Senator Murray Statement on Department of Education Retreating from Crackdown on Student Debt Collectors

(Washington, D.C.) – Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released the statement below following reports that the U.S. Department of Education has decided to reconsider a February 2015 decision to end contracts of four companies that collect student loans on behalf of the federal government, and could potentially award new business to the collectors. The companies’ contracts were scheduled to wind down after the Department discovered they were violating consumer protection laws.

“I am very concerned that this looks like just one more example of President Trump and Secretary DeVos putting big corporations, Wall Street investors, and special interest groups ahead of protecting students and borrowers. As President Trump and Secretary DeVos consider whether they should allow taxpayer funding to go to shady debt collectors that violated consumer protection laws and have a record of defrauding students, I have some advice for them: don’t do it. I am not going to allow them to slip this change through in the shadows, and I am going to keep fighting to make sure this Department of Education truly puts students first.”

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