Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by on Monday May 22 2017, @06:53PM   Printer-friendly
from the cost-effective dept.

The federal government has, in recent years, paid debt collectors close to $1 billion annually to help distressed borrowers climb out of default and scrounge up regular monthly payments. New government figures suggest much of that money may have been wasted.

Nearly half of defaulted student-loan borrowers who worked with debt collectors to return to good standing on their loans defaulted again within three years, according to an analysis by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. For their work, debt collectors receive up to $1,710 in payment from the U.S. Department of Education each time a borrower makes good on soured debt through a process known as rehabilitation. They keep those funds even if borrowers subsequently default again, contracts show. The department has earmarked more than $4.2 billion for payments to its debt collectors since the start of the 2013 fiscal year, federal spending data show.

[...] Officials at the CFPB say the government should reexamine whether the loan program, and the lucrative contracts it bestows on private firms, is working for the millions of Americans struggling to repay their taxpayer-backed student debt.

"When student loan companies know that nearly half of their highest-risk customers will quickly fail, it's time to fix the broken system that makes this possible," said Seth Frotman, the consumer bureau's top student-loan official.

-- submitted from IRC


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 22 2017, @07:45PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 22 2017, @07:45PM (#513702)

    They're millennials. They think they're entitled to botulinum toxin-free organic artisan cheese and hipster kale on their nachos.

    Kill them all, immediately. We'll just have to try again with the next generation....

    Starting Score:    0  points
    Moderation   -1  
       Troll=1, Total=1
    Extra 'Troll' Modifier   0  

    Total Score:   -1  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 22 2017, @08:22PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 22 2017, @08:22PM (#513728)

    Who will birth your "next generation" when your surviving women are menopausal?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 22 2017, @08:34PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 22 2017, @08:34PM (#513738)

      Niggers and Mexicans.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 22 2017, @11:41PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 22 2017, @11:41PM (#513843)

    ummm start with the generation that produced them. Boomers. yeah, thats right.

    • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday May 23 2017, @04:03PM

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday May 23 2017, @04:03PM (#514333) Journal

      I don't think a lot of boomers gave birth to millenials. Yeah, there's probably some, but early boomers were menopausal well before the first millenials were born. Let's blame it all on generation X.