In response to the Education Department’s stated interests to end an 18-year old departmental practice of sharing information with law enforcement officials, the Center for Responsible Lending recently wrote comments urging Secretary Betsy DeVos to continue the productive and long-standing exchanges.
Citing recent collaborations that together returned or forgave more than $36 million to harmed consumers in just four states, CRL urged their uninterrupted continuation to continue holding bad actors in the student loan industry accountable for their unfair, illegal, deceptive and abusive practices.
Should the Department move forward with its plans as drafted, many states that now provide a second tier of consumer protection would be prevented from enforcing their own laws, particularly in the areas of loan servicing and debt collection.
In addition to CRL, a bi-partisan group of 30 state offices have also shared similar concerns, along with the National Governor’s Association, and the National Conference of State Bank Supervisors.