To: The United States House of Representatives and The United States Senate
Defend Student Loan Borrowers from Financial Crimes
We demand Congress combat the Trump administration’s attack on students and student loan borrowers by reinforcing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s ability to:
* Enforce laws that protect students and student loan borrowers from financial crimes
* Remain independent from political and party pressures
* Hold big banks and student loan companies accountable for illegal practices
The Trump administration is derailing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s mission by using the agency to serve the wishes of big corporations. First, acting director Mick Mulvaney shutdown the Office of Students and Young Consumers and curbed investigations into for-profit colleges. Then, important student loan advocates resigned from the CFPB in protest of the agency abandoning efforts to defend student loan borrowers from fraud.
Why is this important?
Seth Frotman, the federal government’s top student loan consumer watchdog just resigned. His letter of resignation blames the Trump administration for abandoning students and student loan borrowers at a time when exploding college costs and corporate malfeasance are harming Americans more than ever.
As Student Loan Ombudsman at the CFPB, he worked tirelessly to hold big banks and student loan companies accountable. He remained dedicated to the mission of advocating for America’s 45 million student loan borrowers.
Students, student loan borrowers, and their families rely on an independent, government agency to protect them from financial crimes. Since its creation, the CFPB has played a vital role in not only defending America’s consumers but defending the American Dream itself.
From defending military families to holding bad-acting student loan servicers accountable and returning millions of dollars to Americans who fell victim to for-profit colleges, the CFPB has been consumer's strongest advocate.
However, the actions being taken by the current administration are hurting student loan borrowers in the following ways:
Preventing the enforcement of consumer protection laws - Recently appointed leaders at the CFPB have abandoned the Bureau’s commitment to fairly enforce the law. They folded under political pressure and stopped CFPB oversight of the largest student loan companies. By doing so they have undermined their own mission to oversee the student loan industry and put millions of borrowers at risk of being defrauded.
Undermining the CFPB’s political independence - The CFPB’s recent actions have shown that its current leaders have prioritized the goals of the Trump administration over the interests of consumers and student loan borrowers. Recently, the Bureau blocked efforts to call attention to ways that the Trump administration was hurting families taken-advantage of by for-profit colleges. Those in government whose job it is to stand up for student loan borrowers are being silenced by political appointees.
Weaking efforts to hold bad actors accountable - The current leadership at the CFPB has completely abandoned students and borrowers. When the nation’s biggest banks were accused of scamming students on campus, the Bureau’s new leaders tried to bury the information. These actions put into question the future of the lawsuit against student loan servicer Navient. Students will be left vulnerable to predatory practices while the CFPB turns a blind eye.
We demand that Congress put a stop to the undermining of the CFPB by restoring the Bureau’s original principles: protecting consumers and students from bad actors, remaining independent from any administration, and enforcing the laws that hold these values in place.