A New York bankruptcy court recently allowed a pro se debtor to discharge over $200,000 in student loan debt, vehemently rejecting as “punitive” more recent legal authority concerning how student loan debts may be discharged in bankruptcy.
Debtor Kevin Jared Rosenberg, a New York law school graduate earning approximately $37,000 annually, filed for Chapter 7
In a recent decision, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York found that the inclusion of a collection fee in a post-default collection letter sent by a debt collection company did not violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
In Ossipova v. Pioneer Credit Recovery, Inc., et al., No.
Massachusetts is proposing a bill to regulate student loan servicers and bring the Commonwealth in line with other states, including Connecticut, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Washington, all of which have passed new legislation to regulate the student loan industry. Similar legislation recently has been introduced, but not
Effective October 16, the New York State Department of Financial Services adopted final regulations impacting student loan servicers operating in the state. The legislation, titled Article 14-A, passed in April 2019 and imposes new licensing requirements and servicing standards on institutions that service loans for borrowers residing in New York. The new regulations will affect
Recently, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, along with the states of Minnesota, North Carolina, and California, filed a lawsuit in California federal court against a student loan debt-relief operation. The CFPB alleges that the companies charged over $71 million in unlawful advance fees in connection with the marketing and sale of student loan debt-relief services
On October 22, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a ruling in Crocker v. Navient Solutions that could have mixed consequences for student loan borrowers and creditors alike. The Court determined that a bankruptcy court lacks the authority to enforce discharge injunctions issued by bankruptcy courts in other districts. It also ruled,
A recent report issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Private Education Loan Ombudsman recommends actions against scammers who seek to take advantage of and abuse student loan borrowers by offering no-value and sometimes harmful services.
On October 15, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Private Education Loan Ombudsman issued its 2019 Annual Report, which actually
On October 22, a proposed class of over 7,000 former college students filed a lawsuit against Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and the Department of Education (“DOE”) in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, citing the department’s “enduring refusal to discharge the federal student loans”
The U.S. Department of Education finalized its proposal to rescind the Obama administration’s “Borrower Defense” rule issued in November 2016, replacing it with “Institutional Accountability Regulations” (the “Regulations”) effective July 1, 2020. The Regulations will significantly change the “Borrower Defense” rule. Such changes include once again allowing pre-dispute arbitration agreements.
The Regulations will apply to
On November 27, 2019, a New Jersey law requiring that student loan servicers obtain a license from the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance will go into effect.
The new law, among other things, will require the Department to appoint a student loan ombudsman to help student loan borrowers with understanding loan agreements