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So @charliekirk11 of Turning Point USA has criticized student loan "cartels." He thinks Liberty & Hillsdale are only schools worth the $. And he thinks #studentdebt is effect of school fraud. His podcast is sponsored by company that links students to risky private loans. 1/
On Kirk's podcast website is the script he reads about @credible: "Refinance your college loans and start saving." The website he says go to gives you $200 off a refinance. 2/
Credible was founded by Australian Stephen Dash @stephenjdash in 2012 "when he was working for investment bank JP Morgan in the US and talking to his colleagues about their crippling student debt." 3/ https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/billionaire-alex-waislitz-hits-out-at-credible-labs-sale-to-the-murdochs-20190805-p52dus.html
Credible was sold to Fox and the Murdochs in 2019 for $585 million. The company has received much praise from many websites, but the key con in any reviews is this "middleman" only points to private loans. 4/
While it has a good @bbb_us rating, it has had its complaints:
5/ https://www.consumeraffairs.com/finance/credible.html
5/ https://www.consumeraffairs.com/finance/credible.html
Beyond the company, Kirk's endorsement of private student loans is hypocrisy. Kirk has long complained (wrongly) the availability of loans has allowed colleges to spike tuition and so profit more. Yet he endorses loans w/ much higher limits. 6/ https://medium.com/@mboedy/debunking-charlie-kirk-and-prageru-on-student-loans-57f385653f36
Private loans also generally don't have the same post-grad allowances as federal loans: no income-contingent repayment or closed school discharge (the non-profit fraud element). 7/ https://www.finaid.org/loans/loantradeoffs.phtml
Kirk would like to see market forces break up the "cartel." But private lenders can't compete with federal loans. There is a reason 6% of undergraduates took out private loans in 2011–12. That rate has doubled in eight years. 8/ https://hechingerreport.org/more-students-are-taking-out-private-loans-as-college-costs-rise/
Yes, the price of college has gone up and some are maxing out on federal and getting private. But why else has that rate risen? With easy-to-use websites like Credible which make FAFSA look like an engineering schematic. And Kirk promotes it. 9/
Finally, there is the current moment. States will cut #highered funding due to #CoronavirusPandemic. And more students will face more need for more loans. And Kirk is happy to show them to a place that will add burdens to their already burdened futures. /end
PS as usual this thread has been added to my @Medium post that houses all my Charlie Kirk threads https://medium.com/@mboedy/twitter-threads-debunking-charlie-kirk-and-turning-point-usa-617473595a7
