Thread by @NBCNews

A letter by a top adviser to Education Sec. Betsy DeVos reveals how the department has prioritized student loan servicers over student borrowers, consumer advocates say.

Reporting by @erikjhortiz. nbcnews.to/2kJFvvP (1/8)

@erikjhortiz The advocates say the Education Dept. is declining to turn over information to law enforcement in multiple states investigating student loan servicers, some accused of illegally exploiting borrowers. (2/8)

"After nearly a year of hiding the truth, Sec. DeVos' Dept. of Education finally admitted that it is interfering with law enforcement in order to protect predatory student loan servicers ... instead of making sure student loan borrowers get treated fairly," Sen. Murray says (3/8)

The nation's student debt crisis has only grown as 45M student borrowers have seen their collective debt balloon to roughly $1.5T. (4/8)

More than 20 Democratic state attorneys general echoed concern in letter to Sec. DeVos in April, writing that the dept.'s "recent rejection of requests" is a "sharp departure from its longstanding practice," and that such info is pivotal to litigate against fraud. (5/8)

Liz Hill, an Education Dept. spokesperson, said in a previous statement that a "state-by-state approach to regulating federal assets causes confusion for borrowers and makes administration of the loan program more complicated and costly." (6/8)

However, Whitney Barkley-Denney, senior policy counsel at the Center for Responsible Lending, added that in the case of loan servicing, "the states have long been recognized as having the power to police corporations and industry on behalf of consumers." (7/8)

The tussle between the federal government and states comes as part of a wider shift during the Trump admin. to move away from clamping down on student loan servicers and for-profit colleges accused of preying on students. (8/8) #NBCNewsThreads