BOISE, Idaho —
This story originally appeared in the Idaho Press.
Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden is warning Idahoans that anyone contacting them about President Biden’s newly announced loan forgiveness program is likely a scammer.
“You don’t need to do anything or pay anyone to sign up for the new Student Debt Relief Plan,” Wasden said on Twitter Friday. “Nobody can get you in early, help you jump in line, or guarantee eligibility. Anybody who says they can or tries to charge you is a scammer.”
Within two days of Biden’s announcement of the new program on Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission Friday morning that scammers had glommed onto it. The FTC sent out a “Consumer Alert” headed, “Did you hear about the student loan announcements? Scammers did, too.”
Wasden advised Idahoans to ignore any such solicitations, and encouraged them to report them to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, and also notify his office’s Consumer Protection Unit by filling out a consumer complaint form at the Attorney General’s website, ag.idaho.gov.
The Biden-Harris Administration’s new Student Debt Relief Plan will forgive student loan debt of up to $20,000 for those who qualified for and received Pell Grants, and up to $10,000 for those who did not, if their income is less than $125,000 a year for an individual or $250,000 for households.
For nearly 8 million borrowers, that relief will happen automatically, because the U.S. Department of Education has the borrowers’ income data. For borrowers for whom the department doesn’t already have the data, an application will be made available in the coming weeks. People can sign up for notification when the application is available at ed.gov/subscriptions.
The administration is also proposing changes to student loan repayment rules that would grant additional relief to lower- and middle-income borrowers. For notification on updates to those rules, people can sign up at the same U.S. Department of Education site, ed.gov/subscriptions.
Currently, required payments on federal student loans are on pause due to the pandemic, and have been since early 2020; the administration announced this week that that pause will be extended through Dec. 31, 2022, so payments will resume in January.
Another existing program, the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, remains in effect through Oct. 31; borrowers who are employed by non-profits, the military, or federal, state, tribal or local government may be eligible to have all their student loans forgiven through that program. There’s more information on that online at PSLF.gov.
Betsy Z. Russell is the Boise bureau chief and state capitol reporter for the Idaho Press and Adams Publishing Group. Follow her on Twitter at @BetsyZRussell.
This story originally appeared in the Idaho Press. Read more at IdahoPress.com
Watch more Local News:
See the latest news from around the Treasure Valley and the Gem State in our YouTube playlist:
