WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos recently announced a decision to drop a plan that would have created a single student loan servicer for the nation. The reversal followed a related call by a group of bipartisan Senators to keep the Department’s current use of multiple loan servicers.
Whitney Barkley-Denney, a senior policy counsel with the Center for Responsible Lending released the following statement:
Secretary DeVos' decision to drop an ill-advised plan for a single loan servicer for the entire nation is a late recognition that acknowledges the problems that servicers are causing for the more than 44 million consumers who today owe over $1.4 trillion.
When the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Student Loan Ombudsman found that student loan complaints over the past year grew a record 325 percent, even more resistance to a single-servicer emerged – including the above mentioned bipartisan group of U.S. Senators who together sponsored legislation to preserve the current system that includes multiple student loan servicers.
All stakeholders must pull together to ensure that borrowers and their families are getting the information and help they need from servicers. Our shared goal should be to make loan payments affordable and enroll borrowers in available programs that provide financial relief.
For more information, or to arrange an interview with a CRL spokesperson on this issue, please contact Charlene Crowell at charlene.crowell@responsiblelending.org.