By Victor Omondi (Source: www.yourblackworld.net) – On Thursday, the Department of Education reported that debtors who were defrauded by their schools but who only got an incomplete consolation from their student-loan debt under the Betsy DeVos-era Department of Education will have their loans fully cancelled. This is a move that will lead to an approximated $1 billion in debt relief.
Besides canceling these borrowers’ debts, the Department will also compensate debtors for any relevant repayments made so far.
Under DeVos, the Department raised the burden of proof for borrowers seeking loan cancellation under the law and executed the partial relief rule.
On Thursday, the agency reported that it will no longer use the partial rule to assess the amount of relief debtors are eligible to receive.
Although the lawsuit concerns actions taken under the former administration, Toby Merrill, the director of the Project on Predatory Student Lending, narrated that her clients are still waiting for consolation and “aren’t in a position to stop pushing for that.”
“What we’ve seen over time is that the rights of student loan borrowers are not self-enforcing and they never have been,” Merrill said, adding that debtors have had to seek court redress and elsewhere for the enforcement of their rights.
The Biden-era Department of Education revealed that the report was the first step in conveying debtor defense appeals and that the department is also planning to pursue re-regulation.
According to the senior Department official, there is a pile of claims in addition to claims that were rejected by the former administration that the department plans to evaluate, but didn’t readily have any reports about the agency’s plans with regards to those claims.
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