student loans

USED could have seen PSLF Fail coming

10/31/19

The Department of Education (USED) knew by 2016 that hundreds of thousands of student loan borrowers planning to apply for public loan service forgiveness (PSLF) were headed for rejection as they started applying in late 2017. The Department conducted a review of servicing contractor PHEAA’s administration of PSLF on October 25, 2016, about a year before the first cohort of borrowers would become eligible for loan cancellation.

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Digit's latest feature tackles student loan debt

10/31/19

Digit is applying its automated-savings techniques to the growing problem of student loan debt.

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Dems demand CFPB investigation of Pa. loan forgiveness program

10/30/19

Nearly two dozen Senate Democrats say the CFPB should "immediately" open up an enforcement investigation into the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency’s loan forgiveness program for alleged mismanagement.

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Sallie Mae's student loan servicing changes could prove costly

10/27/19

The nation's largest private student lender plans to curtail its use of forbearance, a move that could well save some borrowers money but could also result in more defaults.

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Fifth Circuit Grants Small Victories to Student Loan Debtors

10/26/19
The news for student loan borrowers in bankruptcy is usually so grim that even a small victory is cause to sit up and take notice.   The Fifth Circuit recently handed student loan debtors two small victories, ruling that dischargeability of student loans was not subject to arbitration and that bar exam loans could be discharged.  The cases are Case No. 18-20809, Stephanie Marie Henry v. Educational Financial Service (Matter of Stephanie Marie Henry)(Fifth Cir. 10/17/19) and Case No. 18-20254, Evan Brian Crocker v.
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Home lending fintech expands into student loan refis

10/25/19

Figure Technologies, which has made $600 million in home equity loans in the past year, says its next move will be refinancing student loans.

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$5 to forgive public servant student loans

10/21/19

Five dollars is the contract payment the US Education Department makes to its servicer FedLoan for a borrower's first approved Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) employment certification.

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Dems unload on CFPB’s Kraninger: ‘You are absolutely worthless’

10/16/19

CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger faced a barrage of questions from Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee over why the agency has not demanded refunds for consumers in recent settlements.

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California blazing a trail on banking policy for other blue states

10/08/19

The state's Democratic-controlled Legislature has enacted laws establishing data privacy rights, giving municipalities the ability to set up public banks, and requiring standardized disclosures on small-business loans, among other issues. Lawmakers elsewhere are taking notice.

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Student Loan Crisis Driving Racial Wealth Gap

09/26/19

Twenty years after taking out student loans, white borrowers have paid 94% of their debt (at the median.)  Black borrowers, on the other hand, have paid 5%. While a disturbing 20% of white borrowers defaulted on student loans at some point during twenty years, a catastrophic 50% of Black borrowers defaulted.

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