Current Affairs


Thursday, June 4, 2009

The Student Loan Scam; The Most Oppressive Debt In U.S. History---And How We Can Fight Back


By Alan Collinge
"..Collinge is a writer and political activist committed to convincing Congress to restore standard consumer protections to student loans. His devotion to the student-loan cause is prompted by his terrible experiences arising from $50,000 in student loans from Sallie Mae at graduation in 1998 that were subsequently deemed in default, and with interest and penalties, the balance due in mid-2005 mushroomed to $103,000. We learn that Sallie Mae, the dominant student loan company in the U.S., was initially a government-sponsored entity until it was privatized in 1997. Its success stems from its large lobbying influence in Congress and its extensive university agreements whereby schools profit when their students borrow from Sallie Mae. The author s solutions include a need for bankruptcy protection on student loans that Sallie Mae supports, and he concludes with practical advice for borrowers, including always using federal loans before private loans."

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