Peters & Senate Colleagues Introduce Bill to Tackle Student Loan Debt

Legislation Allows Borrowers to Refinance Student Loans at Lower Interest Rates

Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Gary Peters (MI) announced that he joined 28 of his colleagues in introducing the Bank on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Act to allow borrowers with outstanding student loan debt to refinance at lower interest rates that were approved last year for new borrowers.

“If you can refinance your mortgage, you should be able to refinance your student loans, and this bill would benefit nearly 960,000 borrowers across Michigan working to pay off their outstanding student loan debt,” said Senator Peters. “I’m proud to support this commonsense effort to help make sure higher education is a pathway to economic opportunity instead of an overwhelming financial burden for students and families.”

Many borrowers with outstanding student loans have interest rates of nearly 7 percent or higher for undergraduate loans, while students who took out loans in the 2013-2014 school year pay a rate of 3.86 percent under the Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act passed by Congress in 2013.

The Bank on Students Emergency Loan Refinancing Act would allow students and young people to pay back their outstanding loans at the same lower 3.86 percent rate that Congress previously approved for new borrowers. Nearly a million more borrowers are falling behind on their student loans compared to this time last year. Senator Peters previously cosponsored a version of this legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives.

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