The Senate passed a bill a few weeks ago, the Joint Consolidation Loan Separation Act, to unravel the Joint Spousal Consolidation Loan program which has trapped many older borrowers who were encouraged to consolidate their loans with their spouses upon graduation. While that may have sounded like a good idea back in the 1990s to an uninformed borrower, folks were trapped in the program when it was discontinued in 2006, and therefore were not eligible for the lowest income driven plans, nor even public service because they did not have the correct loan types and could not change them through a consolidation.
Twenty years later, borrowers are still shackled with these spousal consolidation loans even in cases of divorce, or the death of one spouse. If passed, the Act would allow the loans to be severed, and would enable borrowers to access loan relief programs that they were previously ineligible for, such as PSLF, Income-Driven Plans, etc.
Waiting…
If you have a joint spousal loan, this may finally be the help you need. Stay tuned.