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 […]

Advocates for student loan borrowers breathed a sigh of relief on March 30, when the deadline passed for Congress to introduce a resolution to roll back the new “borrower defense” rules.  These rules are designed to protect students and taxpayers from harm by predatory schools.  After rumblings from Washington that these rules would be in […]

According to the IRS, if you went to a Corinthian school and had your loans canceled under the borrower defense rule, you should not owe taxes on the canceled amount. Unfortunately, we have learned that the Department of Education and its servicers sent IRS forms 1099-C to Corinthian students whose loans were canceled in 2016. […]

This morning, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren sent a scathing letter to the U.S. Department of Education highlighting some troubling data about the way that the Department  treated Corinthian Colleges borrowers eligible for fast track relief. The Department announced that these borrowers were eligible for relief after finding that nearly 100 Corinthian campuses (operating as WyoTech, […]

Yesterday, NCLC and 39 others sent a letter to Secretary John King demanding that the Department of Education look at its loan data to determine the impact that student loan defaults have on student loan borrowers of color. In our letter, we asked the Department to collect and release the data necessary to ensure that […]

It has been one month since tax season came to an end. By now, many student loan borrowers have learned the hard way that the federal government will take their tax refund, including Earned Income Tax Credits (EITC), if they are in default on a federal loan.  A couple of months ago, we shared a […]

Student loan borrowers should be aware of a proposed rule by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued on May 6, 2016.  It implements a new law that allows robocalls and texts to be made to a cell phone without the consumer’s consent “to collect a debt owed to or guaranteed by the United States.” This […]

Last week was full of announcements about student loans. The U.S. Department of Education (ED), along with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the U.S. Department of Treasury, announced last week that it plans to take steps to improve consumer protections and enhance the student loan borrower experience. ED’s announcement focused on four areas: helping […]