Higher One Twitter Town Hall – May 20th

Higher One Twitter Town Hall
Tuesday, May 20th, 2014 – All Day
Twitter – @AskHigherOne using #HigherEdNotDebt and #negreg

Overview: As part of our work on Higher Ed Not Debt, Working Families is targeting Higher One as one of the worst predatory actors on students. Higher One has at least 852 contracts with colleges and universities to distribute student loans, the agreements of which are undisclosed. Higher One’s predatory practices include:

• $0.25 transfer fee

• $4.50 fee for using non-Higher One ATMs (ATMs are only available in campus buildings)

• $19 inactivity fee, activated 9mo after card is activated — aka summer vacation

Long-term goal:

• stricter regulations on companies like Higher One to prevent their unfairly profiting off of student’s debt.

Short-term goals:

• raise awareness of Higher One’s predatory practices

• grow a base of supporters engaged and ready to take action

The negotiating regulatory committee that is suggesting regulations to the Department of Education for Campus Debit cards last day of meeting is May 20th. We want to add outside pressure to this committee by convening a Twitter storm on @AskHigherOne, their twitter handle that answers questions M-F 8-5pm EST. In each tweet, we will include #negreg to ensure the DOE sees the messages.

 Sample Tweets:

.@AskHigherOne, how much money did you make off of student loan debt last year? #negreg #HigherEdNotDebt bit.ly/limitH1

.@AskHigherOne, why do you charge students fees that even Bank of America doesn’t have? #negreg #HigherEdNotDebt bit.ly/limitH1

.@AskHigherOne, why are you taking money away from students with $0.50 fees for using the card as a debit?  #negreg bit.ly/limitH1

.@AskHigherOne your profits grew 16% in 2014 & student debt is over 1.2Tril. Stop profiting off of students! bit.ly/limitH1 #negreg

HigherOne’s profits grew 16% in 2014. Student debt is more than 1.2 trillion. @AskHigherOne, when will you stop profiting off of students?

Contact:

Outreach: Nelini Stamp nstamp@workingfamilies.org

Digital Media: Amanda Johnson ajohnson@workingfamilies.org