Mike Pierce, executive director of the Student Borrower Protection Center, an advocacy group, said he had received at least two calls in recent days, even though he holds no federal student loans. “They’re not wasting any time,” he said.
Many will benefit. President Biden’s executive order means the federal student loan balances of millions of people could fall by as much as $20,000. Here are answers to some common questions about how it will work:
Who qualifies for loan cancellation? Individuals who are single and earn $125,000 or less will qualify for the $10,000 in debt cancellation. If you’re married and file your taxes jointly or are a head of household, you qualify if your income is $250,000 or below. If you received a Pell Grant and meet these income requirements, you could qualify for an extra $10,000 in debt cancellation.
What’s the first thing I need to do if I qualify? Check with your loan servicer to make sure that your postal address, your email address and your mobile phone number are listed accurately, so you can receive guidance. Follow those instructions. If you don’t know who your servicer is, consult the Department of Education’s “Who is my loan servicer?” web page for instructions.
How do I prove that I qualify? If you’re already enrolled in some kind of income-driven repayment plan and have submitted your most recent tax return to certify that income, you should not need to do anything else. Still, keep an eye out for guidance from your servicer. For everyone else, the Education Department is expected to set up an application process by the end of the year.
When will payments for the outstanding balance restart? President Biden extended a Trump-era pause on payments, which are now not due until at least January. You should receive a billing notice at least three weeks before your first payment is due, but you can contact your loan servicer before then for specifics on what you owe and when payment is due.
In fact, nefarious callers have had ample time to prepare, since talk of student loan forgiveness has been percolating since Mr. Biden proposed it during the 2020 presidential campaign. Payments on most federal student loans were first temporarily suspended in March 2020, early in the pandemic, by the Trump administration. Mr. Biden extended the pause several times, and payments are now scheduled to resume after Dec. 31.
Even before the president’s recent action on loan forgiveness, scams based on the premise of securing help with student debt have kept federal regulators busy. Scam callers use the existence of legitimate, but often confusing, federal programs that can reduce monthly payments or forgive student debt, like the public service loan forgiveness option, to trick borrowers into paying illegal fees or sharing sensitive information. The F.T.C. has received nearly 49,000 complaints about student loans in the first eight months of this year, and about two-thirds of those were related to student loan debt relief, including scam calls, the agency said.
“Student debt cancellation is unprecedented, but these tactics are not new,” said Andrea Matthews, adviser to Rohit Chopra, the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/02/your-money/spam-calls-student-loans.html
Speak Your Mind
You must be logged in to post a comment.