Elizabeth Warren Knows That Students Are As Important As Banks
Our nation’s largest banks can borrow funds from the federal government at 0.75%. If Congress doesn't act, college students eligible for subsidized Stafford loans will pay 6.8 percent (more than nine times the rate big banks get). Senator Elizabeth Warren thinks this is unfair and has introduced the Bank on Students Loan Fairness Act to provide students with some short-term relief until a long-term solution to rising student loan debt can be reached. Warren’s bill would allow students who are eligible for federally…
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Rocks Again
Today the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released the nation’s largest searchable public database of federal consumer financial complaints, including information on more than 90,000 individual complaints on mortgages, student loans, bank accounts and services, other consumer loans, and credit cards. “By sharing these complaints with the public, we are creating greater transparency in consumer financial products and services,” said CFPB Director Richard Cordray, "The database is good for consumers and it is also good…
TICAS Offers Clever Solutions to Make College More Accessible
There are lots of different kinds of student loans. Repayment options and forgiveness provisions are confusing for even the most informed. This past week, our friends at the Institute for College Access & Success, a nonprofit organization that works to make higher education more available and more affordable, released a report with recommendations including: reforms to simplify the federal aid application process, ways to streamline federal loan repayment options, improvements to student loan counseling, and methods to help borrowers in…
Practical Student Loan Tools and Resources From Happy Go Legal and Heather
Chelsea Callanan of Happy Go Legal interviews Heather to give resources and advice to law students and new lawyers grappling with student loan debt. In this podcast, Chelsea and Heather discuss: Understanding your full financial picture Resources to get on track financially Setting measurable goals and realistic timelines for paying off your student loan debt Here are the links if you just can't wait another minute! National Student Loan Data System for Students: NSLDS.ed.gov Annual Credit Report.com: annualcreditreport.com Student Loan Borrow…
Sorting Out the Income Driven Repayment Options
You say tom-a-to, I say tom-ah-to. But the income driven repayment options are much more different than their names imply. Pay As You Earn (PAYE) gets you the lowest payments and earliest forgiveness, but can't be chosen by people who borrowed before October 1, 2007. Income-Based Repayment is a little more expensive than PAYE but is available to more folks. Income-Contingent Repayment isn't the newest or cheapest option, but if you are a Parent PLUS loan borrower, it's the only available income-driven plan (and only after…
