The Department of Education’s student loan debt collection contract is under fire today in a feature story published Sunday by Bloomberg Businessweek.
Using the anecdotal personal stories of two consumers and two former collectors, the 2,500 word article basically throws the entire ED debt collection contract under the bus, insisting that the 22 private debt collection agencies on the contract use a “boiler room” approach to collecting while preventing debtors from entering low-cost repayment plans.
The reporter, John Hechinger, hit all the typical soft spots apparently required for any story about debt collectors: a disabled consumer abused by collectors, a discussion about complaints against the ARM industry, and the use of autodialers to contact consumers. It is worth noting that–like every other hackneyed story about debt collection writ large–Hechinger trots out the same tired FTC complaints statistics that make his piece unique and special (just like everybody else’s writing on the subject).
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