Tax on Death and Disability Discharges Is Gone … For Now
February 08, 2018
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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 discharge
Continue Reading →ED Turns 325,000 Student Loan Borrowers Over to Debt Collectors It Fired for Breaking the Law
December 14, 2017
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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 borr
Continue Reading →Scammers Cost Student Loan Borrowers Millions of Dollars
October 18, 2017
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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 Navie
Continue Reading →Education Should Not Rush Into Another Failing Debt Collection Contract
August 16, 2017
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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
Continue Reading →Education’s New Servicing Plan Eliminates Helpful Options for Borrowers
June 16, 2017
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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 withdrawin
Continue Reading →Will Congress Finally Stop Taxing Disabled Student Loan Borrowers and Bereaved Parents?
February 16, 2017
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It is a little known fact that a forgiven student loan is usually treated as income for tax purposes. While some types of student loan cancellations (e.g. Public Service Loan Forgiveness, closed-school, etc.) are exempt from taxation, forgiveness of the debt due to disability and deat
Continue Reading →What Happens Now: A Post Election Message
November 17, 2016
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Since the election of Donald Trump for President, we have heard from many people asking us, “what does this mean for student loan borrowers.” The honest answer is that we do not yet know. We have very little actual information about what the next administration plans, and it is still
Continue Reading →CFPB Report Shows Borrowers Still Struggle After Student Loan Rehabilitation
October 17, 2016
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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Student Loan Ombudsman released a report today estimating that over a third of borrowers who rehabilitate their loans will re-default within the first two years. It further highlighted industry estimates that re-default rates could be as
Continue Reading →Update: Stop Taking the EITC to Pay for Defaulted Student Loan
October 13, 2016
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This week, the National Consumer Law Center updated its policy brief highlighting the need to end the seizure of Earned Income Tax Credits (“EITC”) from defaulted federal student loan borrowers. As we have said in previous blog posts (here and here), seizing EITC payments is a counter
Continue Reading →You can now complain to the CFPB about your federal student loans (and you should!)
August 23, 2016
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Last week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (“CFPB”) Student Loan Ombudsman released its midyear report analyzing complaints submitted directly by consumers about their student loans. Importantly, the CFPB’s Student Loan Ombudsman announced that it is now officially acceptin
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