Four borrowers and the American Bar Association have filed a suit in United States District Court in Washington against the department. The plaintiffs held jobs that they initially were told qualified them for debt forgiveness, only to later have that decision reversed — with no evident way to appeal, they say.
That lack of transparency has been a hallmark of the forgiveness program, said Natalia Abrams, the executive director of Student Debt Crisis, an advocacy group. The program’s rules are complex.
Rudert said he did not know. After filing a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, he received a reply from FedLoan saying that his application “had initially been approved in error.”. He has not been told what the error was, and has not found any way to appeal the decision.