“Go into public service to pay off your student loans,” they said. So you did — you took a job that paid less than you could have made elsewhere, but you figured it was a small price to pay for doing a little bit of good in the world as you earned debt forgiveness. At least you did the good, right? Many who enrolled in Public Student Loan Forgiveness did their years of work and on-time payments only to discover that the government didn’t uphold their half of the bargain. The American Federation of Teachers isn’t having it. Forbes has coverage:
A major national labor union filed a class action lawsuit against the Trump administration on Tuesday, alleging that the Department of Education and Secretary of Education Linda McMahon are unlawfully blocking student loan forgiveness for hundreds of thousands of borrowers across multiple programs, including several income-driven repayment plans and Public Service Loan Forgiveness, or PSLF.
…
“For those borrowers who have satisfied the statutory requirements to have their debts cancelled but whose loans the Department has not cancelled, they are trapped in a debt that legally they should no longer owe. This debt continues to appear on credit reports restricting borrowers’ ability to access credit to purchase homes, cars, and other necessities, and with looming tax consequences if action is not taken swiftly. These borrowers must also make payments on a debt that should no longer exist for fear of becoming delinquent, or agree to be placed in a forbearance with no clear end date.”
Hey, its like “owner responsibility” for anyone who borrowed from the government to get a degree! I only jest in part — telling a class of people that they can work off a debt and then continuing to demand payment after they’ve worked it off doesn’t sound too far off from debt peonage to me. And this is bigger than just PSLF; people who should have had their loans forgiven through income driven repayment (IDR) are getting shafted too. Most of the popular rhetoric against debt forgiveness is couched in the assumption that the loan-takers were just lazy or didn’t read their contractual obligations, but that doesn’t count for the government straight-up scamming folks out of the payment plan they worked for.
Group Files Class Action Lawsuit Over Blocked Student Loan Forgiveness [Forbes]
Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim, is interested in critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.
The post American Federation Of Teachers Start Class Action Over Blocked Student Loan Forgiveness appeared first on Above the Law.
“Go into public service to pay off your student loans,” they said. So you did — you took a job that paid less than you could have made elsewhere, but you figured it was a small price to pay for doing a little bit of good in the world as you earned debt forgiveness. At least you did the good, right? Many who enrolled in Public Student Loan Forgiveness did their years of work and on-time payments only to discover that the government didn’t uphold their half of the bargain. The American Federation of Teachers isn’t having it. Forbes has coverage:
A major national labor union filed a class action lawsuit against the Trump administration on Tuesday, alleging that the Department of Education and Secretary of Education Linda McMahon are unlawfully blocking student loan forgiveness for hundreds of thousands of borrowers across multiple programs, including several income-driven repayment plans and Public Service Loan Forgiveness, or PSLF.
…
“For those borrowers who have satisfied the statutory requirements to have their debts cancelled but whose loans the Department has not cancelled, they are trapped in a debt that legally they should no longer owe. This debt continues to appear on credit reports restricting borrowers’ ability to access credit to purchase homes, cars, and other necessities, and with looming tax consequences if action is not taken swiftly. These borrowers must also make payments on a debt that should no longer exist for fear of becoming delinquent, or agree to be placed in a forbearance with no clear end date.”
Hey, its like “owner responsibility” for anyone who borrowed from the government to get a degree! I only jest in part — telling a class of people that they can work off a debt and then continuing to demand payment after they’ve worked it off doesn’t sound too far off from debt peonage to me. And this is bigger than just PSLF; people who should have had their loans forgiven through income driven repayment (IDR) are getting shafted too. Most of the popular rhetoric against debt forgiveness is couched in the assumption that the loan-takers were just lazy or didn’t read their contractual obligations, but that doesn’t count for the government straight-up scamming folks out of the payment plan they worked for.
Group Files Class Action Lawsuit Over Blocked Student Loan Forgiveness [Forbes]
Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim, is interested in critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.
The post American Federation Of Teachers Start Class Action Over Blocked Student Loan Forgiveness appeared first on Above the Law.
