Student Loans and Scams, Oh My!

In the ever-shifting landscape of student loans, there’s one tragic constant: scams. Whenever there are systemic changes—elections, new payment plans, servicer swaps, and more—scams are especially abundant, hoping to catch you off-guard, taking advantage of borrowers while the dust is still settling. They’re surprisingly clever, too! Scammers keep on top of the evolving regulations and speak in half-truths to catch borrowers off-balance. They promise the impossible, but they usually use topics that have been in the news recently, creating a false sense of urgency by claiming that you can still be eligible as long as you act right now. Recent scams we’ve seen are focused around the now-defunct effort to enact broad student loan forgiveness, offering a chance to save borrowers thousands (maybe even tens or hundreds of thousands) of dollars.

Keeping Your Head Amid the Scams

Truth be told—shocking, I know—we’re tired of writing about scams! This isn’t the first time, and it won’t be the last. In this age of information overload, we’re all getting used to the constant barrage of scams, but they can be particularly problematic when involving something as complex as student loans. If you get contacted by anyone offering to wipe out your student loan debt, be suspicious; we’ve seen over the last four years that even the President of the United States struggles to do it! If you get emails or calls with such offers, the best advice is to probably just ignore them. Otherwise, give us a call before you respond, and we can help you verify if the offer is real or bogus. Remember, “if something is free, you are the product.”

If you have questions about your student loans, how to make them disappear, and what strategy would work best for you, give us a call. We’ll help you sift out fact from fiction and find the best path forward on your way to student debt freedom.