Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and 13 other Democratic Senators on Tuesday urged student loan companies to relax repayments for private student borrowers left out of the $2.2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package.
Sen. Elizabeth WarrenThe stimulus package allows the suspension of federal student loan repayments for six months, until the end of September. The Democratic Senators urged student loan companies to allow private borrowers to similarly pause payments without penalty. They also said the companies should stop involuntary loan collection efforts for a period of time like the Department of Education has.
“The outbreak of COVID-19 has resulted in an unprecedented and widespread public health and economic crisis, significantly upending life for every American,” they said in a letter to companies including Wells Fargo and SLM Corporation. “For private student loan borrowers, these economic disruptions will be uniquely devastating due to private student loan borrowers’ lack of critical protections, forgiveness programs and repayment options available to federal student loan borrowers.”
The Senators further said that millions of private student loan borrowers never fully recovered from the 2008 economic crisis, and they now face another financial disruption.
