🎓A victory for student loan borrowers

Good morning. Can you believe it’s already the third week of April? This year is flying by.

Today we’ll catch you up on a big win for student loan borrowers who were misled by their schools, share some recent job postings for companies that can help pay down your student loan debt, and leave you with some helpful advice.

Here we go.

Recent news

Finally, a victory for student loan borrowers in the Sweet vs. Cardona Borrower Defense To Repayment case as a settlement that will allow thousands of student loan debts to be canceled will go into effect after the Supreme Court declined to block it.

If you’re not familiar with this case, a quick summary is that for years, borrowers were filing complaints that they were misled via borrower defense applications - only to be delayed or denied. A settlement was reached in 2022 but this was challenged by Everglades College, Lincoln Technical Institute, and American National University which was the reason for this taking so long.

You can view a list of the schools with claims of “substantial misconduct” here. If you want to take a deeper dive into the case and some FAQ’s, read here.

This is unrelated to Biden’s broader Student Debt Forgiveness Plan - which should get a ruling in the next 2 months. With that being said, it is encouraging to see something like this. We’ll keep you posted as more information becomes available!

The Department of Education recently modified its contracts with loan servicers which includes a minimum number of hours customer service centers must be open each week.

Because of this, federal loan companies like Nelnet have announced a staffing reduction where approximately 550 employees will be laid off. With student loan payments possibly returning soon, this doesn’t seem like the greatest idea. 🤦

Pro Tip: Get in touch with your federal student loan servicer now and start crafting that plan so you’re ready for whenever payments will resume!

Companies hiring with student loan repayment benefits

HCA offers a monthly benefit of $100 for full-time employees and $50 for part-time employees to help repay their student loans. Recent job postings:

• Virtual Inpatient Coder Remote

• Enrollment Specialist Work From Home

New York Life contributes $170 monthly (over 5 years) towards student loans in good standing – which means employees can reduce their debt by up to $10,200 while enrolled

• Entry-Level Insurance Sales Agent Remote

• Financial Professional Remote

Helpful advice

I made a post a few weeks ago on how my student loans were transferred from EdFinancial to Nelnet. I never received a confirmation that my loans were being transferred and had it not been for me tracking this or looking almost every other day, I may not have caught on to it.

My advice…keep good records.

It seems like every time my information is switched to a different loan servicer, my payment history just disappears. Make sure you keep good records and track everything.

• Save all mail and email correspondence

• Take notes when you talk to your servicer on the phone

• Write down the date, name of the person you spoke with, what was asked and what the answer was

Motivation

That’s it for now

If you enjoyed this newsletter, I’d love your feedback on if this was helpful or if you have any requests. For example, do you enjoy seeing job postings? Prefer the news updates?

Let me know if I should add anything else!

Have a great rest of your week!

- Jesse