New CFPB Report: Private Loan Processing Pitfalls to Avoid
Yesterday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Student Loan Ombudsman, Rohit Chopra, issued a report analyzing complaints received by the bureau from private student loan borrowers. According to the report, private student loan borrowers face payment processing pitfalls that can lead to increased costs, prolonged repayments, and harm to their credit reports. To help borrowers take control of their private student loans, the CFPB also issued a consumer advisory yesterday to help certain borrowers communicate their payment preferences to servicers.
“With limited options to refinance, many borrowers want to pay off loans where they are stuck in high rates,” said CFPB Student Loan Ombudsman Rohit Chopra. “But too many borrowers have to run through an obstacle course to get their payments processed properly.”
Among the report's key findings:
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Prepayment Stumbling Blocks: Since options to refinance high-rate private student loans are limited, many consumers attempt to pay off their loans in order to reduce the amount of interest owed over the life of the loan. But many consumers express confusion about how to pay off their loans early. For example, borrowers complained that payments in excess of the amount due are applied across all their loans, not the highest-interest rate loan that they would prefer to pay off first.
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Partial Payment Snags: When borrowers have multiple loans with one servicer and are unable to pay their bill in full, many servicers instruct borrowers to make whatever payment they can afford. Many complaints described how servicers often divide up the partial payment and apply it evenly across all of the loans in their account. This maximizes the late fees charged to the consumer and it can exacerbate the negative credit impact of a single late payment.
- Servicing Transfer Surprises: When borrowers’ loans are transferred between servicers, borrowers say they experience lost paperwork, processing errors that result in late fees, and interruptions of routine communication, such as billing statements. Consumers complained that payment-processing policies can vary depending on the servicer. And, consumers said when they make decisions on the previous servicer’s practices, they can get penalized.
To read the full report, click here.
To submit a student loan complaint to the CFPB Student Loan Ombudsman, click here.
