Category Archives: Student Loans

What implications does the coronavirus have for consumers and consumer protection ?

by Jeff Sovern The coronavirus is already having an impact on consumers and consumer protection. Some initial observations: The FTC and FDA have sent warning letters to companies reportedly making deceptive or unsupported claims about their products' ability to treat the coronanvirus. It's good that they're on the job. There have been reports of discrimination against Asians […]

Seventh Circuit: Student Loan Borrowers Can Sue Servicers Under State Consumer Protection Laws

Yesterday, a unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued an opinion in Nelson v. Great Lakes Educational Loan Services, Inc. in which it concluded that the federal Higher Education Act (HEA) does not preempt state law claims against student loan servicers. The case involves a student loan borrower who brought a […]

Crespi Paper: Why Are 99% of the Applications for Debt Discharge under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program Being Denied, and Will This Change?

Gregory S. Crespi of Southern Methodist Universit has written Why Are 99% of the Applications for Debt Discharge under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program Being Denied, and Will This Change? Here is the abstract: During the first 18 months after October 1, 2017 that student loan borrowers were able to apply for tax-free debt […]

Hunt Paper: Promoting the Purposes of Student Loans by Tempering Bankruptcy Nondischargeability

John P. Hunt of California, Davis has written Promoting the Purposes of Student Loans by Tempering Bankruptcy Nondischargeability. Here's the abstract: Student loans, unlike other debts, are not dischargeable in bankruptcy unless the debtor starts a special proceeding and proves that repayment would cause “undue hardship.” This requirement probably accounts for the fact that only a […]

Odinet article on student debt, fintech, and discrimination

Christopher K. Odinet of Oklahoma has written The New Data of Student Debt, 92 Southern California Law Review (Forthcoming). Here is the abstract: Silicon Valley is increasingly setting its sights on student lending. Financial technology (fintech) firms such as SoFi, CommonBond, and Upstart are ever-expanding their online lending activities to help students finance or refinance […]

Bruckner et al. article on when the DOE should not contest the discharge of student loans

Matthew A. Bruckner of Howard, Brook Gotberg of Missouri, Dalié Jiménez of Irvine and Harvard's Center on the Legal Profession, and Chrystin D. Ondersma of Rutgers have written No-Contest Discharge for Uncollectable Student Loans, forthcoming in the University of Colorado Law Review (2020). Here is the abstract: Over 44 million Americans owe more than 1.4 trillion […]

Watson Paper on History of and Problems with Federal Student Loans

Camilla E. Watson of Georgia has written Federal Financing of Higher Education at a Crossroads: The Evolution of the Student Loan Debt Crisis and the Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act of 1965. Here is the abstract: Currently, there are 44.2 million Americans holding student loan debt collectively totaling $1.5 trillion. This massive debt has a […]

Trump Administration’s Student Loan Policy

Student loan debt has jumped from $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion in the last 5 years. The Education Department's official default rates voanews seriously understate the share of young borrowers who default, or are not able to repay their loans. In the face of the growing student loan debt crisis, the Administration's corrupt policy is […]

“‘Too Little Too Late’: Bankruptcy Booms Among Older Americans”

Yesterday, the New York Times ran a distressing story by personal finance reporter Tara Siegel Bernard about the increasing rate of people 65 and older filing for bankruptcy protection. The story relies on a study that was recently released by professors Deborah Thorne of the University of Idaho, Pamela Foohey of the Indiana University Maurer School […]

Paper on Improvident Student Lending

Joseph Sanders and Vijay Raghavan, both of the Office of the Illinois Attorney General have written Improvident Student Lending, Utah Law Review (2018). Here is the abstract: The idea that lending without regard to ability to repay should be illegal is not particularly new, but it gained purchase in recent years with the rapid growth of high-cost […]