AG Healey Secures $2.4 Million, Significant Policy Reforms in Major Settlement with Student Loan Servicer
A national loan servicer responsible for handling millions of student loan accounts across the country has agreed to pay
The assurance of discontinuance, filed on Monday in
"To address this student debt crisis, we need students to be on repayment plans that will help them succeed, not fall further into debt," AG Healey said. "ACS failed to meet this standard and regularly undermined the opportunity for students to access appropriate repayment plans. This conduct increases the already high cost of education, damages credit, and prevents students and their families from achieving long-term economic security."
In
ACS also allegedly violated the state's debt collection regulations by contacting students more than twice a week and did not investigate credit reporting disputes, which led to inaccurate information about students being sent to credit reporting agencies.
ACS - now known as
Under the terms of the settlement, ACS will pay a total of
In addition, ACS will establish a designated "
According to the AG's Office, many student loan servicers - who are operating at the direction of the federal government - often fail to do their jobs by helping students find and enter affordable repayment plans. AG Healey continues to investigate the conduct of other student loan servicers and encourages student loan borrowers who have experienced difficulty enrolling in income-driven repayment plans to file a complaint with the
Student loan borrowers who are interested in learning more about income-driven repayment plans, need help resolving defaulted loans, have questions about their options, or would like to know if they are eligible for relief under the ACS settlement, should call the Attorney General's Student Loan Assistance Unit's Hotline at 1-888-830-6277 or file a Student Lending Assistance Request at www.mass.gov/ago/studentloans.
This matter was handled by
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