House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters and other leaders request Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, U.S. Department of Education and student loan servicer reports on practices and regulations.
8/14/2019 8:30
House committee leaders with oversight of the student loan servicing market are seeking multiple reports from regulators on borrower protections and servicer oversight, according to a news release from the House Financial Services Committee. The committee also requested that federal student loan servicers including Navient, Nelnet and the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency provide reports on contracts with the Department of Education and policies and procedures.
House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters, D-Calif., House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott, D-Va., and House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., submitted one letter to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Kathy Kraninger for reports on its efforts to protect student loan borrowers.
Congress is requesting reports on student loan complaints mandated under the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 and updates on the bureau’s plans to hire a new student loan ombudsman, in addition to the other records, by Sept. 9, 2019.
The House Financial Services Committee will meet for a hearing, “A $1.5 Trillion Crisis: Protecting Student Borrowers and Holding Student Loan Servicers Accountable,” on Sept. 10.
Meanwhile, focusing on the U.S. Department of Education (DOE), a letter to Secretary Betsy DeVos, with responses due by Aug. 26, centers on oversight of student loan servicers and reasons for termination of a Memorandum of Understanding with the CFPB to assist student loan borrowers with complaints.
Letters to the student loan servicers request documents related to contracts and communications with the DOE and policies and procedures on payment allocation and processing Income Driven Repayment Plans (IDR), for example, with responses due Aug. 27.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently issued recommendations to the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) to do more to verify the income and family size of borrowers enrolled in IDR Plans.
As the DOE works on these recommendations, accounts receivable management industry companies could see scrutiny related to their income verification policies and procedures, ACA International previously reported.
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