Fed’s Debt Collector Scrutinized for Overly Aggressive Tactics
As many of you know by now, Heather is not a big fan of private student loans, considering their lack of borrower protections and flexibility when it comes time for repayment. Borrowers of federal student loans enjoy many benefits including fixed interest rates and a number of income-based repayment plans to select from for repayment. Bottom line, federal student loans are almost always preferred to private ones. For a more complete comparison of federal versus private student loans, click here. But, as with everything…
Teachers Don’t Need Lip Service, They Need Cash Money!
Teachers need a whole lot more than a few narrowly targeted and not particularly generous student loan forgiveness programs. Here in North Carolina, teachers haven’t received a meaningful raise for the last seven years. During the 2013 legislative session, North Carolina lawmakers decided to keep teachers’ pay frozen, eliminate master’s degree supplemental pay, strip teachers of tenure and dramatically underfund instructional supplies and teacher assistants. Ugh. Student loan forgiveness programs for the benefit of…
My Kind of Debt Buyer: The Rolling Jubilee.
I got no love for (most) debt buyers. Creditors sell billions of dollars of debt to opportunistic “investors” for pennies on the dollar (an average of about 4 cents). The debt buyers then attempt to collect on the debts, often using aggressive debt collection tactics and without first verifying the accuracy of the debt. Consumers often dispute the amount of the debt, or that they owe the debt at all, each year disputing more than a million dollars in debt that debt buyers attempted to collect. But not all debt…
How to Get Started Dealing with Student Loans
Most student loans have a six-month grace period before you have to start making payments. If you graduated this past spring, that means now is a good time to get a grip on your student loans. Here’s how: Figure out which loans you have. You’ll find all your federal student loans listed in the National Student Loan Data System. Check for private student loans by pulling a free copy of your credit report using AnnualCreditReport.com. Decide whether consolidation makes sense for you. Some student loan…
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…
