MASSPIRG praises passage of key bill to protect student loan borrowers | U.S. PIRG

BOSTON-In the last few hours of this legislative session, lawmakers passed major protection measures for people who borrow money to go to college on Wednesday. The new regulation is called the "Student Loan Borrower Bill of Rights", which is the state of Massachusetts

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Deirdre Cummings, MASSPIRG's legislative director, said: "The Student Loan Borrower Bill of Rights will protect borrowers from unfair, predatory and deceptive lending and loan service companies." "We hope the governor will sign the bill and provide for those who try Improve your friends, family and neighbors through higher education to help."

"The passage of this bill will establish much-needed protection measures for borrowers. Since 2017, we have worked tirelessly with MASSPIRG, the Student Borrower Protection Center, Hildes College, PHENOM and other stakeholders to develop these guidelines , And thanks to everyone’s hard work, we can now begin to rebalance the scale in an unfair system, said Eric P. Lessell, Chairman of the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies and Chief Negotiator of the Economic Development Conference Committee.

according to

), nearly two-thirds of Massachusetts students graduating from undergraduate programs in 2018 are burdened with school debt-the average debt of these students is $32,000. In Massachusetts, we have 855,500 student loan borrowers who owe a total of $33 billion. Nationwide, there are $1.7 trillion in outstanding student loan debt.

"Since 2001, student debt in Massachusetts has grown faster than the other 49 states," State Representative Natalie Higgins said. "These new protections will provide nearly one million student loan borrowers across the state."

Silver Wolf, a junior at the University of Massachusetts Boston, and chairman of the State Student Council, added: "With the soaring university tuition fees, more and more students and families are forced to seek student loans to pay. These common-sense consumption Protective measures are necessary to prevent the student debt crisis from getting worse." 

"In addition to student leaders, we are proud of civil rights, higher education and consumer rights in more than 50 states and countries

", Bahar Akman Imboden, managing director of Hildreth Institute, said: "As the COVID-19 pandemic puts pressure on the finances of many student borrowers, Now, more than ever, we must promote financial security and economic justice in Massachusetts communities.

Some student loan service providers use illegal or unfair predatory borrowing methods, charge high fees, misrepresent their products to students, disrupt paperwork, fail to handle paperwork properly or mislead them to choose more expensive options to take advantage of students Advantages of borrowers. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), almost two-thirds of the complaints filed by student borrowers last year were related to loan service issues.

The "Student Loan Borrowers Bill of Rights" will protect student borrowers through the following methods: 

The banking department is required to grant licenses to all student loan attendants and hold them responsible for fraudulent acts under state law. 

Establish an office of the Student Loan Ombudsman, which will receive, review and assist in resolving complaints. The office is essential for detecting and evaluating unfair and deceptive trends and practices, enabling regulators to take action to protect borrowers. The office will also educate borrowers.

The Ombudsman is required to publish an annual report on the behavior, complaints, solutions and trends of student loan service practices. In addition to suggestions for improving loan procedures and protecting borrowers, the annual report will also include information on complaints, solutions and suggestions from the Banking Department on how to improve industry supervision.   

Similar bills have been passed in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, Washington and Washington DC.  

"We commend Senator Erik Lesser and Leominster on behalf of Higgins for their leadership and tireless advocacy. This is the original sponsor of the Student Loan Borrower Bill of Rights; Other members, including chair Michlewitz, Rodrigues and O'Connor and representatives of Ferrante and Wong," Cummings concluded. "It is more important than ever that we protect students from predatory loan service providers. State supervision is urgently needed."

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