Private Student Debt Refinancing Could Help Economy, CFPB Says

By Carter Dougherty. Allowing consumers to refinance private loans with public funds is one option for alleviating the burden of college debt on the U.S. economy, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said in a report.
About 15 percent of the $1 trillion in outstanding education loans consists of private debt, and a combination of private initiatives and public policy could help ease this burden, the CFPB suggested in the report released yesterday. Other government agencies have concluded that education loan balances, which now exceed credit-card debt, prevent young people from investing in other parts of the economy, including housing and autos. Read more...