Federal student loan borrowers submitted a record number of complaints to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from mid-2024 to mid-2025, a recent report from the bureau shows.
But the government’s 21-page report, published in early January, omits details on the nature of borrowers’ complaints — including the issues they face, the loan servicers involved and the possible remedies available — that appeared in a 36-page draft of the report obtained by CNBC.
“I was disappointed that the report was not published in its entirety,” said Julia Barnard, a former student loan ombudsman who resigned from the CFPB in October. Barnard, who authored the draft of the report, told CNBC that CFPB leadership’s decision to omit her findings is the reason she parted with the bureau.
“Because reports like this one are being censored, private parties and the Department of Education have fewer opportunities to correct their failures,” Barnard said. Making less information available to the public limits the agency’s accountability, she said.
The CFPB did not respond to requests for comment from CNBC. In comments to Politico in January, an agency spokesperson described Barnard as a “disgruntled” former employee and said the draft “did not address any of the statutory requirements for the report.”
