Changes That Are Likely to Occur to Federal Student Loan Legislation in 2019

Last Update: September 9, 2021 • College Students •

Both the current administration and Congress weigh options on student loans’ outcome. Private companies will have more control over the new changes. The changes will also affect how the repayment of loans and pardons will work for the lenders.

What are The Current Regulations for Student Loans?

Federal laws govern both private and federal student loans. The policies comprise the 2008 Higher Education Opportunity Act responsible for setting the standards about which schools can qualify for the federal aid and the 2010 Fiscal responsibility and student aid that came up with the right loan program and added income repayments options. Some other laws have affected how the students’ loans operate.

Federal Student Aid Ombudsman Group

If you are facing difficulties with your loan service provider or are interested in learning more concerning your available options for the discharge of student loans, deferment, or forbearance, you are always free to file a complaint with the Federal Student Aid Ombudsman Group. The Federal Student Aid Ombudsman Group refers to an education department group that is neutral and tasked with managing and resolving federal students’ loan issues. After the Federal Student Aid Ombudsman Group has received your claim, it will work with you and your service provider to get a satisfactory solution for everybody.

The Four Likely Changes in Legislation of Federal Student Loans in 2019

Several other potential legal changes can easily affect how you will be taking out and repaying your private and student loans. They all are worth keeping an eye on.

Ease of Discharging Student Debt in Bankruptcy

The education department plans to rework how it will define the undue hardship to make it much easier for the lenders who have federal student loans whenever they file for bankruptcy. The private student loan bankruptcy act proposal will allow the lenders to have a private student loan discharged during bankruptcy. At present, it is possible to have the federal student loan given out if you manage to file for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13, and the judge comes up with the following:

Paying your student loan prevents you from maintaining the least living standards.
You have tried to make an earnest effort to repay loans before you file for bankruptcy.
You have struggled to settle off your loans for most of their terms.

Impacts on The Lenders

The last resort option is bankruptcy. Congress, which has a mandate to oversee the bankruptcy law, has not passed any appropriate legislation. However, it can mean that your student loans are not as touchable as they used to if you decide to file for bankruptcy. However, it would help if you considered all your debt relief options before making any file.

B.Termination of Public Service Loan Forgiveness

The Congress and Trump administration have made proposals on bills that will completely do away with or defend the public service loan forgiveness that former US president George W. Bush started in 2007. The Public service loan forgiveness will enable all borrowers who have worked with a public service or government job to cancel all their federal students’ debts after making ten years of income repayments. At first, this was intended to make all the college graduates get into the public service. However, miscommunication between the FedLoan, the service with a mandate of handling applications, and the federal government meant that up to 99% of all the first-around applications were denied.

Impacts of This Move to The Borrowers

Even repealing the act that created the public service loan forgiveness or refunding the program will not have affected the 1% of approved borrowers. However, this can mean that all the new borrowers that decided to work in the public service with the dream of getting their loans all forgiven are automatically out of luck. If you were denied the loans due to technical reasons, you might have incorrectly completed filling a form that failed to submit enough paperwork. All you have to do is ensure you act fast and make a reapplication as soon as possible.

There Might be Changes in The Federal Student Loan Repayment

The Trump administration has made proposals to consolidate four income-driven repayments (IDR) plans, now present to the federal student loan borrowers. The low-income borrowers can now pay off their student loans that have between 10%-20% of their income for over 20-25 years, after which they are relieved. In 2016, Donald Trump, the then-presidential candidate, proposed combining the available income-driven repayment loans and the revised pay as you earn into one plan to help make it less confusing to the lenders.

What Does it Mean to The Borrowers?

We do have three main ways the proposal of the income drive repayment plan will affect borrowers:

A considerable loss to your paycheck

The majority of the current IDR plans need one to pay 10% of the post-tax income. The idea of Trump is to try to increase this to 12.50%.

Less payment for the undergraduate loans

The undergraduate student lenders are most likely set to have their loans forgiven after earning 15 years of income-driven repayments. At present, it is at a minimum of 20 years.

Increased payment for graduate loans

The graduate students would not be in a position to have their loans forgiven until when they would have made 30 years of income-driven repayments under the new proposed plan.

The Private Borrowers Might Begin Applying for Federal Student Loans

Donald Trump’s administration has considered allowing banks and other private lenders to help fund federal student loans instead of having all the funds come from government budgets. This consideration can mean that the lenders can end up with interest rates influenced by the borrowing market instead of being fixed by Congress.

What This Implies to The Lenders

Working with private borrowers can easily affect applying and getting Federal student loans. However, the applications can vary between the students and the borrowers who could see changing interest rates. Customer service can also be a private company’s responsibility instead of being that of the government.

The Fixed Rate Student Loan vs. the Variable Rate Student Loan

The rates of student loans are increasing. For instance, in the just concluded year, the Federal Reserve did raise the interest rates four times. There are speculations that the interest rate will be rising further this year. Every time the interest rates increase, students will be paying more for the loans if they have the variable interest rate student loan.

Whenever you refinance or borrow your student loans, you will always have a choice between the variable interested rate and the fixed interest rate. The higher interest rates will adversely affect the consumer borrowers by increasing the interest rate environment since student loans’ interest rates will increase.

One should consider a fixed interest student loan if they borrow a new student loan.

What Does It Mean for You?

Several states have additional regulations for student loans in addition to the laws of federal student loans. Several other states have passed the bill of rights for student loans to protect consumers even more than what the federal government can do.

Conclusion

There’s every possibility that student loan repayment options might greatly change this year. Regardless, most of the proposals are just like that, mere proposals that make it hard to visualize the actual change. The lenders who depend on income-driven repayment plans will have to develop a high interest in these changes as they are likely to affect most.