Pierce Bainbridge Files a Class Action Complaint Against FedLoan Servicing and Nelnet For Their Mismanagement of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program

NEW YORK, March 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hecht LLP has filed a class action complaint alleging that student loan servicers violated consumer protection and other laws in connection with the federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. If you believe errors or malfeasance by a loan servicer have prevented or delayed you from receiving Public Service Loan Forgiveness by the federal government, you are encouraged to contact Pierce Bainbridge for additional information about your legal rights and options at https://piercebainbridge.com/loan-forgiveness/.

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness ("PSLF") program, administered by the U.S. Department of Education, was created by the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 to provide public- and nonprofit-sector employees with an opportunity to eliminate their student loan burden.  The PSLF program requires borrowers to make 120 qualifying monthly payments under a qualifying repayment plan while working full-time for a qualifying employer.  Consequently, student borrowers first became eligible for forgiveness under the PSLF program in 2017.  However, as has been widely reported in the press, approximately 99% of student borrowers who have applied for PSLF have been rejected to date.¹

The servicing of student loans in the PSLF program is handled by FedLoan Servicing, which is a trade name of the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency ("PHEAA").  Today's complaint is against PHEAA and Nelnet Servicing, Inc.

Although today's complaint is focused on servicers' alleged failure to credit qualifying payments toward PSLF and maintain relevant paperwork, a wide range of loan servicer practices causes the high PSLF denial rate, including:

• Failure to consolidate private loans for borrowers requesting PSLF into federal Direct Loans
• Miscalculation of a borrower's correct monthly payment in an Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plan
• Delays in placing students into an IDR plan, or in calculating IDR payments, resulting in unnecessary interest-capitalization events
• Placement of borrowers who request PSLF into ineligible payment plans
• Placement of borrowers who request PSLF into unnecessary loan forbearance
• Loss of required paperwork, such as employment certification forms, or failure to appropriately submit it to the federal government

If you believe errors or malfeasance by any of the above loan servicers have prevented or delayed you from receiving Public Service Loan Forgiveness by the federal government, please contact Pierce Bainbridge attorney Jonathan A. Sorkowitz through https://piercebainbridge.com/loan-forgiveness/ or at [email protected] for additional information about your legal rights and options.

About Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hecht LLP

The attorneys of Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hecht LLP—with a home office in Los Angeles and offices in New York, Washington, D.C., and Boston—have collectively recovered more than $3 billion for victims of corporate misbehavior and fraud, and we stand ready to help make whole those impacted by loan servicers' failings.  Our tireless attorneys have taken major corporations to trial around the country to press our clients' rights.

If you wish to discuss your rights with our attorneys, please visit our website dedicated to helping PSLF applicants: https://piercebainbridge.com/loan-forgiveness/

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(212) 484-9866

¹ Source:  https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-18-547

SOURCE Pierce Bainbridge Beck Price & Hecht LLP

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