Senators To Consumer Watchdog: Prove You're Protecting Student Borrowers

Six Democratic senators, including two presidential candidates, sent a letter to the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Wednesday demanding that the agency prove it is policing the companies, known as servicers, that the government pays to manage its trillion-dollar, federal student loan portfolio.

"We are concerned," the letter reads, "that CFPB leadership has abandoned its supervision and enforcement activities related to federal student loan servicers. This suggests a shocking disregard for the financial well-being of our nation's public servants, including teachers, first responders, and members of the military."

The letter, dated April 3, includes the signatures of Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York — both presidential contenders — as well as Dick Durbin of Illinois, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Bob Menendez of New Jersey.

Much of their concern focuses on one program — a decade-old loan forgiveness program that has infuriated borrowers and entangled the Department of Education and its servicers in a legal thicket.