How to Report Student Loan Fraud: Agencies, