Austin Smith | October 17, 2022 The Student Loan Industry Lobbied for Laws That it Thought Would Boost Profits. Those Same Laws May Have Inadvertently Entitled Millions of Borrowers to Relief That They Were Improperly Denied During COVID-19. A new lawsuit may finally get relief for millions of borrowers unfairly denied relief for years, including during COVID, using a law that lenders themselves lobbied for to boost their profits. Learn More
October 11, 2022 Missouri-Based Student Loan Giant Accused of Illegal Loan Servicing Practices, Scheme to Block Student Debt Relief for Millions of Borrowers AFT and SBPC allege that the sham lawsuit by Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MOHELA) violates California law and the company is potentially liable for more than $175 billion in damages. Learn More
October 11, 2022 As Biden Administration Prepares to Deliver Historic Debt Relief, Student Borrower Protection Center Announces New Hires, Promotions, and Transitions SBPC announces major personnel changes: Aissa Canchola Bañez as Senior Advisor for Policy and Strategy, Ella Azoulay as Research and Policy Analyst, Brandon Herrera as Communications and Digital Coordinator, Persis Yu now as Deputy Executive Director and Claire Torchiana as SBPC Fellow. Learn More
October 4, 2022 A student-loan company that took over public servants’ accounts is involved in one of the first major lawsuits against Biden’s debt cancellation "This suit is just the latest chapter in a long history of student loan companies like MOHELA and their Republican allies cheating people with student debt out of their rights," Mike Pierce, the executive director of the advocacy group Student Borrower Protection Center, said in a statement. "Governments have given... Learn More
September 30, 2022 In a reversal, the Education Dept. is excluding many from student loan relief In response to the lawsuit, Persis Yu, of the Student Borrower Protection Center, says, "FFEL lenders have shown their true colors. Instead of working in the interest of student loan borrowers – their customers – these lenders are holding hostage relief to millions of borrowers in order to keep making... Learn More
September 30, 2022 Biden’s Student Debt Plan Touches Off Lawsuits, Scams and Confusion “There are big open questions about how people are going to connect the dots,” Mike Pierce, the executive director of the Student Borrower Protection Center, said in an interview. “But the track record for the student loan system isn’t good. In some ways, all the White House is doing here... Learn More
September 29, 2022 SBPC Statement on Republican AG-Led Lawsuit to Block Biden Administration Effort to Cancel Student Debt The student loan industry has made it painfully clear to the American people that they will stop at nothing to protect their profits. For decades, borrowers, advocates, and law enforcement officials have raised the alarm on the student loan industry’s illegal and deceptive practices—including in a scathing report from a... Learn More
September 29, 2022 Debt cancellation got all the attention, but this Biden proposal could impact student-loan borrowers more, critics and advocates say If the idea is to keep student loans affordable for borrowers and the government determines what’s affordable based on income, “it doesn’t really make logical sense,” that you would make a distinction between how much a borrower has to pay based on their degree, said Persis Yu, deputy executive director... Learn More
September 24, 2022 Millions of student loan borrowers could receive automatic refunds on their payments soon—how to check if you qualify “Anyone who has interacted with the student loan system in this country knows that automatic relief programs are the only relief programs that work,” Mike Pierce, the executive director and co-founder of the Student Borrower Protection Center, said in a written statement. Learn More
September 21, 2022 House backs bill to let people with spousal student loans split the debt Between 1993 and 2006, more than 14,700 people combined their debt through the spousal consolidation program, according to federal data obtained by the Student Borrower Protection Center. Many of the loans have been repaid over time, but there are still about 770 loans remaining, according to federal data. Learn More