debt Archives - Americans for Financial Reform

students in graduation cap and gowns - Photo by Caleb Woods on Unsplash

Statement on the Student Loan Cancellation Provisions of the HEROES Act

The HEROES Act provides needed relief to the 45 million student loan borrowers in the U.S., tackling the ongoing economic fallout caused by the coronavirus with an approach that research shows would boost the economy overall. HEROES includes $10,000 in federal student debt cancellation, which would leave as estimated 16 million borrowers completely debt-free. It also extends the CARES Act suspension of student loan payments to September 2021, giving borrowers a chance to recover on the same timeline the economy is projected to need to return to pre-coronavirus productivity.

News Release: Regulator’s New Plan Opens Door to Texts and Emails from Debt Collectors

“If you’re one of the millions of Americans who have dealt with constant harassment from debt collectors, you’re going to be dismayed, because the proposed rule expressly authorizes more ways to harass you,” said Linda Jun, senior policy counsel at Americans for Financial Reform.

AFR Statement: Department of Education’s Proposed New Borrower Defense Rule Sacrifices Students to For-Profit Industry Greed

“The proposed Borrower Defense rule sacrifices students’ rights in order to line the pockets of executives at for-profit colleges, an industry that has shown time and again that it will use taxpayer dollars to deceive and defraud its own students.” said Alexis Goldstein, AFR’s Senior Policy Analyst. “With this rule and its extreme and absurd barriers to relief, Devos effectively tells students that if a school scams them, they’re on their own.”