Smart Borrower Blog

Archive for the ‘Federal Student Loans’ Category

The Student Loan Programs That Backfired

Student loan debt continues to stack up even though there are fewer and fewer people applying for those loans. Student loan applications have plunged 20% over the past six years, while total student debt has skyrocketed by $500 billion in that time to an all-time high of $1.5 trillion. What is going on? Two government […]

Proposed Rule Tightens Restrictions on Student Loan Forgiveness

Americans with student loan debt may soon have a tougher time getting that debt forgiven in some cases. The U.S. Department of Education has proposed new rules that would place a bigger burden of proof on former students to show that their college misled them about their future employment earnings or opportunities. The Department of […]

Utah Lowest in Nation for Student Debt Per Graduate

College graduate debt levels vary greatly from state to state, according to a new study from The Student Loan Report, with students from the Northeast accumulating the most debt and those in the Southwest borrowing the least. Utah graduates took the prize for the very lowest student debt levels last year. Using data from the […]

Consumer Credit Debt Grows at Fastest Pace in 12 Months

U.S. consumer borrowing jumped up in September, according to data from the Federal Reserve, fueled by a surge in auto sales and student loans. Total consumer credit debt rose $20.8 billion in September, or at a 6.6% annualized rate to $3.79 trillion in all. That is the fastest pace since November 2016. September’s growth exceeded […]

Education Department Changes Course on Student Loan Single-Servicer Plan

The U.S. Department of Education is reversing course on its earlier plan to give the servicing of all federal student loans over to one company, a move motivated by criticism from lawmakers and companies who would lose out on current contracts. In May, in an effort to reduce loan payment confusion and financial waste, Education […]

Women Hold 64% of U.S. Student Loan Debt

While women make up just over half (56 percent) of total U.S. college enrollment today, according to a new study, they carry almost two-thirds of the country’s student debt load. In the American Association of University Women’s (AAUW) recent report, several major gender discrepancies were found in student loan data. Currently, women owe $833 billion, […]

U.S. Consumer Borrowing Growth Slows to 3-Year Low

Even though American consumers continued to spend more money in December than they did in November, the increase was much lower than expected and the slowest pace since 2013. According to figures from the Federal Reserve, consumer debt increased by $14.2 billion in December 2016 from the month before. That is significantly below the $20 […]

Number of Senior Citizens with Student Debt Quadrupled in Last 10 Years

The past decade has conjured up a Mortgage Meltdown, a colossal Financial Crisis and the Great Recession. As a result more and more Americans in their golden years have taken on student loan debt for their children or grandchildren. According to a report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the number of people aged 60 […]

Average Student Loan Debt Hits All-time High

Last year, U.S. college graduates finished school with the highest average student loan debt to date, according to a new report from The Institute of College Access and Success and it is very likely the class of 2016 will have an even higher load. The class of 2015 had an average undergraduate borrower debt of $30,100, […]

New System to Simplify Federal Student Loan Experience

Last week the U.S. Department of Education laid out a new system to make repaying federal student loans a smoother process, a fulfillment of its directive from the March 2015 Student Aid Bill of Rights. Since 2015, the DOE has been surveying borrowers, student loan industry players and consumer advocated to find out how to make […]