Letters to Congress

More than 130 organizations representing students, student loan borrowers, teachers, workers, and consumers have sent a letter calling on the President to extend and expand the PSLF Waiver & IDR Adjustment student debt relief programs.

From the introduction of the letter: The undersigned organizations representing Virginia consumers, students, student loan borrowers, and educators submit this comment in response to the State Corporation Commission’s (the “Commission”) July 9, 2021, Order Requesting Additional Comments (the “Order”) on proposed regulations to implement Virginia’s new Student Borrower Bill of Rights. The Commission specifically requested comments further addressing whether the new law and/or its implementing regulations implicate either federal preemption or intergovernmental immunity. The Commonwealth seeks...

Today, the Student Borrower Protection Center (SBPC), National Consumer Law Center (NCLC), Student Debt Crisis Center (SDCC), and Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) sent a letter to the largest trade organizations representing student loan lenders and servicers underscoring their legal obligation to faithfully implement the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) recent fix for income-driven repayment (IDR).

From the introduction to the letter: The undersigned civil rights, student, community, and consumer advocacy organizations, along with faith leaders from across the country, urge you to use the authority of executive action to cancel $50,000 of federal student loan debt per borrower to stimulate the economy, bridge the racial wealth gap, and alleviate the financial suffering of millions of Americans, including Black women. While women carry around two-thirds of student debt, Black women are more than twice as likely as white men to owe more than $50,000 in undergraduate student loan debt.

The undersigned civil rights organizations do not believe the mandatory July 1 compliance date extension for the General QM Final Rule until October 1, 2022 is necessary since the new General QM definition and the Patch overlap so thoroughly. Please download the letter to continue reading.

A broad coalition of 529 community, civil rights, education, climate, health, consumer, labor, professional, food and farm, and student advocacy organizations wrote a letter to President Biden urging him to strengthen the economy, tackle racial disparities, and provide much-needed relief to help all Americans weather the pandemic and record inflation by using executive authority to cancel federal student debt immediately. Read the full letter.

A broad coalition of bank and credit union associations and consumer organizations submitted a letter to the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services urging passage of the bipartisan Close the ILC Loophole Act. The bill would help prevent more companies from running what is essentially a bank without the necessary regulatory oversight.

145 organizations sent a letter to the “Big Three” credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and Transunion) and to the Consumer Data Industry Association (CDIA), the trade association that represents them, urging them to take needed actions to correct credit report problems for transgender and nonbinary consumers.

CRL and more than 50 community development, civil rights and small business groups, including National Urban League, National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders, UnidosUS and National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development are urging SBA and Congress to fix the Paycheck Protection Program’s current forgiveness rules so that microbusinesses can receive full forgiveness of their PPP loans. Urgent recommendations in the letter include: Eliminate denials of loan forgiveness due to sudden changes in rules that were imposed without advance notice, both for business...

Download the letter to Secretary Miguel Cardona from 104 organizations representing students, student loan borrowers, teachers, workers, civil rights, veterans, people of faith, and consumers urging him to deliver on the promise of income-driven repayment (IDR) programs for federal student loan borrowers through the creation of an IDR restoration project, or an IDR waiver.