student loans

Middle Class Homeowners Are the Biggest Winners from Student Loan Forgiveness

04/29/19

A lot of the criticism of Senator Elizabeth Warren’s student loan forgiveness proposal has focused on how it's not fair to give loan forgiveness to current borrowers when past borrowers repaid their debts.  That criticism overlooks the enormous boost Senator Warren's proposal would give to the real estate market.

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The Student Loan Tax

04/29/19

Democrats’ policy proposals have sparked a vital and overdue debate on our system to pay for post-secondary education, and how that system burdens and redistributes income. The existing system combines a small share of taxpayer funding (via the Pell Grant) with a large share from the student loan tax. The student loan tax requires the students themselves to pay a percentage of their income for 20 to 25 years, collected not by the IRS but by private contractors for the US Education Department.

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Broad-based loan growth drives higher profits at Discover

04/25/19

The company's credit card business has been outpacing industry-wide loan growth. In the first quarter, results were also aided by higher loan yields.

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Most steer clear of in-school loans. This fintech wants in

04/25/19

Earnest hopes offering a streamlined process can help it thrive in a risky niche.

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Navient moves to compete with former parent Sallie Mae

04/24/19

The Wilmington, Del., company's new product relies on technology developed by Earnest, a startup that it acquired in 2017.

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About the Student Loan Forgiveness Price Tag...

04/23/19

Senator Warren's student loan forgiveness proposal has a lot of scolds moaning about the immorality of debt forgiveness, the unfairness to those who paid their debts, and complaining about the price tag. It's pretty obvious that none of those folks know anything about how the federal student loan system works. If they did, they'd know the we crossed the debt forgiveness Rubicon long, long ago.

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Student Loan Borrowing Is Different

04/23/19

Education finance and student loan forgiveness have been getting a lot of attention the last couple of days because of our former co-blogger's loan forgiveness proposal.  I'm not going to address the merits of that proposal here.  Instead, I want to make a simple point that many of the critics of Senator Warren's proposal don't seem to understand:  student loan borrowing is materially different from other types of borrowing, such that the borrower has no idea what s/he is getting into.

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Consumer lenders ease fears over credit quality

04/18/19

Measures of loan performance were generally better than expected at Ally, American Express, Synchrony and Sallie Mae. Their 1Q reports suggest that consumers remain able to meet their obligations despite a long run-up in debt.

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