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Polling

May 5, 2022

Poll: Hours Before Major Hearing, Latest Tracking Poll Shows Significant Federal Action on Student Debt Remains Consistently Popular Among Likely Voters

As Biden contemplates an imminent decision on student debt relief and the Senate Banking Committee prepares for a major student loan-focused hearing featuring SBPC Executive Director Mike Pierce, SBPC and Data for Progress release the latest in a series of polls tracking the impact of student debt on American families.

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Letters & Memos

May 4, 2022

Borrower Voices on the Incomplete Promise of Relief through IDR: Missing and Inaccurate Loan Payment Histories

This memo details how the Administration’s remedy to the failures of Income-Driven Repayment (IDR)—an IDR Account Adjustment—is predicated on the myth that borrowers have full and accurate payment history records.

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Letters & Memos

May 2, 2022

Advocates Sound Alarm on Industry’s Implementation of Changes to IDR

The SBPC, National Consumer Law Center, Student Debt Crisis Center, and Center for Responsible Lending wrote to the Education Finance Council, National Council of Higher Education Resources, and Student Loan Servicing Alliance regarding recently announced to income-driven repayment.

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Press Releases

May 2, 2022

Student Loan Industry Failure Could Jeopardize Help for Millions of Low-Income Borrowers

The SBPC, National Consumer Law Center, Student Debt Crisis Center, and Center for Responsible Lending sent a letter to the largest trade organizations representing student loan lenders and servicers underscoring their legal obligation to faithfully implement the Department of Education’s recent fix for income-driven repayment.

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Comments

May 2, 2022

Comment on Debt Collection Authorities Under the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996

SBPC’s comment urges action to ensure that the most vulnerable student loan borrowers are protected from harmful collection practices by the Treasury.

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Letters & Memos

May 1, 2022

Memo: Transcript and diploma withholding

States have an opportunity to ban transcript and diploma withholding at academic institutions, allowing students to access documentation of their earned credits and move forward with their educations and careers.

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News Clips

Apr 29, 2022

She Accused Her Ex-Husband of Abuse. She’s Still Stuck With His Student Loans.

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News Clips

Apr 27, 2022

Student loan defaults are a big barrier to prison education. The government is offering new help.

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Letters & Memos

Apr 22, 2022

Borrower Voices on the Incomplete Promise of Relief through IDR: Recertification

This memo lays out how unwieldy Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) requirements such as annual recertification contribute to blocking borrowers from accessing relief.

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Blogs

Apr 21, 2022

No, the Student Loan Pause is Not Driving Inflation

This line has been parroted in the opinion sections of mainstream news outlets, but it’s empirically unfounded.

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Press Releases

Apr 20, 2022

New GAO Report Demonstrates True Fix for Broken Student Loan System is Widespread Cancellation

Piecemeal remedies are insufficient to address prolific systemic failures.

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Press Releases

Apr 19, 2022

Education Department Announces Major Effort to Repair Student Loan Safety Net, Deliver Debt Relief for Millions of Low-Income People with Student Debt

With new fix to income-driven repayment, Education Department looks to remedy allegations of past mismanagement and industry abuse but fails to help defaulted borrowers who are the most financially vulnerable.

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Press Releases

Apr 11, 2022

Financial Institutions are Nickel-and-Diming Students into Financial Ruin with Junk Fees

The SBPC and the U.S. PIRG Education Fund submitted comments to the CFPB’s request for input on harmful “junk fees,” exposing how financial service giants and universities are preying on students.

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Letters & Memos

Apr 11, 2022

Advocates Call on CFPB to Eliminate the Junk Fees Harming Students

SBPC and the U.S. PIRG Education Fund call on the CFPB to use its broad authorities over enforcement, supervision, and regulation in the consumer financial services marketplace to investigate and eradicate junk fees.

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Press Releases

Apr 7, 2022

The System is Still Broken: 115+ Organizations Renew Push for the Biden Administration to Aid Millions of Student Loan Borrowers with Overdue Reforms to Income-Driven Repayment (IDR)

A group of 116 diverse advocacy organizations sent a letter to the Biden Administration calling on U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona to reform broken, dysfunctional income-driven repayment programs and fulfill the promise of IDR.

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News Clips

Apr 7, 2022

The Student Loan Pause Has Been Extended Until the End of August

NPR’s Leila Fadel talks to Mike Pierce of the Student Borrower Protection Center, about plans to extend the student loan payment pause and a reset for roughly 7 million borrowers who are in default.

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Press Releases

Apr 6, 2022

New August End Date for Student Loan Payment Pause Puts Pressure on Biden to Move Fast to Cancel Student Debt

The federal student loan payment pause and new “Fresh Start” loan program are an opportunity to fix the broken student loan system.

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Letters & Memos

Apr 6, 2022

Older Borrower Voices on the Incomplete Promise of Relief through IDR

This memo highlights how an Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) fix will only provide relief to older borrowers with decades-old loans if it provides credit towards relief for time in default, forbearance, and deferment.

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Blogs

Apr 1, 2022

Explosive New Evidence of Mismanagement of Student Loan Program Shows Need for IDR Waiver

The results of an NPR investigation show why an IDR waiver is needed now more than ever.

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News Clips

Apr 1, 2022

Exclusive: How the most affordable student loan program failed low-income borrowers

“That is one of the most concerning things that you’ve highlighted because the people with the $0 payments are the folks in financial distress,” says Persis Yu of the Student Borrower Protection Center. “If that payment is not tracked adequately, it means that they’re in debt that they don’t owe. And to build a system in which we utterly fail the lowest income borrowers so explicitly is just inexcusable.”

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Social Security

Poll: Hours Before Major Hearing, Latest Tracking Poll Shows Significant Federal Action on Student Debt Remains Consistently Popular Among Likely Voters

Borrower Voices on the Incomplete Promise of Relief through IDR: Missing and Inaccurate Loan Payment Histories

Advocates Sound Alarm on Industry’s Implementation of Changes to IDR

Student Loan Industry Failure Could Jeopardize Help for Millions of Low-Income Borrowers

Comment on Debt Collection Authorities Under the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996

Memo: Transcript and diploma withholding

She Accused Her Ex-Husband of Abuse. She’s Still Stuck With His Student Loans.

Student loan defaults are a big barrier to prison education. The government is offering new help.

Borrower Voices on the Incomplete Promise of Relief through IDR: Recertification

No, the Student Loan Pause is Not Driving Inflation

New GAO Report Demonstrates True Fix for Broken Student Loan System is Widespread Cancellation

Education Department Announces Major Effort to Repair Student Loan Safety Net, Deliver Debt Relief for Millions of Low-Income People with Student Debt

Financial Institutions are Nickel-and-Diming Students into Financial Ruin with Junk Fees

Advocates Call on CFPB to Eliminate the Junk Fees Harming Students

The System is Still Broken: 115+ Organizations Renew Push for the Biden Administration to Aid Millions of Student Loan Borrowers with Overdue Reforms to Income-Driven Repayment (IDR)

The Student Loan Pause Has Been Extended Until the End of August

New August End Date for Student Loan Payment Pause Puts Pressure on Biden to Move Fast to Cancel Student Debt

Older Borrower Voices on the Incomplete Promise of Relief through IDR

Explosive New Evidence of Mismanagement of Student Loan Program Shows Need for IDR Waiver

Exclusive: How the most affordable student loan program failed low-income borrowers

EXPLORE MORE