Boston Student Loan Lawyer

Law Office of Adam S. Minsky

Mass. Attorney General Sues FedLoan Servicing – FAQs

| Articles Current Events Income-Driven Repayment Loan Forgiveness

Yesterday, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey filed a lawsuit against loan student servicing giant FedLoan Servicing (formally known as the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Authority, or “PHEAA” for short). The lawsuit alleges widespread loan servicing problems that have harmed thousands of borrowers. The allegations against FedLoan Servicing are entirely unsurprising to me, as I’ve written extensively about ongoing problems with this student loan servicing company. But this is a major development and represents an important step in holding student loan servicers accountable for their actions.

Here are some common questions I’m getting about the lawsuit – and my answers.Read More

Public Service Loan Forgiveness: The Latest

| Articles Current Events Loan Forgiveness Policy & Reform

Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) is a program that allows borrowers to have any remaining balance on their federal Direct student loans forgiven after 120 “qualifying payments” (typically under an income-driven repayment plan). Borrowers must work full-time for a public service employer to qualify. For hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of student loan borrowers, it is a critical program that allows people to work in traditionally low-paying sectors that often require advanced degrees.

The PSLF program has been in the news a lot lately, however, and not in a good way. There’s been talk about changing or eliminating the program. There’s been news about the U.S. Dept. of Education denying people access to the loan forgiveness benefit. And no one has been granted forgiveness yet under the program. There’s a lot of uncertainty, which is understandable given PSLF’s complexity and the constant stream of news stories.

So let’s take a moment and review where things are.Read More

Student Loan News Summary – June 2017

| Articles Current Events For-Profit Colleges Loan Forgiveness Private Student Loans

Happy summer, everyone. With all the big national news going on lately, there’s a lot of developments in student loan law and policy that are flying a bit under the radar. Let’s bring everyone up to speed.

Credit Report Changes Will Help Student Loan Borrowers Who’ve Been Sued

Starting July 1, the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) will no longer report civil judgments on people’s credit reports. There have been ongoing concerns about credit reporting errors for judgments, since a judgment is often not linked to a person’s social security number. This is a significant change that will have a direct, positive impact on borrowers who have been sued by their student loan lenders.Read More

Updates on Trump’s Student Loan Proposals

| Articles Current Events Income-Based Repayment Income-Driven Repayment Loan Forgiveness Pay-As-You-Earn Policy & Reform

It’s been a whirlwind week. Last week’s leaked budget documents from the Trump administration showed proposed cuts to critical student loan programs including Public Service Loan Forgiveness, as well as major changes to income-driven repayment plans. The proposals sparked panic; hundreds of thousands of student loan borrowers have made major life decisions – selecting specific careers and specific repayment plans – in reliance on the continued existence of these programs. To have the rug pulled out from under them would be disruptive and unfair, and would likely be the basis of viable legal challenges.

After just a few days, we have some important updates on some of these reforms. Some good news, and some bad. Read on.Read More

BREAKING: Trump Budget Proposal Ends Public Service Loan Forgiveness

| Articles Current Events Income-Based Repayment Income-Driven Repayment Loan Forgiveness Pay-As-You-Earn Policy & Reform

President Trump’s budget proposal calls for the elimination of funding for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. The program allows for borrowers who are repaying their Direct federal student loans under an income-driven repayment plan while working full time for a public service employer to have any remaining balance forgiven after 10 years of qualifying payments. The first wave of borrowers eligible for forgiveness under this program will be applying later this year.

While this is certainly a time to be extremely vigilant, there are two things to keep in mind before panicking:Read More

Student Loan News Roundup: April 2017

| Articles Current Events For-Profit Colleges Income-Based Repayment Income-Driven Repayment Loan Forgiveness Pay-As-You-Earn

There’s a lot going on right now in student loan news. Let’s get right to it.

New York State Will Offer Free College – With a Catch

New York is poised to become the first state in the country to offer free college tuition to its residents. Families who make $125,000 or less would be eligible for tuition-free college at all SUNY and CUNY campuses. This has the potential to benefit up to a million families. But there’s a catch – students who benefit from this initiative will have to live and work in New York for several years after graduating. If they don’t, the “free” tuition will be converted into loans that must be repaid. This has some borrower advocates concerned.Read More

Dept. of Education says Loan Forgiveness Decisions Can be Invalidated

| Articles Current Events Loan Forgiveness

In a stunning court filing this week, the U.S. Dept. of Education says that borrowers cannot rely on written determinations of eligibility for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.

Background: The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program allows for borrowers who make “qualifying payments” while working in “qualifying” public service employment to get any remaining loan balance on “qualifying” federal student loans forgiven after 120 payments – which adds up to 10 years, if the payments are made consecutively. Hundreds of thousands of student loan borrowers may be eligible for the program. Read More

End-of-the-Year Student Loan News Roundup

| Articles Current Events Default For-Profit Colleges Income-Driven Repayment Loan Forgiveness Policy & Reform Private Student Loans

2016 has been a big year in student loan law. We saw the release of Revised Pay As You Earn (REPAYE), a new income-driven repayment plan for federal student loans, although its rollout and implementation were a bit of a mess. We saw a continued federal crackdown on predatory for-profit schools which resulted in the collapse of ITT Technical Institute. The Obama administration issued final rules on student loan forgiveness and debt relief for students who were defrauded by their colleges and universities. And finally, Donald Trump was elected to be the next President, leading to a great deal of uncertainty about the direction of student loan programs.

There’s never a dull moment when it comes to student loan issues, and as the year comes to a close, there’s still a lot going on. Here are some highlights. Read More

4 Student Loan Borrower Groups Most At Risk Post-Election

| Articles Current Events For-Profit Colleges Income-Driven Repayment Loan Forgiveness Policy & Reform

mayer-betsydevostrumpThere’s been a lot of uncertainty since the election regarding what the Trump administration and the Republican-controlled Congress may have in mind for student loan borrowers. During the past few weeks, I’ve been carefully watching public statements, investigating proposed appointments, and speaking with other advocates and experts. While everything at this point is still speculation, I think we’re beginning to see some clues as to where student loan reform may be going in the next few years, and who may be most at risk from potential negative consequences.Read More

7 Student Loan Protections to be Thankful For

| Articles Current Events Default For-Profit Colleges Income-Based Repayment Income-Driven Repayment Loan Forgiveness Pay-As-You-Earn Policy & Reform

turkeyIt’s been two weeks since the election, and there’s still much uncertainty about what the consequences of the election will be for student loan borrowers. While Hillary Clinton had mapped out a series of student loan reform proposals, Donald Trump has been far less specific about how he plans to deal with the $1.4 trillion in outstanding student debt.

In this time of uncertainty, and in keeping with the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, I think it’s a good time to take stock of what we have and be grateful. If you follow this blog, you know that I frequently write about problems and deficiencies with the the student loan system. And for good reason – student loans are a mess, with inefficient servicing, damaging debt collection, and the potential for life-altering negative consequences for borrowers. There’s a lot to be angry about, and a lot that should change.

But, there are also good elements of the student loan system – programs and laws that keep people in good standing, allow them to repay their loans fairly, and protect them from abuses. As we press forward into this period of change and uncertainty, we may have to do some hard work to preserve what we have.Read More