<p>"Marking the third anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement, the group's Strike Debt initiative announced Wednesday it has abolished $3.8 million worth of private student loan debt since January. It said it has been buying the debts for pennies on the dollar from debt collectors, and then simply forgiving that money rather than trying to collect it. In total, the group spent a little more than $100,000 to purchase the $3.8 million in debt." ...</p>
<p><a href="http://money.cnn.com/2014/09/17/pf/college/occupy-wall-street-student-loan-debt/index.html?iid=HP_LN&hpt=hp_t2">http://money.cnn.com/2014/09/17/pf/college/occupy-wall-street-student-loan-debt/index.html?iid=HP_LN&hpt=hp_t2</a></p >
<p>Interesting idea, though it may have been bad timing on their part if the college gets prosecuted for loan fraud.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Seems like the college in question is already in various kinds of trouble, according to the article:</p>
<p>
CNN:
This debt Occupy bought belonged to 2,700 people who had taken out private student loans to attend Everest College, which is run by Corinthian Colleges. Occupy zeroed in on Everest because Corinthian Colleges is one of the country’s largest for-profit education companies and has been in serious legal hot water lately.</p>
<p>Following a number of federal investigations, the college told investors this summer that it plans to sell or close its 107 campuses due to financial problems – potentially leaving its 74,000 students in a lurch.</p>
<p>[…]</p>
<p>Then on Tuesday, the company was hit with a lawsuit from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau over allegations of predatory lending practices. The lawsuit demanded that Corinthian forgive the more than $500 million in outstanding student loan debt that its students had incurred since 2011 through Corinthian’s Genesis loan program.
</p>
Hunt
September 17, 2014, 4:17pm
4
<p>That explains why they were able to buy the debt so cheap.</p>