Memos/Issue Briefs

After four years of leading the fight to protect student loan borrowers, 2021 has seen states across the country continue to take steps to deliver protections and hold companies harming borrowers accountable.

In a memorandum, Sabita Soneji and Leora Friedman of Tycko & Zavareei, LLP outline the legal tools available to hold bad actors accountable for an ongoing scheme to drive students toward predatory private credit. 

This memo explores how state law may render many ISA companies’ contracts unenforceable, and how the continued servicing of voided debts may amount to a violation of state and federal law.

This memo explores how the Truth in Lending Act’s (TILA) consumer protections prohibit a prominent feature of Income Share Agreements (ISAs) known as a "prepayment penalty"—a lending industry practice that forces borrowers to pay an extra sum if they want to pay off a debt early.

This report is the result of an investigation that reveals potentially harmful business practices and possible fair lending risks by Stride Funding, an education finance firm that originates and markets Income Share Agreements (ISAs).

In a memo, the SPBC highlights how ISA companies are unlawfully depriving students of the ability to protect themselves from fraud by leaving out of their ISA contracts language required under the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) “Holder Rule.”

This issue brief highlights newly public data obtained by NCLC from the Department of Education showing that only 32 borrowers have ever qualified for debt cancellation through the federal government’s IDR program, even as approximately 2 million borrowers remain trapped in decades-old debts.

This issue brief examines how debt owed by students directly to schools presents unique challenges, and how Washington can provide relief to students and borrowers burdened by these debts as part of the overall higher education response to COVID.

This issue brief details how for-profit schools work with third-party companies to skirt accountability requirements designed to protect borrowers who attended schools with high default rates.

In an issue brief, the SBPC, U.S. PIRG, and Consumer Action outline key steps the CFPB can take to expand and enhance its complaint tool, including the agency’s public complaint database.