FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 25, 2020

CONTACT: Alexis Goldstein, alexis@ourfinancialsecurity.org

Halt to Student Loan Collections Must Go Back Further, Include All Borrowers

Statement from Alexis Goldstein, Senior Policy Analyst, Americans for Financial Reform:

Education Secretary DeVos’s announcement that some forced collections will be halted is a crucial first step, but the Secretary has only halted collections for a sixty-day period that began on March 13th. We need Congress to codify this halt in collections, extend it back further than March 13th, and push the end date farther into the future.  In addition, Congress should act to ensure that there is also a halt to all collections on commercially-held FFEL loans. 

At this time of crisis when so many defaulted borrowers are more strapped for cash than ever, everyone who’s had wages garnished in 2020, or had their tax refunds already seized due to a defaulted student loan should get refunded–not just those whose involuntary collections began on March 13th.