The Biden administration’s student debt forgiveness applications are not yet publicly available, but already Americans are receiving emails and phone calls promising federal student loan forgiveness.
Those offers are scams, the Federal Trade Commission warns.
“We hope that consumers will go to the Department of Education. If you’re looking for information about your student loans, (that’s where) to go,” said Michelle Grajales, an attorney with the FTC. “Studentaid.gov is the legitimate website, so a lot of our outreach focuses on trying to get people to be aware.”
The FTC and other organizations have for weeks been spreading the word about potential student debt relief scams. In August, Biden announced the Student Debt Relief Plan, a projected $400 billion plan that will benefit an estimated 40 million Americans saddled with federal student loans.
Through the program, individual borrowers earning less than $125,000 per year, or married borrowers with an annual income less than $250,000, are eligible to receive debt relief up to $20,000. Pell Grant recipients may also receive up to $20,000 student debt relief.
Since the program was announced in late summer, the White House has scaled back the program to exclude private student loans, but released few additional details. The Biden…
