According to a recent article in the New York Daily News, the Department of Education has been taking money from people’s disability checks to pay back old student loan debt. The reason that this is an issue, other than the fact that money that disabled people rely on to make ends meet is being taken from them, is that in many cases, the people are unaware that their old student loan debt could be forgiven through a disability-based discharge.
The Daily News article features a report on a lawsuit that seven disability beneficiaries filed against that federal government. The lawsuit concerns the Department of Education’s debt collection practices, specifically, when it comes to collecting from disabled borrowers.
In the suit, the people claim that the Department of Education is quick to use the Social Security Disability benefit offset, which allows them to garnish money from disability paychecks to pay back student loans in default. However, according to the lawsuit, the Department of Education does not inform people with disabilities about what they can do to avoid having money taken from their disability checks, because of the disability benefit offset.
The plaintiffs allege that within the mountain of paperwork the Department of Education sent them about the Social Security Disability benefit offset, there was only a single mention about how to apply for a disability-based discharge. A disability-based discharge enables disability recipients with defaulted student loans to have their student loan debt forgiven, which would allow them to avoid having money taken from their disability checks to pay back old student loan debt.
Tulsa Disability Lawyers Dedicated to Protecting the Rights of People with Disabilities
As Tulsa Social Security Disability attorney Charles Holladay explains in this video, our lawyers and staff work closely with Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) applicants to help them get the benefits they need.
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