Tag: federal student loans

A Bottomless Pinocchio for Biden — and other recent gaffes

Ms. Cat2 Comments

President Biden is a self-described “gaffe machine.” That’s no excuse, of course, for a president making false or misleading statements. Readers have asked for fact checks of a variety of recent Biden statements, but none of them seemed big enough for a stand-alone fact check. So here’s a roundup of some of the president’s recent errors of fact, made as he has barnstormed the country boosting Democrats and raising contributions in advance of the midterm elections. We generally do not award Pinocchios for roundups like this — but for reasons that will become clear, we need to make an exception for the first one.

A Bottomless Pinocchio for Biden — and other recent gaffes (archived)

Biden administration scales back student debt relief for millions amid legal concerns

Ms. Cat

Biden administration scales back student debt relief for millions amid legal concerns

But there are significant business interests that depend on the federally guaranteed loan program — a wide range of private lenders, banks, guaranty agencies, loan servicers and investors. That industry is widely seen, both inside and outside the administration, as presenting the greatest legal risk to the debt relief program.

Many of those companies face economic losses when they lose borrowers who convert their federally guaranteed loans into new loans that are made directly by the Education Department through a process known as consolidation.

Can’t afford to lose those campaign donations!

President Biden extends student loan payment freeze through May 1

Ms. Cat

President Biden extends student loan payment freeze through May 1

Whenever loan payments resume, many experts say the process will be quite messy, given so many back and forths with borrowers. Even a 2020 report from the Education Department noted the resumption of payments would be messy. Loan servicers and the federal government, the report says, will “face a heavy burden in ‘converting’ millions of borrowers to active repayment.” The transition could also be confusing to borrowers, with some “becoming delinquent, at least initially.”

Stimulus Bill Has This Hidden Student Loan Tax Benefit

Ms. Cat

Stimulus Bill Has This Hidden Student Loan Tax Benefit

The provision of the stimulus bill, if enacted, would change this, at least temporarily. It would exempt all student debt cancellation — whether complete or partial — from federal taxation. And the provision’s language is broad in that it appears to cover all types of student loans including Direct federal loans, federally guaranteed FFEL loans, and private student loans as well.

Perhaps most importantly, the window of coverage to January 1, 2026 means that it also, in theory, would cover any broad student debt cancellation enacted by President Biden or by Congress in the next four years, and would exempt any such cancellation of student debt from taxation. State taxing authorities, however, could still potentially consider student loan forgiveness as taxable.

Related:

17 Million Won’t Get Stimulus Checks—Expect The Same For Student Loan Cancellation

According to the Washington Post, this means that 17 million fewer Americans — including 12 million adults and 5 million children — will get a stimulus payment. As a result, individuals who earn between $80,000 and $100,000 as well as married or joint filers who earn between $160,000 and $200,000 will not get any stimulus check.