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Debt Forgiveness for Disabled Veterans
April 17, 2018
USVCP Staff
Yesterday, April 16, 2018, President Trump and his administration proclaimed it is now a much easier for permanently disabled military veterans to have their federal student debt cleaned away.
It is widely known by many people who work with veterans that veterans with severe disabilities are eligible to have the government discharge their federal student loans, but, like benefits for veterans through the department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the benefit has not been publicized. In coordination with the VA, the U.S. Department of Education will begin identifying eligible disabled veterans who will receive an application for student loan forgiveness.
To initiate and complete the loan forgiveness process, a disabled veteran must sign and return the application.
Without the new law, many veterans were at great risk of having the social security benefits garnished. However, in 2016, the Education Department partnered with the Social Security Administration set out to identify borrowers receiving disability payments with the designation of “Medical Improvement Not Expected,” which may be an indication they are possible candidates to have their student loans completely discharged. Interestingly enough, the departments discovered 387,000 matches, of whom 179,000 were in default on their student loans. The new law puts their risk of garnishment to almost zero.
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