Edfinancial Services
On March 30, 2022, the Bureau issued an order against Edfinancial Services, LLC. (Edfinancial). Edfinancial, headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, is a student loan servicer that services both FFELP loans, which are loans from private companies, and Direct Loans, which are loans directly from the Department of Education. The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program is a government program that forgives student-loan debt for certain borrowers who work in public service and make 120 qualifying loan payments. Ordinarily, FFELP loans must be consolidated into Direct Loans before any payments qualify towards the PSLF program; but in October 2021 the Department of Education provided a limited waiver allowing payments to FFELP loans to retroactively qualify so long as the borrower consolidated into Direct Loans by a certain date. The Bureau found that Edfinancial made various deceptive statements to FFELP borrowers, including in many instances telling borrowers that they were not eligible for the PSLF program even though borrowers could become eligible by consolidating their loans; that borrowers could not consolidate their loans; that borrowers’ past payments qualified when they did not qualify; and that qualifying jobs did not qualify for PSLF. The Bureau also found that, in numerous instances, when FFELP borrowers asked about forgiveness options available to them, Edfinancial’s representatives did not mention PSLF as an available option. The consent order requires Edfinancial to contact all its FFELP borrowers to inform them of the limited waiver so that eligible borrowers can take advantage of the waiver before it expires. The limited waiver is currently set to expire by October 31, 2022. The order also requires Edfinancial to pay a $1 million civil money penalty.
Related documents
Press release
CFPB Sanctions Edfinancial for Lying about Student Loan Cancellation
Read the full Statement of CFPB Director Rohit Chopra on this action