Private Student Loan Borrowers Face Roadblocks to Repayment, New CFPB Report Finds
WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), the senior Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce Committee, issued the following statement today after a new report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) found that private student loan borrowers face many roadblocks, runarounds and dead-ends to repayment. Since March 2012, the CFPB has received approximately 2,900 complaints on private student loans. The report found that some borrowers may be struggling to pay back their debt because of difficulties with their loan servicers resulting in borrowers feeling stuck and without options to get into good standing.
“This report shows that private student loans continue to lack necessary protections for borrowers,” said Rep. Miller. “That’s why past Democratic Congresses have taken important steps to provide long overdue consumer protections for students when borrowing private student loans. But more needs to be done. I look forward to working with the CFPB to ensure that private student loan borrowers are not buried under a mountain of debt for years to come.”
Unlike federal student loans, private student loans generally have higher and variable interest rates. Past Democratic Congresses have taken significant steps to make college more affordable and help students manage their loans. One step Democrats in Congress took was establishing an ombudsman for student loans within the CFPB to assist borrowers with student loan complaints. Today’s report found that 95 percent of complaints were about loan servicing.
For more information on steps past Democratic Congresses have taken to make college more affordable and help students manage their loans, click here.
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