Exclusive: How the most affordable student loan program failed low-income borrowers

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EXCLUSIVE: Income-driven repayment (IDR) plans were intended to help low-income student loan borrowers, and eventually offer them debt cancellation. Documents obtained by our reporters show these plans are failing the borrowers.

A federal program intended to help low-income student loan borrowers, and eventually offer them debt cancellation, has failed to live up to its promise, an NPR investigation has found.

In all, these records paint a breathtaking picture of IDR's failure, and cast a shadow over the federal student loan program. While the Biden administration did not make these problems, it must now address themIn response to NPR's request for comment, an Education Department spokesperson said on Friday,"Borrowers place their trust in us to make sure these plans work the way they were intended to, and we intend to honor that trust.

Ultimately, this means some servicers didn't know if borrowers qualified for cancellation unless they were asked, by borrowers, to do a labor-intensive records review. "The department could have avoided this mess if [it] had done its job," says Rep. Virginia Foxx, the top Republican on the House education committee."Year after year after year, Republicans and servicers have pressed the department to provide clear and concise guidance for how to manage this complex web of repayment plans, but the department has refused to do that."For example, if a monthly payment of $100.

But, these documents show, when borrowers return to good standing and to a traditional servicer, they also lose any record of qualifying IDR payments made prior to default.

 

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How the most affordable student loan program failed low-income borrowers - Alaska Public MediaIncome-driven repayment plans were intended to help low-income student loan borrowers, and eventually cancel their debt. New documents paint a breathtaking picture of the program's failure.
Source: AKpublicnews - 🏆 387. / 55 Read more »