Mass. AG Maura Healey announces new Student Loan Ombudsman to help ‘struggling borrowers’ – Mass Live
Student loan borrowers in Massachusetts will have a new resource to handle complaints or problems as they struggle to get out of debt, Attorney General Maura Healey announced on Thursday.
Healey has appointed Arwen Thoman, deputy director of her office’s Insurance and Financial Services Division, to the newly established role of Student Loan Ombudsman as part of the “Student Loan Borrower Bill of Rights” sponsored by state Sen. Eric Lesser and state Rep. Natalie Higgins.
Thoman and deputy ombudsman Erica Harmon will be tasked with “resolving student complaints, educating borrowers, monitoring student loan servicers and submitting annual reports on borrower complaints and trends,” Healey’s office said in a news release. Both Thoman and Harmon have “extensive experience” helping student loan borrowers through their management of the Student Loan Assistance Unit created in 2015, Healey said. The unit assists borrowers find repayment options, prevent the garnishments of wages and taxes, and to blunt debt relief scams.
“My office is on the frontlines of this $1.7 trillion crisis, fighting on behalf of student borrowers in Massachusetts, and taking on a student loan system that is fundamentally broken and devastating to countless Americans,” Healey said in a statement. “The establishment of this ombudsman position will be critical in our ongoing work to help students and families invest in their future and get the relief they deserve.”