Finance
Some student loan borrowers are getting refunds on top of loan forgiveness, here’s who qualifies
Borrowers who have been paying their loans over 20 years may qualify for a refund. (iStock)
Some student loan borrowers who have been making payments for over a decade under income-driven repayment and forgiveness programs have yet to see the forgiveness they were promised.
To correct this, the Biden administration is providing that forgiveness, and, as an added bonus, some borrowers are also receiving refunds for past payments, CNBC reported.
“Loan servicers were not tracking the number of qualifying payments, and the automatic forgiveness was not occurring,” higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz explained.
“As a result, some borrowers have been making payments for years, or even decades, beyond the point at which they should have received forgiveness.”
This lack of forgiveness has caused some borrowers to pay loans longer than required by these programs. In response, the Biden administration is reviewing the payment histories of borrowers and awarding forgiveness for those who have been in repayment for 20 to 25 years.
Student loan refunds are also being awarded to those who continued to make payments after they were eligible for forgiveness.
If you can qualify for a student loan refinance at a lower rate than you’re currently paying, there are often few downsides to refinancing. Use Credible to compare student loan refinancing rates from multiple private lenders at once without affecting your credit score.
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3.9 million borrowers have received student loan forgiveness so far
While Biden’s initial student loan forgiveness plan was struck down, the administration has done everything in its power to reduce debt for borrowers.
So far, the administration has canceled debt for about 3.9 million borrowers, resulting in nearly $138 billion in forgiveness.
More than 793,000 borrowers received forgiveness through adjustments to Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) programs. An additional 930,500 borrowers saw forgiveness through improvements to income-driven repayment plans.
Borrowers with total and permanent disabilities have also had their loans automatically discharged. About 513,000 borrowers saw $11.7 billion in forgiveness due to these discharges.
Also, to date, the administration has forgiven $22.5 billion as a result of closed school discharges and court settlements.
Many of the loans forgiven are a result of Biden’s SAVE Plan, which is designed to help borrowers better afford their payments. Currently, 7.5 million borrowers are enrolled in the plan. Of those borrowers, 4.3 million have $0 payments.
If you have private student loans, unfortunately, federal relief doesn’t apply to you. If you’re looking to lower monthly payments and ease the burden of student loan debt, consider refinancing your student loans. Lock in some of the lowest interest rates ever via the online marketplace Credible.
STUDENT LOAN BORROWERS FACING FINANCIAL HARDSHIP MAY QUALIFY FOR BIDEN’S NEW ROUND OF DEBT RELIEF
Other student loan initiatives help borrowers save for retirement
To help borrowers save for retirement while also paying down their student loans, the Secure Act 2.0 was introduced in 2022. A provision of the act, set to kick-in this year, is Section 110.
Section 110 allows an employer to match an employee’s student loan payment with an equivalent retirement contribution. This is intended to encourage borrowers to make payments since they’re getting a match to their retirement account in exchange.
“In today’s age of volatility, protected retirement income solutions can provide employees the financial security they need to feel confident in their futures,” Eric Stevenson, the President of Nationwide Retirement Solutions, said.
“By offering a steady stream of predictable income for life, employees can stay on track toward their retirement goals and ensure they don’t outlive their income. Employers can play a critical role in minimizing delayed retirements by offering these solutions to create a world-class benefits package.”
To combat costly student loan payments, refinancing can lower your rates and monthly payment. If you’re considering refinancing, make sure to compare student loan refinancing rates before you apply. Credibe can show your new rates from multiple lenders all in one place.
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Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba has invested heavily in its fast-growing international business as growth slows for its China-focused Taobao and Tmall business.
Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images
BEIJING — Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba‘s international arm on Wednesday launched an updated version of its artificial intelligence-powered translation tool that, it says, is better than products offered by Google, DeepL and ChatGPT.
That’s based on an assessment of Alibaba International’s new model, Marco MT, by translation benchmark framework Flores, the Chinese company said.
Alibaba’s fast-growing international unit released the AI translation product as an update to one unveiled about a year ago, which it says already has 500,000 merchant users. Sellers based in one country can use the translation tool to create product pages in the language of the target market.
The new version is based only on large language models, allowing it to draw on contextual clues such as culture or industry-specific terms, Kaifu Zhang, vice president of Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group and head of the business’ artificial intelligence initiative, told CNBC in an interview Tuesday.
“The idea is that we want this AI tool to help the bottom line of the merchants, because if the merchants are doing well, the platform will be doing well,” he said.
Large language models power artificial intelligence applications such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which can also translate text. The models, trained on massive amounts of data, can generate humanlike responses to user prompts.
Alibaba’s translation tool is based on its own model called Qwen. The product supports 15 languages: Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish and Ukrainian.
Zhang said he expects “substantial demand” for the tool from Europe and the Americas. He also expects emerging markets to be a significant area of use.
When users of Alibaba.com — a site for suppliers to sell to businesses — are categorized by country, developing countries account for about half of the top 20 active AI tool users, Zhang said.
Chinese companies have increasingly looked abroad for growth opportunities, especially e-commerce merchants. PDD Holdings‘ Temu, fast fashion seller Shein and ByteDance’s TikTok are among the recent global market entrants. Many China-based merchants also sell on Amazon.com.
Contextual clues
Since Alibaba launched the first version of its AI translation tool last fall, the company said merchants have used it for more than 100 million product listings. Similar to other AI-based services, the basic pricing charges merchants by the amount of translated text.
Zhang declined to share how much the updated version would cost. He said it was included in some service bundles for merchants wanting simple exposure to overseas users.
His thinking is that contextual translation makes it much more likely that consumers decide to buy. He shared an example in which a colloquial Chinese description for a slipper would have turned off English-speaking consumers if it was only translated literally, without getting at the implied meaning.
“The updated translation engine is going to make Double 11 a better experience for consumers because of more authentic expression,” Zhang said, in reference to the Alibaba-led shopping festival that centers on Nov. 11 each year.
Alibaba’s international business includes platforms such as AliExpress and Lazada, which primarily targets Southeast Asia. The international unit reported sales growth of 32% to $4.03 billion in the quarter ended June from a year ago.
That’s in contrast to a 1% year-on-year drop in sales to $15.6 billion for Alibaba’s main Taobao and Tmall e-commerce business, which has focused on China.
The Taobao app is also popular with consumers in Singapore. In September, the app launched an AI-powered English version for users in the country.
Nomura analysts expect that Alibaba’s international revenue slowed slightly to 29% year-on-year growth in the quarter ended September, while operating losses narrowed, according to an Oct. 10 report. Alibaba has yet to announce when it will release quarterly earnings.
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