Student loans

Seth Frotman oversaw the $1.5 trillion student loan market for the Trump administration. Now he's starting his own watchdog group to do what he says the government won't, and he's poaching former colleagues to do it.

The Massachusetts senator said the government’s findings bolster allegations that the servicer steered borrowers into expensive student loan forbearance plans.

The Federal Trade Commission, which issued a formal complaint against SoFi, is urging other lenders to review their advertisements for false claims about the benefits of refinancing.

The senior Democratic lawmaker said the CFPB chief and the Trump administration "are doing everything in their power to roll back consumer protections."

A new financial technology company called Scratch is planning to use a new web-based platform along with an alternative pricing model to compete with companies that service mortgages and other consumer loans.

The report from an advocacy group that focuses on college affordability says that schools need to do a better job of educating students about their eligibility for federal loans, which typically carry lower interest rates than loans from banks and other private-sector lenders.

Four lenders, led by Sallie Mae, have long dominated the market for private student loans. But they could soon face new competition from Navient and Nelnet.

Seth Frotman, whose student lending unit had been gutted in May, said the bureau's current leadership "has abandoned its duty to fairly and robustly enforce the law.”

Cheap funding and marketing muscle could give it an advantage over existing lenders, but this corner of the market may not be big enough to move the needle for the bank.

It bothered Jeannie Tarkenton, founder of Funding University, that too many kids from lower-income families didn't graduate because they lacked just a few thousand dollars and couldn't get a loan.