As just about everyone has heard, it was announced on January 13, 2022 that a settlement had been reached between Navient and the Attorney Generals of 38 states and D.C. The first question on everyone’s mind is: Does this apply to me?
Here is a quick hit review of the proposed settlement and who it applies to.
First, this is not a done deal. It has not yet been approved by the court and it would not be a shock to see it modified in some way. This is a “proposed settlement”. The parties have agreed, but it is not over.
Second, this settlement only applies to you if your last known address is one of the listed 38 states or Washington D.C. Those states are:
Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia (or you have a military address postal code).
Third, to get total loan forgiveness of a private student loan, you must meet all the following requirements:
- It must be a loan originated by Sallie Mae (or its companies AFTER 2002)
- The loan must have been “charged off” by June 30, 2021. This means you must have stopped making payments at least 6 months prior to June 30, 2021. Navient definition would be 8 months. This means that if you are making your payments, YOU ARE EXCLUDED. You are going to wish you defaulted in 2020 (our firm has been advising consumers to default on these loans for a very long time).
- Your loan must meet one of the criteria listed below and includes the following schools:
- ACT, ABC Training Center of Maryland, TCI
- Alta College
- Apollo Group
- ATI Enterprises
- Bridgepoint Education
- Career Education Corporation
- Center for Excellence in Higher Education
- Corinthian Colleges
- DeVry University
- Education Corporation of America (Willis Stein & Partners III)
- Education Management Corporation
- Globe/MN School of Business
- Graham Holdings
- Infilaw Holding
- ITT Technical Institute
- Lincoln Tech
- Marinello School of Beauty
- Premier Education Group
The discharged and forgiven amount shall include all outstanding principal, accrued interest, and fees from Categories 1 through 3 qualifying private education loans made to borrowers with a last known address in one of the Signatory Attorney General States, or a military address postal code.
This will cancel approximately $1.7 billion in private subprime student loans for about 66,000 borrowers nationwide ($261 million for approx. 7400 Californian borrowers).
Category 1 Criteria: All Opportunity & Recourse Loans
- Any private education loan with an outstanding balance and in Past Due Status as of the Debt Relief Forgiveness Date, originated under an Opportunity or Recourse program, and disbursed after 2002.
Category 2 Criteria: For-Profit Schools
- Any private education loan with an outstanding balance and in Past Due Status as of the Debt Relief Forgiveness Date disbursed by SLM Corporation lenders, subsidiaries, predecessors, successors, and/or its affiliates after 2002 to a borrower attending a for profit school owned or operated by one of the companies listed above, or under one of the trade names listed above, or any other company as agreed to by and among the
Parties.
Category 3 Criteria: Non-traditional
- Any non-traditional private education loan with an outstanding balance and in Past Due Status as of the Debt Relief Forgiveness Date disbursed by SLM Corporation lenders, subsidiaries, predecessors, successors, and/or affiliates after 2002. “Non-traditional” as used herein means a private education loan disbursed (1) to a borrower with a FICO score below 670 at origination to attend a private for-profit educational institution; or (2) to a borrower with a FICO score below
Finally, as to Federal Student Loans, the settlement provides for a one-time payment of $260. There is no debt relief for federal student loans in this proposed settlement. This will go to approximately 357,000 people (43,000 Californians)
There is a lot more to the settlement, particularly in terms of what Navient must say/provide to debtors when inquiring about their loans. Things such as they must tell you about IDR, PSLF and other repayment programs. Previously they just pushed people into forbearance. Problem here is that Navient has already announced that it is leaving the direct servicing of these loans, and now we know why: because they would have to explain consumer options and rights that their competitors don’t have too.
Here is a link to the actual proposed agreement:
Remember, this is not yet FINAL. Also, this is a “quick hit” review so that you can get some idea as to what is going on. It is NOT Legal Advice and you should not consider it as such. I hope you find it useful and I encourage you to contact us on our website www.DebtorProtectors.com or call 844-431-3851 or email to info@fclawoffice.com for more information.