Borrowers Launch Letter Campaign to 18 Attorneys General Demanding They Stop Blocking Debt Relief, New Investigation Exposes Missouri AG’s Failure to Serve His Own Constituents
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 23, 2024
Natalia Abrams, Student Debt Crisis Center
October 23, 2024 | WASHINGTON, D.C. — One day before a federal appeals court hears oral arguments on the ongoing partisan legal challenge to the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan, borrowers and advocates launched a letter campaign from borrowers to demand that attorneys general stop blocking much-needed debt relief. The effort was led by the AFT, Debt Collective (DC), Student Borrower Protection Center (SBPC), Student Debt Crisis Center (SDCC), We the 45 Million, and Young Invincibles.
Through the letter campaign effort, borrowers are sending letters to the 18 attorneys general who have filed lawsuits against the Biden-Harris Administration warning about the costs and consequences of the partisan attorneys general lawsuits. The letter campaign is ongoing.
In addition to the letter campaign effort, SBPC and DC released an investigative report revealing that hundreds of borrowers from Missouri repeatedly contacted Missouri Attorney General (AG) Andrew Bailey, pleading for him to stop his effort to drive them deeper into debt. Missouri AG Bailey systematically ignored these pleas, instead prosecuting lawsuits against these borrowers’ financial interests in courtrooms across the country, including the case being heard before the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals tomorrow. A copy of the report, MO Borrowers, MO Problems: How How One MAGA Attorney General Tried to Break the Student Loan System and Drive His Own Constituents Deeper Into Debt, is available here: https://protectborrowers.org/mo-borrowers-mo-problems/
Advocates also gathered powerful borrower stories about the importance of debt relief and how these lawsuits have harmed borrowers. See a quote sheet of borrower stories here.
From the stories:
“I will never understand how Attorneys General like Andrew Bailey and other partisan AGs can use their elected positions of power to actively hurt student loan borrowers like me. Student loan borrowers are Americans. We are servicemembers and veterans. We are taxpayers and we are constituents. It is long past time that these partisan AGs stop their attacks on working families like mine,” said Alicia Barnes, a borrower who has been harmed by the SAVE litigation.
Background
The SAVE plan is the newest payment plan created by the Biden-Harris Administration to help make millions of borrowers’ monthly payments more affordable and provide a shorter timeline for cancellation. It sets borrowers’ monthly payments based on their income, resulting in low or even $0 payments for low-income borrowers. Of the over 8 million borrowers who have enrolled, 4.6 million have a $0 monthly payment.
However, this past spring, a cadre of 18 states filed two separate lawsuits over the legality of the SAVE plan. The 18 states include KS, AL, AK, ID, IA, LA, MT, NE, SC, TX, UT, MO, AR, FL, GA, ND, OH, and OK. Since the lawsuit was filed, borrowers on the SAVE plan have been placed into a non-interest bearing forbearance that does not count toward cancellation under Public Service Loan Forgiveness or Income-Driven Repayment. For several months, borrowers were unable to access online applications for consolidation and Income-Driven Repayment. Because of the chaos caused by these cases, borrowers have limited options for repayment at this time.
Quotes from SDCC borrowers:
“I am a senior citizen. Due to the SAVE program, it was cut in half of what it had been. That has provided much relief financially and mentally. However, if my payments go back up again, I will be under a tremendous amount of stress once again. I have a fear that I will die with this debt. While I will never regret getting my education, I wish I had known more about student loans. In order for me to get both my degrees, I had to use student loans as tuition was being raised significantly every year, then every semester. I have the fear I will not be able to retire and need to work for the remainder of my life.” - Karen, Nebraska
“I have been mostly unable to have good credit because of student loan debt. I have paid lots of money towards student loans only to see no reduction in the principle amount but rather an increase. My life has been put on hold and any long term plans for the future have been put on hold because I can’t afford to do things like buy a house or start a family because student loans are never going away. And repayment seems futile.” - Joseph, Oklahoma
For more information or to schedule an interview, please contact Natalia Abrams at natalia@studentdebtcrisis.org.
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Student Debt Crisis Center is a national advocacy organization with over 2,000,000 supporters calling for fundamental reforms to student loan policies and an end to the student debt crisis. Learn more here.