admin, Author at Americans for Financial Reform

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News Release: Private Student Lenders Finally Do the Bare Minimum, Halt New Lawsuits Against Borrowers During the Pandemic

According to the Washington Post, Navient will suspend any new lawsuits against private student loan borrowers, and National Collegiate has said no new lawsuits will be filed for at least two months. This is the bare minimum of what should happen in the midst of a pandemic, but it is step in the right direction which we welcome and urge all other private student loan servicers to take as well.

cancel student debt as a part of any economic stimulus

Take Action: Tell Congress to Cancel Student Debt to Stimulate the Economy

The Coronavirus pandemic is a health crisis like we have never seen before, and it is colliding with the economic crisis of this generation — student loan debt. Lost wages and medical costs will impact families across the country for weeks, months, and years to

Take Action: Fight the payday Debt Trap by supporting H.R. 5050

Right now, your member of Congress is considering a bill that would make sure that payday loan sharks can’t charge sky-high, triple-digit interest rates on their deceptive loans. Passage would be a big victory in the fight against the predatory payday Debt Trap. Use our online tool to send an email to your members of Congress, telling them to support H.R. 5050 to fight the payday Debt Trap!

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News Release: AFR Welcomes passage of H.J. Res. 76 to roll back DeVos attack on scammed students

Americans for Financial Reform welcomes the passage of H.J. Res. 76 to roll back Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ devastating attempt to make debt cancellation for scammed students nearly impossible. The resolution passed 231 to 180 with bipartisan support; 6 Republicans and all Democrats voted yes, with 19 members not voting.

AFR Statement: The Department of Education has the Authority to Cancel Federal Student Loans. It should.

Today’s proposal that administrative authority be used to cancel student debt, and the affirmation of the legality of such a step by the Project on Predatory Student Lending at Harvard Law School are important positive possibilities for student borrowers and their families and communities. AFR has long called on the Department of Education to use its existing legal authority to cancel the federal debts of wronged students of for-profit colleges without individual application – as have former Corinthian students, advocates, lawmakers, and law enforcement officials.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos appears in a hearing looking sad

Take Action: Don’t let Betsy DeVos hurt student loan borrowers

Since the mid 1990s, student borrowers who were defrauded by their college have been entitled to have those loans canceled. Betsy DeVos wants to change that. In the fall of 2016, the Department of Education updated this rule to clarify the process and add protections.

Letter to Congress: AFR endorses package of student borrower protection bills

Americans for Financial Reform wrote to Congress to express our support for The Student Borrower Protection Act, The Fair Student Loan Debt Collection Practices Act, and The Private Loan Disability Discharge Act. The student loan protections, transparency measures, and servicing reforms included in these bills are urgently needed so that borrowers are treated more fairly, basic standards are clearer, and borrowers facing challenging circumstances have every opportunity to succeed.

AFR, 56 Orgs support S.J. Res 56 to disapprove DeVos Borrower Defense rule

AFR joined 65 other organizations to write in support of S.J.Res. 56 and H.J.Res.76 to undo Education Secretary DeVos’ 2019 Borrower Defense to Repayment rule. The DeVos rule gutted the Obama Administration’s 2016 rule that added further protections to students who are entitled to debt cancellation after their schools broke the law. An analysis of the Department’s own calculations estimates that only 3 percent of the loans that result from school misconduct would be cancelled under the new rule. Schools would be held accountable for reimbursing taxpayers for just 1 percent of these loans.

This Halloween, we’re fighting the Zombie Debt Trap

Halloween is a fun time of year where we allow ourselves to be “scared” by haunted houses, ghosts and zombies. But there’s nothing fun about Zombie Debt — which is time-barred debt that is past the legal limit for which it can be collected. The

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News Release: The Students Not Profits Act will protect public dollars from abuses at for-profit colleges

Americans for Financial Reform welcomes the introduction of The Students Not Profits Act, let by Representative Pramila Jayapal, and Senators Sherrod Brown and Elizabeth Warren. The for-profit college industry is plagued with bad outcomes for students, has a record of law breaking and abuse, and is responsible for 34% of student loan defaults, despite only enrolling 9% of post-secondary students. The Students Not Profits Act is a welcome and bold step to ensure that public dollars are not supporting and enabling malfeasance.