CFPB Releases Draft Payback Playbook, Aims to Aid Student Borrowers

CFPB Student Lending

On April 28, the CFPB released a draft set of student loan disclosures, the Payback Playbook. Outlining repayment options for student loan borrowers, the Payback Playbook is intended to help borrowers effectively manage their monthly payments and avoid default. The Payback Playbook will be available on borrower’s monthly bills, in regular email communications from student loan servicers, or when borrowers log into their accounts. The Payback Playbook for most borrowers would summarize three personalized repayment options, while borrowers who are at risk of default or have missed a payment will receive a “single option with personalized instructions written in plain language describing how to lower their monthly payment.” The CFPB held a press call during which Director Cordray addressed the key objectives of the Payback Playbook, including: (i) aid federal student loan borrowers by personalizing income-driven repayment plans and providing a chart of action to ensure that consumers understand their right to an affordable payment plan; (ii) address the “growing disconnect between borrowers searching for affordable loan payments and [the] nation’s student loan default problem”; and (iii) address consumers’, student loan servicers’, consumer advocates’, and borrowers’ “most urgent problems.”