Income-Share Agreements
We are fighting to hold Wall Street and Silicon Valley accountable for a years-long scheme to drive students into Income Share Agreements.
A decade ago, Silicon Valley investors, Wall Street financiers, and researchers at right-wing think tanks conspired to rebrand subprime private student loans as a new kind of student debt, making false promises about protections for students and the long-term benefits for American higher education.
These so-called “Income-Share Agreements” or ISAs were offered to students at coding bootcamps and private and public colleges across the country, often marketed as a way to pay for college without taking on student loans or going into debt. The sales pitch promised that students would never have to repay these ISAs if they failed to get a job that earned a decent income, while, behind the scenes, financial engineers loaded contracts with fine print and passed off these subprime loans onto investors before they could go bad.
What We’re Doing
The ISA industry’s history of mismanagement, abuse, and unlawful conduct made it a target for public enforcement actions, private lawsuits, and congressional oversight. See below to learn more about our work to hold companies from Silicon Valley to Wall Street accountable for cheating students and borrowers.