It was a chance meeting with a struggling borrower from Utah that prompted Johnson to reconsider the role that student debt plays in people’s lives, he said. The man had never been late on a bill, but his initial $40,000 balance had ballooned to some $120,000 after years of postponing his payments. The borrower asked Johnson if his agency would negotiate a final payment that would allow him to pay less than he owed.
“Like millions of Americans, every day he woke up owing more than the day before,” Johnson said. “That’s when I said, ‘This is nuts.’”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.