This Government Outage Is Putting Millions Of Student Loan Borrowers At Risk

By: Jillian Berman - Market Watch

Imagine you had to do your taxes every year by paper. Spare a thought for millions of borrowers who now have to do just that when it comes to their college loans.

Some of the nation’s most vulnerable student loan borrowers could have more trouble managing their debts thanks to the recent outage of a government tool that’s expected to last six months, the federal consumer watchdog and borrower advocates are warning. The warning comes as lawmakers are set to review the decision to take down the tool, known as the IRS data retrieval tool, as part of a hearing hosted Wednesday by the House of Representatives committee on oversight and government reform. Much of the attention and outrage surrounding the tool’s outage has focused on students applying for college, who use it streamline the process of applying for financial aid.