In its ruling, the Appeals Court stated, “We hold that the plain language of the Consumer Protection Act permits the Commonwealth’s concurrent action. And we follow our sister Circuits in holding that although the preemption provision of the Education Act preempts claims based on failures to disclose information as required by the statute, it does not preempt claims based on affirmative misrepresentations … As the Commonwealth’s claims under the PA Protection Law based on affirmative misrepresentations and misconduct are not preempted, we affirm the District Court’s denial of Navient’s motion to dismiss.”
A significant win for Pennsylvania consumers
The higher court’s ruling is an “important win” for Attorney General Shapiro and Pennsylvanians who have student loans.
As of December 2019, a total of 1.76 million Pennsylvanians collectively owed $70.9 billion in private and federal student loans. The average student loan debt for a new college graduate in Pennsylvania was $37,061 in 2018 — second highest among all states, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
