Background: Individuals with TPD [Total and Permanent Disability] are eligible to have their Federal [student] loan debt discharged. To assist ED [Education Department] in fulfilling its obligation to ensure borrowers with disabilities who have Federal student loans more efficiently and effectively apply for TPD discharge of their student loans, SSA [Social Security Administration] and ED entered into a computer-matching agreement. ED accepts SSA’s MINE [Medical Improvement Not Expected] designation as evidence of TPD and uses SSA match responses to identify and inform borrowers with TPD of their eligibility for student loan discharge. In 2016, SSA’s initial match under the agreement identified approximately 400,000 borrowers with TPD. SSA reported these matches to ED. Since that time, SSA and ED have conducted similar quarterly data matches.
Findings: SSA needs to improve its data-matching process to assist ED in administering the TPD discharge process for disability beneficiaries with student loan debt. We estimate data matches SSA completed during our review period did not identify 36,248 borrowers with MINE status. This occurred because SSA had incorrect coding in its Disability Control File or had converted the beneficiaries from disability to retirement benefits. As a result, SSA did not identify these beneficiaries to ED as eligible for loan discharge.
Let me explain why this is important. Many, many disabled people have outstanding federal student loans. Mostly it's loans they took out. Sometimes, they were a guarantor of a loan to a child. It's almost impossible to discharge these loans in bankruptcy. The lenders are pitiless and the laws draconian. Much of the "education" was worthless. These loans can be $100,000 or more. People who are disabled desperately need to get out from under these loans. It sounds like SSA is making a mistake for almost 10% of claimants. That's not 10% of claimants who should be eligible for relief but 10% of ALL claimants. That's a huge error rate. Also, this sort of error assures that SSA will be wasting money doing unnecessary continuing disability reviews for people who they already know won't improve. It also assures that the Department of Education has to slog through a lot of applications for TPD status proven by means other than a Social Security determination that could have been cleared quickly if the Department of Education had just received appropriate information from SSA.
To my mind, this problem deserves a Congressional hearing.
Notice the chart below from the report. Why did the identification of those eligible for loan discharge decline so abruptly after the 2016 election?
12 comments:
The Claimant should also learn about the benefits they are entitled to partake of and pursue it as well, the government doesnt have to do absolutely everything for you. Utilize the I&R at your local ADRC.
If you are a rep, and you dont know what ADRC is and what I&R is you should be ashamed of yourself for not providing this basic information to your clients that get awarded.
9:03 a.m. - A lot of reps read this blog. Will you kindly share what I&R and ADRC are and help make the world better?
9:28 here let me help.
What is an ADRC?
Copy that and paste it in Google.
If a rep is unable to handle that, they should get out of the business.
Top Google results: Alzheimer's Disease Research Centers.
Thanks, Chief.
I am guessing the person meant Age and Disability Resource Center. (And I am a rep and have never heard the term either. Turns out there isn't one where I practice law but there are some in other states). I and R is Information and Referral.
10:10 It sounds like you are having a rough day. I hope that it gets better.
"We are in this for the Claimant, not the money, we are losing money on every case and going under, we are just fighting for the little guy" Is the line we here repeated like a mantra here. Yet once approved, the Claimant is out the door, thrown into a system they have no idea how to navigate and are given absolutely NOTHING by the representative.
If the reps took 2 hours out of their busy schedule tilting windmills, they could put together a one page hand out to give to the Claimant after a win providing information on local resources for the aging and disabled. They could include:
ADRC Aging and Disability Resource Center no explanation needed
CIL Center for Independent Living led by those with disabilities, teaches how to be independent with a condition, support services, and more
AAoA Area Agency on Aging, they provide a connection to other resources for aging and disabled
SHIP State Health Insurance Program the absolute best place for assistance with Medicare for new and long term Medicare information and assistance. They are not insurance salespeople and do the consults for free and can contact a special Medicare hotline for just SHIPs to solve complex Medicare problems.
Most Metropolitan areas now have a 211 Call Center set up that provides resources
Most of these resources can also help with LIHEAP (energy asst) SNAP (food stamps) Medicaid problems and applications and lots and lots more.
It amazes me that people who make a living off of disability do not have a list of the local groups that provide assistance in their area at their fingertips to provide to the Claimant. How callous and heartless. "here is your check, good luck" and a boot out the door while yelling "NEXT!"
Practice what you preach and find the resources in your community and provide some assistance. Shame on any of you that have provide at least this tiny bit of assistance to your clients.
It's probably intentional. Or due to mass incompetence at SSA given how poorly that agency is seemingly run.
Worthless education loans should be discharged? How about being responsible and paying back what you borrow, even if it is for a worthless education?
Re worthless CDRs--many are deferred over and over so don't worry about SSA wasting their time on those.
@6:16
I think you are misreading Charles' post. The education didn't just turn out to be worthless, which is a common critique of the modern university environment (liberal arts degrees, indoctrination, blah, blah, blah).
Federal student loans expressly provide that in the event the student becomes disabled, they may have their loans discharged. The logic being, if you are disabled, even assuming your education did provide you a good path of employment/income, you can no longer leverage that education because you are now disabled and incapable of earning that higher level of income.
It's not irresponsible to seek a loan discharge under the terms set forth in the loan agreement as both the student and the treasury knew that was the arrangement.
Sidenote: I'm not disabled, but when I took out my student loans years ago, I expressly noted the clause saying if I ever were to become disabled, I could seek a discharge. That incentivized me to take out loans, although I have very few overall. I have every intention of paying back my loans, but would be entirely in my rights to seek a discharge if I were to become disabled and still had student loans outstanding at that time.
I have been in this practice for 41 years. My late wife was an MSW (Masters in Social Work). She held many supe4rvisor positions with the State Department of Human Services. In 1992 when our daughter died my wife said she was leaving her DHS job. I understood that she was burned out. I asked her what she was going to do. I also said I would support her. She said I am going to work with you. She put together her Social Work skills with my representation of disability clients. It worked very well. We worked together for 15 years and gave several seminars on our approach.
Those 15 years were the best of my 47 year career. Her death left a void in my office as well as at home. I still use some of my wife's concepts. For instance yesterday I spent 40 minutes with a potential new client discussing the need for her to find free clinics for her medical problems. I also urged her to file for food stamps. These are very simple examples. I agree Disability Attorneys should be aware of the social programs to help our clients.
@ 12:41
"Yet once approved, the Claimant is out the door, thrown into a system they have no idea how to navigate and are given absolutely NOTHING by the representative.
If the reps took 2 hours out of their busy schedule tilting windmills, they could put together a one page hand out to give to the Claimant after a win providing information on local resources for the aging and disabled."
Just nonsense. I always help the claimant navigate SSA after the hearing especially before it goes into payment status.
11:38 makes it clear why some of you are practicing admin law.
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