Annual Report of the CFPB Private Education Loan Ombudsman 2019
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Act”) established a Private Education Loan Ombudsman within the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Pursuant to the Act, this annual report provides two years of complaint data from September 1, 2017 through August 31, 2019 (a report was not submitted in 2018), discusses the importance of complaint analysis in identifying and preventing borrower harm, and addresses unscrupulous student loan debt relief companies and red flags associated with them. This report provides Policymakers with recommendations regarding the sharing of information, reinforcing the success of civil enforcement actions against unscrupulous student loan debt relief companies, increasing the flexibility in changing data elements for complaints, and formalizing lessons learned from loan programs to assist future policymakers, program managers and to protect consumers.