CFPB Releases Annual Report on Private Student Loans

October 16, 2013

Prepared by:  Harrison Wadsworth  (hwadsworth@wpllc.net)

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau this week released its second annual report on complaints about private student loans.  The report, written by Student Loan Ombudsman Rohit Chopra and other CFPB staff, is required by the Dodd-Frank Act, the federal law that created the CFPB in 2011.

The report analyses complaints submitted by consumers from October 1, 2012, through September 30, 2013. During this period the CFPB received approximately 3,800 private student loan complaints. Eighty-seven percent of all complaints were directed at eight companies, which the report says, “is not surprising, given that the private student lending and servicing markets are highly concentrated.”

The report has a disclaimer: “Readers should note that the observations discussed in this report are not based on a representative sample and should not be used to draw conclusions as to the prevalence of these issues in the marketplace.”

The full report can be found here: http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201310_cfpb_student-loan-ombudsman-annual-report.pdf