Student loan scams existed before President Biden made his executive order regarding federal student loan forgiveness. However, with the latest announcement of widespread student loan forgiveness, the number of scams has increased, significantly. It is important that borrowers know the warning signs to avoid being scammed.
Student Loans
How to Apply for the New Student Loan Debt Forgiveness
With the recent announcement made by the Biden administration regarding widespread student loan debt forgiveness, the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that approximately $400 billion in student loan debt is subject to this executive action. The announcement has left student loan borrowers wondering how they can apply to receive this debt relief.
$32 Billion in Student Loan Forgiveness Granted by Biden Administration: How to Apply
The Biden administration approved a total of $32 billion in student loan forgiveness over the course of the last year. Here’s a quick overview of Biden’s recent student loan forgiveness plan announced this week:
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- $10,000 for federal student loan borrowers who didn’t receive Pell Grants (only applies to those earning less than $125,000 a year or couples earning less than $250,000 a year)
- $20,000 for federal student loan borrowers who received Pell Grants.
Do You Qualify for Student Loan Relief?
The subject of student loan debt has become a major topic of political discourse. While lawmakers have called for widespread student loan relief, a number of loan forgiveness programs have existed for several years.
One public method of student loan forgiveness is the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program (PSLF), although this program has come under fire in recent years. PSLF was created in 2007 with the purpose of helping borrowers working in nonprofit and governmental roles following graduation. If the borrower was able to pay consistently on his or her debt while working in a qualifying nonprofit or government job for ten years, making a total of 120 payments), the remaining debt would be forgiven.
Dispelling Myths about Private Student Loans and Bankruptcy
Federal student loans often are not enough to cover the costs of attending a university. Many times, student borrowers need to seek additional sources of funding, including private student loans, to pay for the costs not covered by their federal student loans. Borrowers often operate under the misconception that, like federal student loans, these private loans are also not dischargeable in bankruptcy. In fact, many misconceptions exist surrounding private student loans and how they are handled in a consumer bankruptcy case.
One of the biggest of these misconceptions is that private student loans can be discharged in a bankruptcy case. While student loans are harder to discharge in bankruptcy, it is not impossible. With federal student loans, the bankruptcy filer must start a separate adversary proceeding where he or she needs to prove that paying these debts would present an undue hardship. However, private student loans are not always subject to this extra step in a bankruptcy case.
Democrat Lawmakers Push for Student Loan Debt Bankruptcy Reform
Discharging student loan debt through a consumer bankruptcy case has been next to impossible for borrowers facing a financial crisis. Bankruptcy reform advocates have been calling upon lawmakers to make this process easier for student loan borrowers with no success. Recently, several prominent Democrat lawmakers have called upon the president to help make these reforms through executive action. In addition, they have also sent separate requests to two federal agencies to do the same.
In order to receive a discharge for their federal student loan debt, borrowers facing a bankruptcy proceeding have been required to file a separate legal action within their already open bankruptcy case and to prove that they would suffer an “undue hardship” if forced to continue paying on their student loan debt.
Will Discharging Student Loan Debt Become Easier?
Student loan debt has traditionally been extremely difficult to discharge in bankruptcy. For years, student loan borrowers and advocates have been pushing for legislation to make this process easier. The Biden administration has made statements indicating they will make this process easier in the future, although it is unclear when or if this will ever happen.
It is not impossible to discharge student loan debt in bankruptcy. The bankruptcy code does allow for it, but the test to demonstrate the need for discharging student loan debt has been difficult for borrowers to prove. Unlike other consumer debts, to receive a discharge from their student loan debt, the borrower must prove that repaying these loans would put an undue hardship on them. Unfortunately, the definition of what qualifies as an “undue hardship” is found within the U.S. bankruptcy code, which means defining this standard has been left to individual courts. Certain jurisdictions have made the standard next to impossible to meet, while others have been somewhat more lenient. Regardless, no consistent standard has been set.
Navient Student Loan Settlement Focuses on Delinquent Borrowers
A settlement has been reached as of January 13, 2022, involving student loan servicing company, Navient, and approximately 400,000 student loan borrowers. This settlement provides some much-needed debt relief to hundreds of thousands of delinquent borrowers.
The lawsuit alleges that Navient encouraged student loan borrowers who were behind on their loan payments to enter into costly long-term forbearance programs that kept them in debt. Additionally, borrowers alleged that Navient likewise encouraged them to take on private loans which the borrowers were not able to pay back. To hold the loan servicing company accountable, lawsuits were filed by several states and were joined by 39 attorneys general.
The settlement specifically focuses on student borrowers who took out loans to attend for-profit colleges between the years 2002 and 2014. In the settlement, Navient said they will cancel $1.7 billion in private student loan debt for approximately 66,000 borrowers. In addition, they said they would pay $95 million in restitution for 350,000 federal student loan borrowers.
The goal of this settlement and the reason behind the lawsuit is to prevent predatory lending practices is accused of doing to borrowers. The lawsuit claimed that Navient encouraged borrowers who were not able to make their loan payments to enter forbearance programs instead of income-drive repayment plans. While forbearance programs do help borrowers in a temporary bind, they end up being much costlier in the long run and can often push the borrower even deeper into debt. Investigations into Navient practices found that employees in the call center were pushed to recommend borrowers go into forbearance programs instead of recommending programs that would be much better for the borrower’s financial situation.
Another predatory practice found through investigations into Navient’s practices involved pushing borrowers to apply for subprime private student loans even knowing that the borrowers had low credit and a high likelihood that they would not be able to repay the private loans. Most students who took out these private loans were attending for-profit institutions. However, under federal law, school tuition payments must be at least 90 percent federally funded, therefore making the schools more dependent on federal funding instead of private.
