
Lawsuit Calls on Department of Education to Provide Relief to Students Whose Schools Closed
Dec 03, 2018

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