Domino: A Blog About Student Debt

Although the U.S. is desperately in need of solutions for the student debt crisis—and the accompanying racial and ethnic disparities—features of existing Income Share Agreements threaten to exacerbate these inequalities.

Lenders offering Income Share Agreements (ISAs) claim they have found the perfect loophole to sidestep federal law. They argue that ISAs are “not credit,” and therefore federal consumer financial laws don’t apply. These companies have bet their business on this assumption, accruing massive liability if they are wrong.

The SBPC is announcing an unprecedented exploration into the role that consumer protection laws play in safeguarding borrowers from the harms posed by ISAs. Over the next month, we will release a paper series, authored by legal experts at the forefront of consumer law, exploring how ISAs fit into existing...

To help provide guidance, here are answers to some frequently asked borrower questions about managing student loans during the coronavirus pandemic and beyond.

In the dire economy the nation now faces, forgiving anyone’s debt should help to counter economic contraction. And some more recent research suggests that differences in the marginal propensity to consume across different groups may be smaller than previously thought.

The SBPC is proud to be part of a growing movement of advocates reaching from coast to coast — consumer groups, grassroots organizers, labor organizations, elected officials, law enforcement, and regulators — who have thoughtfully and tenaciously taken critical steps to stand up for the millions of Americans with student...

The private student loan market is extremely opaque and lacks many of the key reporting requirements present in other areas of consumer finance—in fact, some participants share critical information on borrower outcomes with only their most elite clients. However, indirect sources such as the disclosures from Student Loan Asset Backed...

New evidence underscores the importance of broad-based student debt cancellation in reducing the economic drag this debt imposes on American families' financial lives. This is more important than ever if we are trying to get our economy back on track.

The report, written by SBPC fellow Brian Shearer, builds a case for how states can oversee the nonbank companies at the center of the $1.6 trillion student loan market. The report also offers a path forward for states to oversee other critical nonbank financial institutions that play large roles in...

Before the ink had dried on 30 million Americans’ layoff notices, companies peddling “income share agreements” (ISAs) were already trotting out crafty PR pitches, misleading marketing materials, and new predatory programs aimed at exploiting this crisis.