A Student Lender’s Broken Promise
上一篇 /
下一篇 2010-04-28 18:04:16 / 天气: 晴朗
/ 心情: 高兴
A Student Lender’s Broken PromiseA Student Lender’s Broken PromiseIf you’ve ever taken out a student loan, you’re probably #xfamiliar with theGiant OTRperks that lenders offer for making payments on time, like an interest rate reduction.NorthStar Education Finance, a nonprofit lender based in St. Paul, Minn., attempted to renege on that promise, though a judge recently approved a final class-action settlement that will require the organization to pay borrowers $9.75 million for failing to pay the repayment bonus, as reported in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.The organization stopped paying its customers a 0.75 percentage point interest-rate reduction in February 2008, citing the credit crunch, the Tribune reported. On its Web site, Northstar says it continues to hold more than $6 billion in student loans for borrowers across the country, but the “capital markets crisis has sharply curtailed our ability to originate loans in 2008 and continues to impact our lending abilities.”According to the Tribune:The settlement applies to borrowers and co-signers who had a loan inGiant OTRrepayment when the bonus was suspended on Feb. 18, 2008, and are no more than two months late on their loan payment. The settlement amount owed to borrowers will be placed in a trust and credited to student loan accounts over a five-year period. Attorneys will be paid up to $4.5 million on top of the $9.75 million settlement.While the exact amount individual borrowers will get from the settlement depends on individual loan amounts, the payments won’t be large. There are about 120,000 borrowers eligible for the class-action lawsuit, amounting to an average of $81 per person. Borrowers may see a larger amount depending on Northstar’s profitability, but that’s a big “if.”Adam Levitt, a partner in the Chicago office of Wolf,Energy saving lamps, Haldenstein, Adler, Freeman and Herz in Chicago and the plaintiff’s co-lead counsel in the case, said that the attorneys are guaranteed a $2 million payment. If Northstar’s financial condition improves and the class receives benefits #xin excess of $26 million, theGiant OTRattorneys would receive the another $2.5 million.相关的主题文章：
导入论坛
引用链接
收藏
分享给好友
推荐到圈子
管理
举报
TAG:
energy
saving
