Neu Law, PLLC

01/09/2025

For those affected by natural disasters, here's a quick article about student loan forbearance and deferment options that may provide some relief.

Federal student loan borrowers impacted by the latest wildfires in California and other natural disasters have options if they're struggling.

06/22/2024

Another reminder: if you have older-type (FFEL) federal student loans, consolidate your loans at www.studentaid.gov by June 30, 2024 to take advantage of the one-time "IDR Account Adjustment" policy. This is the real thing!

05/30/2024

So much is happening in federal student loan policy, it can be hard to keep up. This article is a bit technical, but it covers what you need to know, including the key deadline of *June 30* for borrowers to consolidate and get maximum credit toward loan forgiveness.

Several key student loan forgiveness dates are approaching over the next several months. Here are the key dates student loan borrowers need to know about.

03/13/2024

The headline gets it right-- new policies are life-changing for student loan borrowers. Check out my quote!

The Biden administration's new student loan bankruptcy policy is making it easier for borrowers to walk away from their debt in court, attorneys say.

01/03/2024

The new federal student loan bankruptcy discharge process is working! We learned today that a deserving client will be granted discharge of over $600,000 of student loan debt that she has been carrying for decades. So happy for her.

12/04/2023

Nobody wants to end up in bankruptcy, but when the process offers a way out of crushing student debt, it is worth considering. Check out my quote in this BBC article on the topic!

Changes in the US are enticing more people to file bankruptcy to clear their student loans.

08/17/2023

This morning's email: "We met up last year to discuss my student loans. After our call, followed your advice and consolidated my student loans... I just found out that my loan has been forgiven!! I can hardly believe it."

08/09/2023

The New York Times is covering the new Federal Student Loan process! Check out my quote in today's article.

Last year, the Biden administration provided a new path to make it easier to discharge student loans in bankruptcy. The results appear promising, but success has been limited.

07/18/2023

Over 16,000 Washington State residents just learned their Direct Loans will be discharged under the Income-Driven Repayment plan account adjustment. Give us a call to discuss how the new federal student loan policies may benefit you.

06/30/2023

Federal loan borrowers will need to navigate their loans soon, and won't see debt relief.

The Supreme Court just blocked the Education Department from canceling up to $20,000 of student debt owed by tens of millions of Americans, thwarting one of President Biden's biggest domestic priorities as he campaigns for reelection.

In a 6-3 decision, the court’s conservative majority ruled that Biden’s effort to erase roughly $400 billion of student debt was an illegal use of executive power.

Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for all his GOP-appointed colleagues, rejected the Biden administration’s argument that it could enact mass debt forgiveness by using emergency “waiver” powers tied to the Covid-19 pandemic. Roberts wrote that the HEROES Act “allows the Secretary to ‘waive or modify’ existing statutory or regulatory provisions” but not to “rewrite” the federal law on student loans “from the ground up.”

Meanwhile, Justice Elena Kagan’s dissent painted the court’s move as a troubling act of judicial overreach and said it fit a pattern of the court’s conservative majority intruding into actions that should be left to the political branches:

“The Court refuses to acknowledge the plain words of the HEROES Act. It declines to respect Congress’s decision to give broad emergency powers to the” secretary of education, Kagan wrote. “It does not let the political system, with its mechanisms of accountability, operate as normal. It makes itself the decisionmaker on, of all things, federal student-loan policy. And then, perchance, it wonders why it has only compounded the ‘sharp debates” in the country?”

Today's decision immediately upends debt relief the Education Department approved last fall for 16 million borrowers and the pending applications for millions of additional borrowers. It also creates fresh political challenges for White House, which will face pressure from progressives to make good on Biden’s promised loan forgiveness despite the legal setback.

Link in bio for the full story.

Full story: https://politi.co/3CUl8k1

03/10/2023

Psst-- if you have the older federal student loans called FFEL loans, now is the time to consolidate them through www.studentaid.gov. New policies have taken away all the reasons not to consolidate, and added reasons to do so.