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Original Content at https://www.opednews.com/articles/Decade-of-Student-Payments-Fraud_Fraud_Student-Debt_Student-Loan-Forgiveness-250606-969.html (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). |
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June 6, 2025
Decade of Student Payments Vanished; Senator Peters No Help
By William McMullin
Federal student loan borrowers have no recourse over fraud.
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Student loan borrowers are on a roller coaster ride with this administration. Income-based repayment plans may go away, leaving borrowers with unaffordable monthly student loan repayments. Others, who were promised loan forgiveness after ten years of public service, might not ever see this promise upheld even if the borrower upholds his/her end of the bargain.
If there is a problem with student loans, there is no method of recourse right now. For instance, all of a sudden my federal student loan balance jumped. I finally figured out it was because MOHELA, one of the loan servicing companies the U.S. Department of Education uses, removed ten years of payments from my student loans. My applied payments went from a few thousand to $75. What happened to all of my payments?
I contacted the U.S. Department of Education in the fall of 2024, December 2024, and May 2025, but they won't respond. I contacted Senator Gary Peters' office. The staff contacted the U.S. Department of Education. The U.S. Department of Education responded back with how many more years of payments I have. Then, Peters' office contacted MOHELA. MOHELA responded with the principal and interest balances, information I already have. I told Peters' office I need a response to my actual complaint instead of simply being given random information. Peters' office contacted MOHELA again. Peters said MOHELA's response was that there is a delay with applying payments. What does that have to do with my complaint? Peters' office hasn't responded since. I made a request to meet with Gary himself, but no one responded.
Congresswoman Haley Stevens' office flat out refused to even contact the Department of Education about the case.
What are borrowers to do when scammed by the federal government's own loan servicers?
William McMullin has a BBA in public administration and environmental studies from Western Michigan University and a Master of Environmental Law and Policy with a concentration in global climate change from Vermont Law School.