Confused About Eligibility, Unsure if Relief Will Come

An official with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau told Morning Consult that they are skeptical that the complexity of the program can, on its own, account for the confusion or uncertainty that borrowers are experiencing as they navigate through the repayment process. 

The CFPB official said it is important that customers are getting the correct information from servicers, adding that they “play a key role in providing borrowers with accurate and actionable information that's tailored to their circumstances.”

The official also noted that the CFPB has documented instances demonstrating that “no matter what federal student loan program we're talking about, whether it's Public Service Loan Forgiveness or income-driven repayment, or even some of the newer programs like the limited PSLF waiver, servicers dropped the ball on giving people the information that they need.” The official pointed to borrower complaint descriptions in the CFPB database that demonstrate servicing employees are sometimes “missing basic facts about the programs that are actually publicly available.” 

The CFPB official said the issue is concerning for the agency because incomplete or incorrect information can stymie a borrower's ability to benefit from the programs, and noted that the CFPB routinely monitors servicer conduct and can require remediation. 

“If a company isn’t delivering on its core service, that's a failure,” the official said. 

Buchanan suggested that when borrowers make a complaint that they’ve received inaccurate information, an investigation into the individual’s complaint may reveal that there was a misunderstanding of facts that needed to be clarified with the borrower. In the case of the loan forgiveness program, he said that when borrowers reached out to servicers with questions about eligibility, “our answer has to be, ‘I don't know if you're eligible, because I haven't seen the details of the program yet.’” Buchanan maintained that servicers may be providing correct information but it’s “not what the borrower wants to hear.”

“Oftentimes, that perception is that we're preventing them to access things, when in fact, the reality is we're enforcing the law,” Buchanan said. 

Federal student loan borrowers were asked in the Morning Consult survey about their experiences working with servicers, and a third said that communication with them has been unclear. Roughly equal shares said contacting servicers and getting help from them is not easy. 

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