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- Borrowers attending a school listed in the Sweet v. Cardona lawsuit must apply for student loan forgiveness by November 3, 2022.
- A student loan expert says the key to getting your application approved is to use the exact language in your school’s specific lawsuit.
- While your application is being processed, your student loans will go into forbearance.
In August, a federal judge gave preliminary approval to the Sweet v. Cardona class-action lawsuit, setting the stage for more than 200,000 borrowers to wipe out roughly $6 billion in student loan debt. If you go to one of the 150 schools listed in the class action, you may be eligible under theBorrower’s Repayment Defense. “
To forgive your loan, you must complete a Borrower Defense Application by November 3, 2022.
“It’s a daunting process,” says AKA’s Sonia Lewis student loan doctor, he helped more than 20,000 people process their federal student loans. “We do have a On-demand class Help people through the process, but anyone can do it themselves,” she added.
If you filed a borrower defense application before June 22, 2022, you were already part of the class. However, if you attend one of the designated schools and have not applied for a borrower defense, there is still time.
Your loan will be put on hold while you wait for a decision
Those who submit borrower defense applications between now and November 3 will receive a decision from the Department of Education within three years. “Once the application is received and processed,” Lewis said, “the borrower will be placed on administrative hold while the government reviews the application.”
While your loan is in forbearance, interest will accrue and may be capitalized at the end of the forbearance period (this means your interest will be added to your principal balance and any new interest will be on that larger balance increase). Paying only interest during the forbearance period will help you avoid this.
Lewis encouraged people to apply for other forgiveness programs and “get ready for the January 2023 repayment”. Borrowers typically receive letters saying their borrower defense application has been received, she said. After that, administrative forbearance kicks in and you don’t have to pay anything until they make a decision. “The borrower should continue to repay the loan while waiting for a response to the application.”
It’s a simple three-step process that Lewis recommends to help you approve your borrower defense application faster.
1. Begin filling out the borrower defense application on studentaid.gov
First, you need to start filling out the Borrower Defense Application, which can be found at Student Aid Website. You will need the following information:
- your name, address, date of birth, social security number and other contact information
- The name and address of the school you attended
- Any relevant documents such as:
- Transcript
- Admission Agreement
- Promotional materials for your school
- Communication with school officials or staff
- Student Handbook
- Course Catalog
- legal documents etc.
Lewis said where most people get lost is when the form asks why you should get a refund in the first place.
2. Google'[your school name] with the Ministry of Education’
“This part is like passing an exam,” Lewis said. ‘Enter google search'[your school name] compared to the Ministry of Education. ‘” From there, the Department of Education’s official bulletin will begin by listing all the reasons the school is being sued.
For example, for ITT Tech, Ministry of Education website Said, “ITT made widespread and widespread misrepresentations about students’ ability to earn work or transfer credit and lied about program accreditation for ITT’s Associate of Nursing.”
3. Copy the exact language listed in the lawsuit into your application (if applicable)
Once you’ve Googled the details of the lawsuit, Lewis said you’ll need to copy and paste the exact wording into the app. “Nine times out of 10, this applies to most students graduating from these schools because it’s a common thing.”
Part 4 of the Borrower Defense Application has several places to paste this information. Section 4 has 10 sections:
- Admissions Options: If the school you go to makes false claims about the number of people they admit or the difficulty of getting into the school, just to name a few
- Statements to Third Parties: Relevant if the school you go to misrepresents or misrepresents its ranking on any of the “best schools” lists
- Urgency to sign up: If your school tells you that you have limited time to register for classes
- Educational Services: If your school misrepresents or misreports your teaching credentials or your institution’s accreditation status
- Employment prospects: If your school makes false statements or false claims about their employment rates
- Project cost and loan nature: If your school fails to explain the total cost of the program and the type of loan you have to pay for your tuition
- Transfer credits: If your school provides false information about your ability to transfer credits between other schools
- Employment Services: If your school fails to provide you with promised career services
- judge (The last two sections only apply to borrowers who received a direct loan between July 1, 2017 and July 1, 2020)
- breach of contract
In each section, there are also text boxes where you can explain your situation. For the ITT Tech example, you could write in the text boxes under Educational Services “ITT misrepresented program certification for the ITT Associate of Nursing” and “ITT engaged in widespread and widespread misrepresentation or Transfer Credit” in the box under the Career Services and Transfer Credit sections.
“You’re going to take that information and retype it because that’s probably exactly what happened to you,” Lewis said, adding that the exact language might make it easier for the person working on the app to process your response.
If you’re skeptical about starting an application, Lewis said, “These schools flout illegality. They refund money to many of these schools, like checking in the mail if you attend.”
