Biden’s student loan forgiveness plans and challenges.

Borrowers Beware

COLUMBUS, Miss. ( WCBI) – As the Biden Administration rolls out a trillion dollar student loan forgiveness plan, there are many questions that remain.

There are also new challenges for those the plan is supposed to help

The White House anticipates that nearly 400,000 Mississippians could receive debt relief through the plan.

I spoke with the Financial Aid Director Nicole Patrick at Mississippi University for Women to shed light on what she knows so far.

According to the Federal Student Aid website, individual borrowers who make less than $125,000 yearly can have up to $10,000 of their federal student loan debt forgiven.

For those Federal student loan borrowers here’s what’s next.

“There will be an application process that should open up sometime during the month of October. We do not have a date yet of when that will actually open, and it will be through the department of education website, and students will have until December of 2023 to submit the application,” Patrick said.

While borrowers are gearing up for Biden’s Student Loan Forgiveness application, John O’Hara with the Mississippi Better Business Bureau says that this relief program opens a new window for scammers to separate more people from their money.

“The first red flag when it comes to a scam when it comes to this is someone contacting you, getting a text message, “get your loan forgiven or your eligible for extra. What we’ve been hearing is “your eligible to get extra 20,000 dollars in forgiveness click on this link,” O’Hara said.

O’Hara says scammers send web links through text requesting information to steal your identity.

“The government is not going to contact you. It’s not going to call you, text you, email you, and say hey” are you ready to get your loan forgiven? You are going to have to go to them and apply for this,” O’Hara said.

The BBB wants borrowers to remember student loan information will only come by mail or email. Follow the official student aid website and never send money upfront.