New contract for student loan vultures

[WorkDoctor]

Bad news: 2 yr. contract extensions for 6 collection agencies - Great Lakes, HESC/Edfinancial, MOHELA, Navient, Nelnet, and OSLA Servicing; loan repayments begin again Feb 1, 2022; Social Security deductions up to 15% of benefit withheld by collectors; no forgiveness of ANY kind from Biden on the horizon despite campaign pledges.

Possibly good news: at the Dept of Education Federal Student Aid office (FSA) with authority over the collection vultures, the COO is Richard Cordray (the original head of Elizabeth Warren's Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)). In lieu of discharges of all student loans, in his new role, he announced more pressure on collection companies to be transparent and more "customer service" friendly. Hope he is allowed to do much more in the coming years.

From an Oct 15 press release: "FSA will take additional steps to implement a broader vision focused on ensuring borrowers have easy access to the clear, accurate, and timely information they need to manage their federal student loans. In addition to building on enhancements to FSA’s digital platform – including StudentAid.gov and the myStudentAid mobile app – the Department will work on a permanent contracting approach to cement greater stability, servicer transparency, accountability, and performance beyond the two-year period authorized by Congress."

The privatization rolls on ...

Any system that is able to torment a disabled person well past retirement age and steal from the tiny SS payment is immoral.

[Froggyproggy]

1. Loans should be repaid.

A loan is an agreement. I see no problems with sending them to collections if borrowers refuse to pay. Large scale loan forgiveness outside of programs that are currently available is not financially feasible. You can’t just forgive that much debt without serious repercussions. On the flip-side, the amount of loans to cover basic tuition and fees has spiraled out of control. Education reform needs to focus on lower cost higher education for meaningful areas of study.