Education Department froze debt relief in July for borrowers on the Income-Based Repayment Plan and paused processing of forgiveness applications. Department officials say a court order required the pause while recalculating borrowers' progress toward debt relief. Sen. Bernie Sanders and 10 Senate Democrats called the pause an outrage and said Congress received no proper notification. Lawmakers learned about the freeze through constituents told by loan servicers that applications were not being processed. Democrats warned the pause could prevent thousands who made payments for 20+ years from obtaining relief. They demanded resumption of forgiveness and submitted 11 questions with an Aug. 30 response deadline.
The letter, dated Aug. 18, follows the department's decision in July to indefinitely freeze debt relief for borrowers on the Income-Based Repayment Plan and calls for the Office of Federal Student Aid to clarify why the benefit was put on hold. Department of Education officials say they were required by a court order to put the pause in place while they recalculate borrowers' progress toward debt relief.
"At a time when Americans across the country are struggling to meet the costs of health care, food, housing, child care and other basic needs, it is unacceptable for the Trump administration to take any action that delays or denies legally mandated debt relief to borrowers that have been in repayment for two decades or more," the senators wrote in a news release about the letter.
They demanded that the Education Department to resume the forgiveness to which borrowers "are entitled under law." They also provided a list of 11 questions about the situation and requested responses by Aug. 30. Among other things, the lawmakers want more information about whether there is a timeline for when loan forgiveness will resume and what has been communicated to loan servicers about the situation.
#student-loans #loan-forgiveness #income-based-repayment #department-of-education #congressional-oversight
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