Sacramento’s Financial Empowerment Center announce free student loan counseling for California borrowers

California residents with student loan debt can now access free counseling services through the City of Sacramento's Financial Empowerment Center (FEC), an initiative led by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) of Northern California.

This new service will help individuals navigate student debt and explore options for repayment, forgiveness, and legal aid through:

• Case review: Assessing borrowers' specific loan types, servicers, and unique situations.
• Repayment planning: Helping borrowers understand repayment plans and options, as well as consolidation and default management.
• Forgiveness screening: Exploring opportunities to qualify for loan forgiveness and cancellation programs.
• Legal aid: Connecting borrowers experiencing wage garnishments, fraud, or other legal challenges with legal aid.
• Student loan education: Providing education on general student loan information in collaboration with other community partners.

"Student loans can be a significant financial burden for many people, and now is an especially confusing time with so many changes around loan forgiveness," said Amy Williamson, Financial Empowerment Manager at the City of Sacramento. "We are thrilled to partner with the IRC of Northern California to offer this new student loan focused service to help people sort through their questions."

Student loan counseling was added to the FEC's existing financial coaching services by a grant awarded to the IRC of Northern California from the Student Loan Empowerment Network, a group of non-profits like the IRC offering student loan counseling in partnership with the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation.

Individuals interested in scheduling an appointment for student loan counseling can visit: bit.ly/FECStudentLoans or contact Savannah Hastings with the IRC at [email protected].

About the Financial Empowerment Center

The City of Sacramento's FEC services are provided by the IRC of Northern California, a non-profit supporting refugees, newcomers and other vulnerable populations. Services include free, professional one-on-one financial coaching for Sacramento residents 18 and older on budgeting, building savings, reducing debt, establishing or improving credit, and accessing safe and affordable financial services.

Since its launch in 2020, the FEC has worked with over 1,300 people. While student loan counseling is available to all California residents, Sacramento residents can access the FEC's full suite of services.

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.