White House to boost efforts to protect borrowers against student loan forgiveness scams

Earlier this month, the White House announced plans to protect US student loan borrowers from scammers expected to try to exploit the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program.

“One of the most critical ways to prevent scams and protect borrowers from being taken advantage of is developing a clear, simple, and secure site for borrowers to apply for debt relief and have the most up to date information from trusted sources,” a White House briefing reads.

“Over the course of the last 18 months, the FTC has reached nearly $30 million in settlements that included refunds for tens of thousands of student borrowers who were illegally charged up front fees and falsely promised reduced or eliminated student loan payments.”

Up to 8 million individuals could receive automatic debt relief of up to $20,000 according to the White House, and while applications for borrowers are not available yet, opportunistic scammers are bound to jump in to rip off unwary student loan borrowers.

As such, the government is attempting to bolster scam prevention through multiple awareness programs and inter-state cooperation, including:

• Setting up a secure platform where borrowers can apply for debt relief
• Releasing a multi-lingual student debt relief fact sheet of “Do’s and Don’ts” that will provide information on how to avoid scams
• Sharing regular complaint reports to states that will allow state attorneys general to identity scams operating in their jurisdictions
• Ensuring an “all-of-government scam prevention effort” by collaboratively analyzing trends in scam complaints in real time, and sharing this information with states to combat scams
• Launching new educational campaigns to help borrowers avoid getting scammed
• Engaging with social media platforms and digital creators to reach borrowers with accurate information about the program and alerts on potential scams

Here are some key practices when applying for student loan debt relief:

• Never pay upfront fees before receiving assistance to reduce or get rid of student loan debts
• Scrutinize ads and social media posts that promise you early access to loan forgiveness programs
• Don’t give out your information for student loan debt relief via email, phone or instant messaging
• Only use reliable sources to get information on the Public Service Loan Forgiveness
• Never give your Federal Student Aid ID data, Social Security number and financial information to individuals who contact you out of the blue regarding student loans
• Immediately report suspicious contact or activity to the FTC and law enforcement.

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