Social Security

For Washington, the embrace of such demands marks a striking change, as an idea advanced by anti-corporate greed Occupy Wall Street activists a decade ago – and resoundingly rejected by the Trump administration – moves to the heart of political debate.

The Student Borrower Protection Center, a leading student loans advocacy organization, says the student loan forgiveness program not only should be overhauled, but that Biden’s Education Department should take a more proactive stance: cancel federal student loans for public servants who serve for at least 10 years—regardless if they completed the necessary requirements.

Talks of forgiving student debt continue as 45 million Americans get a student loan bill. Some programs already exist to relieve debt, but don’t have a widespread reach. Hear from Seth Frotman, executive director of the Student Borrower Protection Center.

A new report issued last week provides new evidence that the U.S. Department of Education and its loan servicers may have damaged the credit of thousands of student loan borrowers as it implemented a freeze on federal student loan payments that began last year.

Problems with student loan debt pushed Congress to create a seemingly straightforward law in the 1990s to help borrowers lower default rates by consolidating debt with their spouses. Two decades later, divorced borrowers are struggling with the unforeseen consequences.

But the scope of the economic crisis created by the pandemic, and the fact that borrowers who graduated before 2007, like Heaps, have weathered two massive financial downturns in their professional careers, is bolstering the argument that major fixes are needed. Although student-loan forgiveness did not make it into the American Rescue Plan passed by Congress, the bill does include a provision to make college-loan forgiveness tax-free until Dec. 31, 2025, eliminating an…

While advocacy groups welcomed the Education Department’s decision Tuesday, they continue to urge the Biden administration to help an estimated 5 million other people who are still making payments on their commercial FFEL loans.

The Department’s announcement Tuesday only applies to borrowers with commercially-held FFEL loans who defaulted on their debt. Borrower advocacy groups have been urging the Biden administration to extend the payment pause to all borrowers with commercially-held FFEL loans. They estimate that more than 5 million borrowers have this type of loan and haven’t defaulted, meaning they aren’t eligible for the COVID-19-era relief.