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Question: My daughter is inundated with texts about her student loans, saying they need her ID and other information to process her application right now or she will lose out on the forgiveness. I’m pretty sure these are all scams, right? The application isn’t even open yet. I’m sure she’s not the only one getting these.
Answer: So many scammers are trying to rip off people who are waiting for the Biden administration’s one-time federal student loan relief program to open that the U.S. Department of Education has issued precautions for borrowers in the meantime. Many thousands of Hawaii residents should be eligible for debt relief as announced by the White House, but lawsuits seeking to block the program have yet to be decided. Scammers are preying on the uncertainty, contacting people by text, phone and email — your daughter is not alone.
Here are the Education Department’s tips:
>> “Don’t pay anyone who contacts you with promises of debt relief or loan forgiveness. You will not need to pay anyone to obtain debt relief. The application will be free and easy to use.”
>> “Don’t reveal your FSA ID or account information or password to anyone who contacts you. The Department of Education and your federal student loan servicer will never call or email you asking for this information.” FSA stands for Federal Student Aid, an office within the Education Department.
>> “Don’t ever give personal or financial information to an unfamiliar caller. When in doubt, hang up and call your student loan servicer directly. You can find your federal student loan servicer’s contact information at Studentaid.gov/manage-loans/repayment/servicers.”
>> “Don’t refinance your federal student loans unless you know the risks. If you refinance federal student loans eligible for debt relief into a private loan, you will lose out on important benefits like one-time debt relief and flexible payment plans for federal loans.”
>> “Do create an FSA ID at StudentAid.gov. You will not need it for the debt relief application but having an FSA ID can allow you to easily access accurate information on your loan and make sure FSA can contact you directly, helping you equip yourself against scammers trying to contact you. Log in to your current account on StudentAid.gov and keep your contact information up to date.” If you need help creating an FSA ID or accessing an existing account, go to the Help Center on StudentAid.gov for answers to these and other common questions.
>> “Do make sure your loan servicer has your most current contact information. If you don’t know who your servicer is, you can log in to StudentAid.gov and see your servicer(s) in your account.”
>> “Do sign up at ed.gov/subscriptions to be notified when the Student Loan Debt Relief application becomes available.” Click on the first box, which says “NEW!! Federal Student Loan Borrower Updates.”
>> Do report scammers to the Federal Trade Commission at reportfraud.ftc.gov.
It’s important that borrowers update their contact information because FSA or the Education Department will be contacting borrowers once the application opens. The White House initially said the application would open in early October, but now the Education Department says it will be available later this month. For more information, go to StudentAid.gov and click on the links for “one-time student loan debt relief.”
Q: Did they get the paper they need to cut more checks for the tax rebates?
A: No, additional blank check stock had not arrived as of Wednesday morning. “When it arrives, the administration will update the public, particularly if there is an impact to the refund schedule,” said Cindy McMillan, spokesperson for Gov. David Ige. As of Monday, only 6,224 paper checks had been issued for Act 115 refunds, according to the state Department of Taxation, out of about 300,000 to be distributed by that method. When the state began issuing Act 115 rebates last month, it said a shortage of check stock meant residents getting the rebate by mail would wait much longer than those receiving it by electronic direct deposit. Mail recipients could not change to direct deposit. As of Monday, 281,800 electronic direct deposits had been issued.
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-500, Honolulu, HI 96813; call 808-529-4773; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
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