Servicers Serve the Interests of the Lender, NOT the Student Loan Bo...

I have enormous respect and appreciation for the CFPB and the wonderful and talented and committed folks who work there. Thus I am mystified that in their efforts to improve servicing of student loans and directing of student loan at-risk borrowers to the window that would help them, they continue to misunderstand the basic nature of capitalism and its profit motive and the borrower-lender relationship. Certainly, the fatally flawed structuring of the credit counseling industry by the credit card lenders in the 1970’s and the still ongoing dismal efforts of mortgage loan servicers to “help” borrowers in default should have taught us the lessons that those who serve the lender cannot and may not and will not serve the interests of the borrower. Capitalism does not work that way whether the lender is a traditional profit incented financial institution in the case of credit card and mortgage loans or a mix of private and public lenders as in the case of student loans. Think IRS and SBA for other government collector examples. If the notion of inclusive capitalism or Robert Reich’s notion of saved capitalism takes hold, perhaps it will invent a way for this to work, but today such efforts are poisonous because they delay creative solutions and punish borrowers and the American economy both of which desperately need such solutions to thrive. Of course servicing must be improved as much as possible and it is tempting to try to rely on the servicers since they are the ones with contacts with the borrowers, but servicers are collectors by another name. It is well past time to stop putting our faith in the collectors. There is currently no high quality network of financial counselors who can help student loan borrowers at risk.All of us including the Department of Education and the CFPB need to start work immediately to develop that effective network and make certain that this crucial job is not delegated to mediocre providers without sufficient quality or quality controls. More on that in a later post.