Marginalized Populations

Read more about specific populations or see below for a combined feed:

Older Borrowers

Latino/a borrowers

Black Borrowers

LGBTQ+ Borrowers

Veteran Borrowers

Incarcerated Borrowers

Press Releases

May 1, 2020

Advocates and Veterans Groups Urge Financial Institutions to Follow Military Consumer Protection Law During COVID-19 Mobilizations

Groups send letters to the nation’s major financial institutions urging them to ensure that service members—including those called up to support COVID-19 emergency response efforts—are not being mistreated or denied their rights under federal law.

More
Letters & Memos

May 1, 2020

SBPC, Military, and Veterans Groups Demand Industry Leaders Uphold SCRA Protections for Military Consumers

Groups send 21 letters to financial industry leaders reminding them of their obligations under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.

More
Blogs

Mar 4, 2020

Maryland Stands Up to Predatory Student Loan Lawsuit Machine Targeting Borrowers of Color

This morning, we released new analysis showing how these private student loan collection practices are harming borrowers across the country—and hitting borrowers in Maryland particularly hard. Creditors are dragging Maryland borrowers into court for debt they often do not owe. Lacking the documents necessary to back up their claims, these companies are manipulating courts into garnishing borrowers’ wages for illegitimate debt.

More
News Clips

Feb 6, 2020

Graduates Of Historically Black Colleges May Be Paying More For Loans: Watchdog Group

“It really raised some alarm flags,” said Kat Welbeck, the civil rights counsel at the nonprofit Student Borrower Protection Center.

More
Reports

Feb 5, 2020

Educational Redlining

The SBPC’s analysis of fintech and banking products uncovered cases where a prospective borrower may be hit with thousands of dollars in additional credit costs if he or she attended a community college, an Historically Black College or University (HBCU), or an Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI).

More
Press Releases

Feb 5, 2020

New Report Finds ‘Educational Redlining’ Penalizes Borrowers Who Attended Community Colleges and Minority-Serving Institutions, Perpetuates Systemic Disparities

Advocacy organization calls on congress, regulators to crack down on consumer lenders’ use of education data, warns of fair lending abuses.

More
News Clips

Jan 15, 2020

Seniors crushed by student debt push for Virginia Bill of Rights

Virginia lawmakers are being pressed to pass a proposed student-loan borrower “Bill of Rights” by a group most wouldn’t think of with school debt — Virginians age 50 or older.

More
Blogs

Jan 8, 2020

Communities of Color in Crisis: Examining Racial Disparities in Student Loan Debt and Borrower Outcomes

As reports of widespread servicing breakdowns leading to significant borrower harm continue to emerge, it is critical that we examine the disparity in loan performance between borrowers of color in comparison to their white peers, the role of student loan servicers in exacerbating these outcomes, and the federal inaction that allows potential discrimination by student loan companies to go unchecked.

More
Blogs

Jul 24, 2019

Educational Redlining? The use of education data in underwriting could leave HBCU and MSI graduates in the dark

Tomorrow, the House Financial Services Committee’s Fintech Task Force is holding a hearing on the use of alternative data to expand access to credit. It is critical that the Committee examine what I believe is a dangerous and discriminatory trend—the use of education data for determining creditworthiness under the guise of “innovation.”

More
Letters & Memos

Jul 18, 2019

SBPC and SVA Urge Department of Education to Protect Service Members from Student Loan Abuses

In a letter to Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, the SBPC and Student Veterans of America (SVA), urges the Department of Education to abandon a policy intended to obstruct oversight by agencies charged with enforcing law that protect military borrowers including the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA).

More

EXPLORE MORE

Federal Loan Servicing Abuse

Aidvantage/MAXIMUS

Nelnet/Great Lakes