On April 8, the Biden administration announced its plans to introduce new student debt relief for 30 million student borrowers. Although the president outlined his plans for the new program, it hasn’t been finalized or implemented yet.
That's why it was strange when one VERIFY journalist received an email that claimed she qualified for forgiveness “under the new 2024 guidelines.”
“Hello this is Mason Woods on behalf of the Student-Loan Debt Department. We tried to contact you at your home and did not hear back. Your StudentLoans have been marked as eligible for forgiveness under the new 2024 guidelines. Your case number is #15219, and your file will remain open in my system for only one more day. If you could please give your dedicated eligibility line a call at: (844-681-3875) Thank you so much and we hope to hear from you soon, Mason Woods,” the email read.
She’s not alone. Someone posted to Reddit a screenshot of a similar email just two months ago.
THE QUESTION
Is the Student-Loan Debt Department email a legitimate offer for student debt relief?
THE SOURCES
- U.S. Department of Education
- The White House
- Federal Student Aid, an office of the Department of Education
- Letter written to U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona by Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) on Oct. 10, 2023
- VERIFY analysis of the email
THE ANSWER
No, the Student-Loan Debt Department email is not a legitimate offer for student debt relief. It’s a scam.
WHAT WE FOUND
The email sent “on behalf of the Student-Loan Debt Department” contains a few major red flags VERIFY spotted that identify it as a scam. There are also a couple of issues outside of the email itself.
The first of those issues is that the “2024 guidelines” have not yet been implemented or even finalized. The White House press release announcing the student debt relief plan outlines what will happen “if the plan is implemented as proposed.”
People wouldn’t be marked as eligible for forgiveness under guidelines that aren’t finalized or implemented yet. Even if they were, it wouldn’t make sense for them to have just a day to claim it when the Department of Education says the plan is months away from being finalized.
Another issue is that a second VERIFY journalist, one who doesn’t have any student loans at all, received a nearly identical email that included a case number. The Department of Education keeps records of who actually has loans and who doesn’t, and would have no reason to offer student loan forgiveness to someone without student loans, or have a case number attached to that person.
But even without that information above, there are ways we can tell the email is a scam. Here’s how:
1. The Student-Loan Debt Department isn’t real
A Google search for “Student-Loan Debt Department” quickly revealed something is up. The search results included pages for Federal Student Aid, the U.S. Department of Education and the California Student Aid Commission, but nothing for anything called the Student-Loan Debt Department.
The Education Department does not list a Student-Loan Debt Department on its website. The office within the department that’s responsible for managing student loans, including student loan forgiveness, is Federal Student Aid.
The direct references to the Student-Loan Debt Department that we could find accused it of being a scam.
“While student loan borrowers are able to interact at no cost with the loan system, many borrowers don’t know this,” wrote Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) in an Oct. 10, 2023 letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “These scammers, seizing on this ignorance, often claim to work on behalf of the Department or the ‘Student Loan Debt Department’ and charge a high fee to ‘help’ borrowers obtain loan forgiveness or pay down their loans.”
2. The email didn’t come from an official address
The two emails sent to VERIFY journalists came from masonwoodsdvkj@hotmail.com and charlesagu1ypa@hotmail.com. These email addresses are not associated with the U.S. Department of Education or one of its student loan servicers.
According to Federal Student Aid, there are only three email addresses from which the U.S. Department of Education will send emails about student debt relief. They are:
3. Unusual mailing address
Both emails included the same mailing address: PO Box 249 #57223, Albuquerque, NM 87103.
The U.S. Department of Education has no offices in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Education Department’s regional office servicing New Mexico is located in Dallas, Texas.
Additionally, the contact line says “we are a marketing firm.” A marketing firm would not be responsible for managing student debt relief.
4. Typos
Federal Student Aid says any unusual capitalization, improper grammar or incomplete sentences indicate a potential scam in action.
The email includes two different versions of “student loans,” both of which are wrong.
The first is in the name “Student-Loan Debt Department.” The phrase “student loans” isn’t supposed to be hyphenated. The second turns the phrase into one word, which is also incorrect: StudentLoans.
5. Urgent language
Federal Student Aid also warns that communications with aggressive language urging you to act immediately are often scams.
“Though the U.S. Department of Education may reach out to highlight temporary programs, aggressive advertising language like the above will not come from us or our partners,” Federal Student Aid says.
The Student-Loan Debt Department email uses this urgent language by telling its recipient that their file will remain open in their system “for only one more day.” This urgent claim was made in both emails received by VERIFY journalists.
You will never have to pay anyone to get your student loans forgiven. Federal Student Aid says you can communicate and work with the Education Department or your loan servicer free of charge to find a forgiveness plan that works for you.
The VERIFY team works to separate fact from fiction so that you can understand what is true and false. Please consider subscribing to our daily newsletter, text alerts and our YouTube channel. You can also follow us on Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. Learn More »
