Firms Popping Up For Student Loan Help
Student loan debt is now up to about $1.2 trillion in outstanding debt in the United States. The 4 million people left with college debt are still looking for solutions and continue to be discouraged with a lack of available solutions or alternatives. Many have turned to the debt resolution industry since discharging student loans in bankruptcy is very difficult to do. Student loan debt resolution companies are aggressively advertising to capture the attention of everyone carrying student loan debt. Although student loan debt resolution may look promising, there are many risks in working with these companies.
Student loan debt resolution firms are under very little regulation as of today, but this will change very soon. We have seen in the past years how debt resolution outside of the legitimate legal solutions like filing for bankruptcy have gone through extreme changes in regulation that could completely paralyze companies that are taking advantage of your debt situation. Debt settlement firms, loan modification companies, debt consolidation firms have all been heavily regulated in the past few years and the result is a filtering of business operations which unraveled many fraudulent operations that were taking advantage of people desperate to find debt solutions. The student loan debt industry has not yet gone through any major regulatory impact, but it may be coming soon.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was created in 2010 as a response to the mortgage crisis in 2007 to 2008. The CFPB is an independent government agency headed by Richard Cordray. Mr. Cordray has explicitly stated that the main focus of the CFPB today are mortgages, credit cards and student loans. Having student loans on their radar could mean massive reform in the student loan debt resolution lines of business.
So what does this all mean for you if you have student loan debt or if you are considering taking on student loans?
If you already have student loan debt and are having difficulty in paying all of your bills, consider keeping your student loan debt as a priority and hold off on paying a service to help you resolve the debt until you have done as much research as you can. Give the CFPB more time to regulate the industry so that you will be more protected from an fraudulent services out there. Use legal rights like filing for bankruptcy to get rid of all of your other debt so that you can focus on your most valuable assets like your home mortgage and your education and student loan debt. If you are prioritizing your debts to keep current, make student loans one of the highest priorities. As of now, it is very difficult to discharge student loan debt in bankruptcy, but you can get rid of most of your other consumer debts in bankruptcy to focus on paying off student loans. After all, student loan debt may be the lowest interest rate you have on your debt. You are getting the most for you money from student loans. Make it a priority to maintain it.
Bankruptcy Law Professionals is a bankruptcy law firm in Southern California with offices in Santa Ana and Riverside. Bankruptcy Law Professionals offers free consultations with our attorneys. Contact us at 855 257-7671 to schedule an appointment.
