loan forgiveness

Student Loan Discharges Approved In 99% Of Cases Under New Policy

The Biden administration this week released highly-anticipated data on a new initiative that makes it easier for borrowers experiencing hardships to discharge their student loans in bankruptcy.

The Education Department and the Department of Justice rolled out experimental guidance last fall to encourage cooperation between the government and student loan borrowers seeking bankruptcy relief. After a year, the program is showing clear signs of success.

“One year ago, we set out to simplify and improve the process for student loan borrowers in bankruptcy,” said Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta in a statement on Thursday. “I am thrilled that our one-year review indicates that our efforts have made a real difference in borrowers’ lives by ensuring student-loan discharges are more accessible to eligible borrowers. We will continue working with our partners at the

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November 28, 2023 by ATTORNEY

Kabbage files for bankruptcy as it faces PPP fraud probes

Online lender Kabbage was one of the biggest lenders in the first year of the Paycheck Protection Program, processing more than $7 billion in loans.

But for more than two years, the company has also been dogged by questions of whether it was too lax in approving loans that it should have known were fraudulent.

Facing numerous federal investigations into its PPP lending practices, Kabbage or, to be more accurate, the shell of what was once Kabbage, filed for bankruptcy this week.

Kabbage was acquired by American Express in the fall of 2020. The credit card giant took the online lender’s technology and many of its employees, but left behind the PPP loan portfolio, which would be handled by a holding company that now does business under the name KServicing.

READ MORE: A felon, an alleged drug dealer and a comic: How some who may be ineligible got PPP loans

That holding company disclosed in the filings that it is currently facing investigations into its PPP lending practices from the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Small Business Administration and two U.S. Attorneys, working in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Justice.

The

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October 8, 2022 by ATTORNEY

Student-Loan Borrower Chooses Between Paying Debt and Health Insurance

  • Robin O’Brien, 61, has $64,000 in student debt from her master’s degree.
  • She’s experiencing long COVID, which has caused her to work part time earning half an income.
  • Now, she’s forced to choose between affording health insurance or paying off her student debt.

Even on an income-driven repayment plan for her $64,000 student-debt load, Robin O’Brien can’t afford the payments.

After working in long-term care facilities for 25 years, O’Brien said the next step in her career was becoming an administrator — but in order to be in that field while making a sufficient income, she needed a master’s degree. When she took out federal loans to take online classes at two public universities, and after graduating in 2017, there was no way she could have foreseen the pandemic and the financial strain it would bring.

Now, she’s dealing with long-COVID symptoms that forced her to work part time, and her medical bills and student-debt bills are unmanageable.

“Right now, I’m picking five of the envelopes with medical bills, and then I’ll pay them $20 apiece,” O’Brien said, referring to the stack of bills she gets each month. “And the next month I’ll take five

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June 13, 2022 by INSURANCE
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