About 9 million Amercans with student loans who had applied for the Biden administration's student-debt relief program mistakenly received emails last month that said their applications had been approved. inform millions of debt relief applicants
that they had been approved to have up to $20,000 forgiven. In fact, some of the recipients had not been approved for relief because the process was halted due to legal challenges, according to officials. And others who hadn't yet applied for the student loan relief program also received the email. The error was made by Accenture Federal Services, a contractor with the Education Department, which sent the emails on November 22 and 23.
The email subject line incorrectly informed 9 million recipients:"Your Student Loan Debt Relief Plan Has Been Approved." However, the text of the letter was accurate, letting those recipients know that the determination of the their eligibility would continue"if and when we prevail in court."In a statement to CBS MoneyWatch, Accenture blamed the issue on"human error."
"Accenture Federal Services regrets the human error that led to an email being sent to a number of student loan debt relief applicants with an inaccurate subject line," the firm said."Working closely with the Department, Accenture Federal Services will review quality control measures to support accurate and timely communications to applicants in the Student Loan Debt Relief program.