hey it’s probably a really good idea to download a copy of your Master Promissory Note since most of them stipulate that your loans are *specifically owed to the Department of Education* and if you intend to dispute the debt in the wake of the DoE dissolving that will be really good to have
log in and then go to My Documents and download a copy of it. i’m serious. if trump dissolves the DoE entirely it may make the debt uncollectable depending on exactly how they do it, and he’s too stupid to listen to lawyers that tell him when he’s breaking the law. worst case you have an extra PDF on your computer. best case your student loans go away because you signed a contract to pay DoE and no one else. go download a copy.
Love the spirit of this, but they will probably use a debt assignment to legally transfer the debt to a new entity.
Investopedia has an article about the practice here: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/debtassignment.asp
Always a good idea to have a copy of your note, though! And the proper transfer process is described in the FDCPA (an act of congress), so if the new debt owner fails to provide appropriate notice, you may have relief options there. (Potentially dependent on the CFPB continuing to function, which it….might not…)
~not legal advice, just work experience in finance~
I stated this elsewhere but the Higher Education Act has specific language about when debt is allowed to be sold – they can’t just sell it at any time for any reason, and all the terms of the Act would still apply to the loan since in most cases the MPN stipulates as much (since the actual terms of a promissory note can’t be altered without consent even if the payee changes). Specifically, they cannot sell the debt if it “result[s] in any cost to the Federal Government”. Reassigning the loans to another agency would incur a massive cost since that agency would have to hire new personnel and build new infrastructure, eliminating the possibility of a sale within the government, and a sale to a private third party would made debt validation very tricky for that party since FERPA would prevent disclosure of a borrower’s SSN, student ID number (ergo, the account number), and the itemization of the debt without written consent, meaning in that scenario the borrower could most likely* refuse this disclosure, dispute the debt, and win pretty easily.
*not a lawyer
the bottom line, if they attempt to reassign your loans anywhere… REQUEST DEBT VALIDATION BEFORE PAYING A CENT.
amhrancas 