Fight Over Debt Collection Records
By Michael Stratford, Inside Higher Ed, Mar. 31, 2016
The American Civil Liberties Union and National Consumer Law Center on Tuesday asked a federal court to force the U.S. Department of Education to turn over various documents that show how the government collects student loan debt from defaulted borrowers.
The groups filed a lawsuit against the Education Department, accusing it of violating the Freedom of Information Act by failing to release information about the department’s debt collection policies and its oversight of the private companies hired to collect student loans.
Among the questions that the groups are seeking to answer, they said, is whether the Education Department’s debt collection practices disproportionately affect borrowers of color, who are more likely to have student loan debt in the first place.
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