The Debt Collective 🟥

If you have federal student debt, you may have recently received an email from the Department of Education telling student debtors who are in the SAVE forbearance to switch plans. We want to encourage you to not rush this next step. Take a deep breath. You have until September.

Don't let anyone tell you student debt cancellation is regressive. If it were truly regressive, Republicans would be in favor of it.

Something like 1% to 3% of student debtors have an income over $175k — and for those who do, their debt-to-income ratio is so high they are ineligible to purchase a home, save for retirement, start a family or pay down other debts.

Simple response here: College is a public good that should be free—which it used to be! If you were too poor to pay for college upfront, your debt should be canceled. It stimulates the economy, creates jobs, narrows the racial wealth gap + makes good on promise of education.

The case for abolishing ICE is endless.

We need a pause on federal student debt payments while the system is incoherent and riddled with errors. No working person can get accurate information from the federal government or the servicers the government contracts with. It's a complete mess. We need a pause on payments.

"Sarah Smith, 35, said she made a payment to her servicer, MOHELA, but that it wasn't reflected on their website. She said when she called to confirm that the payment had been processed, a representative told her she wasn't a MOHELA client anymore."

"Marques applied for an income-based repayment plan that was projected to give him monthly payments of less than $100. He was shocked when his first bill was $633." The entire student debt repayment system is so outrageously disfunctional right now. businessinsider.com/student-loan-b…

The amount of disfunction and chaos happening in the student loan system right now is beyond comprehension. We need to pause all federal student debt payments and the entire repayment system to prevent additional errors, mistakes and illegalities from occurring.

We need College for All — but let's be clear. A degree is not a sure path to a job. And today, the strongest pathway to health care is by getting a job. Those rights shouldn't be tied together. That's why we need Medicare for All, College for All and a jobs guarantee.

Did you get a text from EdFinancial or another servicer today telling you to leave the SAVE plan? We want to know.

@joeylanez18 correct

@StrikeDebt This email should come from your actual student loan servicer and not the US Dept of Education, correct? Ex. My loans are through Nelnet and I have not received a Nelnet email about switching.

Some student debtors received a Dept of Education email notifying you of a 90-day clock to leave the SAVE student debt plan. If you received *more than one* email notification about this—particularly notifications on different dates—we want to know about it. Email or DM us.

@brad_polumbo Honestly, it probably is very weird for you. To see humans. But for the rest of us, this is normal.

This is extremely weird to me.

@hershygeee the 90 day clock begins the day you are notified. That notification may have come for you on July 1st or July 2nd. It might not have come yet at all.

@StrikeDebt I’ve only received one but can you help me during this confusing time? Does the 90 day window to change plans start in September or do we have until September to change plans? It’s all very confusing and misleading

We need College for All. College should be free.

Our nation's classrooms are being pinched by Wall Street. Wealthy executives earn tens of millions of dollars in interest fees alone as schools must borrow to make ends meet. We write about how the Chicago Teachers' Union is putting up a real fight. truthout.org/articles/emerg…

@GameshBill not even the interest

@StrikeDebt Not even the interest?

You are not a loan.