Starting early last year, the nation's most powerful consumer protection agency sent examiners into companies that run student loan call centers to try to fix a troubled loan forgiveness program. But the Department of Education blocked the bureau from getting the information it needed, NPR reported. The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program is designed to help firefighters, military service members, nonprofit workers and others. But thousands of people say they were treated unfairly and rejected. By the Education Department's own numbers, only 1 percent of people applying for loan forgiveness are being approved. Several sources familiar with the matter tell NPR that the CFPB sent teams of examiners into servicing companies that run student loan call centers. Such examinations typically go on for two months, with the team embedded at the company. There are months of follow-up after that. But the Trump administration's Education Department told loan-servicing companies not to share information with the bureau about the vast majority of student loan borrowers, citing privacy concerns. The vast majority of student loans — nearly $1.5 trillion worth — are federal loans. But the Education Department tells NPR it's not the CFPB's job to police them. The department says the CFPB should stick to the much smaller world of private student loans.
