Aggressive marketing, risky loans leave private student loan borrowers buried in debt

But after the onset of the recession, private loan borrowers found themselves buried under a mountain of debt, with few options for getting out.

Education Department and bureau officials released the report Thursday. According to the report, student loan borrowers are still feeling the effects of risky industry practices and the boom-and-bust pattern of the last decade, leaving the nation with $8.1 million in defaults on private loans to date.

During the mid-2000s, the market for private student loans was similar to the market for subprime mortgages — both were marked by aggressive marketing and relatively lax consumer protection standards, the report says.

Although those practices have largely changed for the better since the onset of the recession, students who took out private loans from 2004-2008 were left trapped with that debt, unable to rid themselves of it even by filing for bankruptcy due to a 2005 change in the bankruptcy code.

According to the report, some private lenders bypassed college and university financial aid offices entirely, marketing their loans directly to students and parents. In 2005, 60 percent of private student loans were certified by the college or university the borrower attended. By 2008, that number had dropped to 27.8 percent.