More than 130 Democratic lawmakers called on Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Wednesday to reinstate consumer protections for student borrowers in federal contracts with loan servicers.
DeVos earlier this month rescinded guidance issued last year by then Secretary John B. King Jr. directing the Office of Federal Student Aid to consider servicers' past performance in the awarding of contracts. In the same decision, she withdrew separate guidance issued by former Under Secretary Ted Mitchell laying out a comprehensive set of servicing standards based on guidelines developed in collaboration with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Treasury. The guidance from Mitchell also spelled out the requirements for an ambitious web portal the department had planned to build for all borrowers to use regardless of their servicers.
The department has yet to release an alternative set of guidelines for the next round of contracts for loan servicers, and it's unclear if it will follow through with any of the recommendations from previous guidance, including the web portal.
Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2017/04/27/devos-urged-restore-loan-servicing-protections