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Current college attendees are carrying between $22,000 and $25,000 in student-loan debt, according to a report issued Tuesday by Citizens Financial Group.
October 7 -
The moves by two of the industrys biggest players come as regulators are pressuring lenders to offer more relief to distressed borrowers.
November 20 -
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a report Tuesday highlighting illegal servicing practices in the $1.2 trillion student lending market, including charging illegal late fees, allocating payments to maximize late fees and misrepresenting minimum payments.
October 28 -
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's report on private student loans should prompt lenders, regulators and universities to take action to help troubled borrowers and prevent future defaults.
October 27
Citizens Financial Group in Providence, R.I., has expanded its student loan-refinancing program to include more options for shorter loan terms.
The $131 billion-asset company will give consumers the option to repay student loans in either five or 10 years. Previously, borrowers could choose between only a 15-year or a 20-year term.
"Customer feedback revealed that this is an industry that doesn't offer the flexibility that customers deserve," Brendan Coughlin, president of education finance for Citizens Financial, said in a phone interview.
"This product offering will be a decent part of our originations going forward," Coughlin said. It will be targeted to consumers who want to become debt-free faster, or those who want to refinance at a lower rate, he said.
"There has been so much pent-up demand for this that it's just not about recent graduates, but anyone who has student debt," Coughlin said.
Citizens started offering education loans in January, limitings its offerings to the refinancing of private student loans. The company
Borrowers must have a minimum of $10,000 in federal student loans to qualify for Citizens' refinance program. The product offers fixed rates as low as 4.74%, and variable rates as low as 2.3%, according to the
