Committee Chairs Request Information from Consumer Bureau on Efforts to Protect Student Loan Borrowers
Committee Chairs Request Information from Consumer Bureau on Efforts to Protect Student Loan Borrowers
Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott (D-VA), and Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-MD), sent a letter to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Kathleen Kraninger requesting information and records concerning the CFPB’s efforts to protect consumers from unlawful student loan servicing practices.
In the letter, the Chairs raise concerns that “…the Consumer Bureau has taken actions that weaken its ability to fulfill its mission to protect student loan borrowers,” and that the agency is “…providing potentially harmful and conflicting advice to student loan borrowers.”
The Chairs request records from the Consumer Bureau by no later than September 9, 2019. Former Student Loan Ombudsman Seth Frotman asserted in his August 2018 resignation letter that CFPBleadership “has abandoned the
very consumers it is tasked by Congress with protecting.” The position of Student Loan Ombudsman has been vacant since Frotman resigned in August 2018.
The Chairs also sent a letter to Betsy DeVos expressing deep concern over the Education Department’s failure to protect students and families from student loan companies.The letter addresses recent reports that the Department is shielding student loan servicing companies from state law enforcement and undermining the CFPB’s oversight of these companies. In March 2019, an independent watchdog found that the Department failed to establish policies to properly conduct oversight of student loan servicing companies.
“As Chairs of Committees with oversight responsibilities over the student loan industry, we are very concerned by reports that under your leadership, the Department of Education has failed to adequately oversee student loan servicers,” the Chairs wrote. “Reports indicate that improper practices by these servicers—including inaccurate determination of monthly payments, forbearance steering, and other practices—directly impact millions of Americans and have ripple effects on their families, communities, and the economy as a whole.”
In addition, the Chairs sent letters recently to federally contracted loan servicers seeking information about their operations, including any strategies or policies that push students into more expensive repayment options.
Latest Stories
- Illinois Lottery Launches CASH POP, a New Draw Game Where Just One Number Can Win
- As Domestic Violence Awareness Month and Breast Cancer Awareness Month End, Englewood Family Scarred by Both Holds Vigil on a Street in the Neighborhood They Have Called Home for More Than 50 Years
- Two-year pilot will bring mobile testing directly to families in six neighborhoods where many children ages 1 to 3 have not been tested
- As pink ribbons come down, keep paying attention to your breast health
- RE: Hospitalization of Calumet City Mayor and Illinois State Representative Thaddeus M. Jones
Latest Podcast
Civic and Chicago Politics
