Under the CARES Act, borrowers with federally held student loans will automatically receive a six-month forbearance retroactive to March 13 for eligible loans. No payments will be due and no interest will accrue during this period, which lasts until September 30.
But with this debt relief comes scammers hoping to prey on students.
State Division of Consumer Affairs spokesperson Lara Sutherlin reports the loans covered under the CARES Act will automatically be placed under this protection, and paying for it isn't part of the deal... "
So if a scammer calls you and wants you to get into the program(CARES) faster or for a fee, it's a scam. We're already seeing emails, texts and phishing scams related to this..."
She says not all loans are covered by the CARES Act, so she recommended students check with the people making the loans to see what if their loan is covered. She says be on alert for too good to be true offers such as offers to forgive student loan debt in its entirety. Often student loan scams are robocalls or text messages asking students to call them back in order to get more information on how these new measures will impact their future payment obligations. She says if this happens, students shouldn’t answer or return these requests.
More information is at the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection website.
