The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) Private Education Loan Ombudsman issued today the 2019 Annual Report showing that from September 1, 2017 through August 31, 2019 the Bureau handled approximately 20,600 complaints related to private or federal student loans. Of these, there were approximately 6,700 private student loan complaints and 13,900 federal student loan complaints. The report also provides policymakers with a series of recommendations.
For the year ending August 31, 2018, the Bureau handled approximately 3,800 private student loan complaints, a decrease of approximately 50 percent compared to that of the previous year (2017). For the year ending August 31, 2019, the Bureau handled approximately 2,900 private student loan complaints, a decrease of approximately 25 percent compared to that of the previous year (2018).
For the year ending August 31, 2018, the Bureau handled approximately 7,200 federal student loan complaints, a decrease of approximately 44 percent compared to that of the previous year (2017). For the year ending August 31, 2019, the Bureau handled approximately 6,600 federal student loan complaints, a decrease of approximately 8 percent compared to that of the previous year (2018).
During the reporting period the Bureau also handled an additional 4,600 debt collection complaints related to private or federal student loans.
The 2019 Annual Report may be found here: https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_annual-report_private-education-loan-ombudsman_2019.pdf .