On Campus Blog

Student-debt activist: Globe’s offer of 18% student loan “alarming”

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We've got a loan for you. (MPR Photo / Tim Post)

Globe University / Minnesota School of Business has entered the radar of Kyle McCarthy, cofounder of StudentDebtCrisis.org.

In an article in The Huffington Post, he writes that the Globe Education Network offers its students a high-interest -- 18 percent -- private Educational Opportunities Loan (EdOp Loan).

He says Globe is quite aggressive in how it handles late charges, collection costs and interest.

And loan-default conditions, he says, appear stacked against students:

For instance, upon graduating or withdrawing from school, borrowers immediately go into default after 30 days without payment. Other reasons for default include: failing to notify the lender of a name change within 10 days, or upon death of the borrower or co-signer. If a borrower defaults, the student's transcripts will also be held until the bill is paid.

The mailing address listed on the EdOp Loan website also happens to be the same mailing address of American Accounts & Advisors, a debt collection agency. This happenstance could imply that these loans, which are made to high risk borrowers, are not expected to be paid on time.

I'm hoping to go into this more later.

You can read his full commentary here.