Navient adamantly denied the claims in the lawsuit. They stated the settlement was entered into to avoid financial burden and time in litigation.
Borrowers who are eligible for debt cancellation under the settlement include those who took out private subprime student loans between 2002 and 2014. These loans were mostly taken out through Navient’s predecessor, Sallie Mae. Loan cancellation is available for borrowers who were behind on their private loan payments for at least seven consecutive months prior to June 30, 2021. If a borrower was current on his or her loan obligations, that person would not be eligible for cancellation.
In addition, borrowers who received a non-subprime private student loan to attend a for-profit educational institution listed specifically in the settlement, including DeVry University and University of Phoenix, are also eligible for debt cancellation.
Debt cancellation will be available for borrowers from 38 states and the Washington D. C., who took out federal loans through Navient and were in forbearance for at least two years between 2009 and 2017.
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For borrowers who are struggling with student loan debt, relief options are available. Many student loan borrowers are unaware that they have rights and repayment options available to them, such as postponement of loan payments, reduction of payments or even a complete discharge of the debt. There are ways to file for bankruptcy with student loan debt. It is important you contact an experienced Miami bankruptcy attorney who can advise you of all your options. As an experienced CPA as well as a proven bankruptcy lawyer, Timothy Kingcade knows how to help clients take full advantage of the bankruptcy laws to protect their assets and get successful results. Since 1996 Kingcade Garcia McMaken has been helping people from all walks of life build a better tomorrow. Our attorneys help thousands of people every year take advantage of their rights under bankruptcy protection to restart, rebuild and recover. The day you hire our firm, we will contact your creditors to stop the harassment. You can also find useful consumer information on the Kingcade Garcia McMaken website at www.miamibankruptcy.com.
Uncertainty Surrounding Debt Relief Leads to Increased Student Loan Scams
Many student loan borrowers seeking relief from their student debt burden prior to payments resuming in 2022 have found themselves on the receiving end of student loan scams. In fact, a number of consumer protection firms across the U.S. have issued warnings regarding the increase of certain student loan debt relief scams. It is important that all consumers are aware of what red flags to look for when being offered financial assistance towards their student loan debt.
Borrowers were given some relief during the COVID-19 pandemic with federal student loan repayments being paused since March 2020, along with federal student loan interest being halted during this time. However, federal student loan payments are scheduled to resume in February 2022, meaning that millions of borrowers will be required to pay on their student loan debt for the first time in over a year. This fact has many borrowers panicking and trying to figure out how to either continue paying on their debt or find relief wherever they can find it.
Student loan relief scams are nothing new. In 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued millions of dollars in refunds to individuals who fell victim to student debt scams. As of 2017, it is estimated that $95 million has been paid to student loan fraud victims. As a result, financial experts predict that even more fraud reports will be coming in 2022.
One of the biggest warning signs borrowers should look for when communicating with an entity claiming to provide debt relief to student loan borrowers is when the person on the other end of the phone requests the caller’s student loan login information or his or her Social Security number. While their request may seem legitimate, providing this information could open the consumer up to having their student loan accounts hacked, also allowing the scammer to create falsified documents with this information and defraud the consumer even further.
The information being requested is often referred to as personal identifiable information or PII, and it can include the consumer’s Social Security number, driver’s license number, banking information, and credit card numbers. Providing this information allows the scammer to hack the consumer’s identity.
Another sign of a scam occurs when the alleged debt relief company requests money up front before providing a service. If a company is requesting the person pay a fee before even beginning the process of negotiating on a debt, this is a major red flag that indicates the company may not be legitimate.
Additionally, if the student loan debt relief company advertises their services on social media or reaches out to the consumer directly through cold calling, this could be another sign of a potential scam. If a consumer speaks with a company who has contacted him or her directly regarding debt relief, it is imperative that he or she does the proper research to ensure that the company is legitimate. A general Internet search of the company on reputable sources should be able to help the person ascertain whether a scam is involved.
Please click here to read more.
For borrowers who are struggling with student loan debt, relief options are available. Many student loan borrowers are unaware that they have rights and repayment options available to them, such as postponement of loan payments, reduction of payments or even a complete discharge of the debt. There are ways to file for bankruptcy with student loan debt. It is important you contact an experienced Miami bankruptcy attorney who can advise you of all your options. As an experienced CPA as well as a proven bankruptcy lawyer, Timothy Kingcade knows how to help clients take full advantage of the bankruptcy laws to protect their assets and get successful results. Since 1996 Kingcade Garcia McMaken has been helping people from all walks of life build a better tomorrow. Our attorneys help thousands of people every year take advantage of their rights under bankruptcy protection to restart, rebuild and recover. The day you hire our firm, we will contact your creditors to stop the harassment. You can also find useful consumer information on the Kingcade Garcia McMaken website at www.miamibankruptcy.com.
4 Student Loan Relief Measures that should be Implemented if Payment Pause Is Not Extended
It remains unclear whether the student loan repayment pause will be extended by President Biden. Two primary economic concerns urge the delay of payments past Feb. 1: Rising Omicron cases could jeopardize workers’ return to work, and given the pandemic-exacerbated racial disparities, borrowers of color will face ‘undue hardship’ if payments are restarted too soon.
If that’s the case, the organizations recommend four additional protections for student loan borrowers:
- Continue to waive interest for all borrowers;
- Return all borrowers in default on their debt to good standing to avoid financial penalties;
- Ensure all borrowers are aware of the process to apply for an income-driven repayment plan;
- Announce and implement provisions, like offering a grace period to prevent borrowers from immediately becoming delinquent on their debt.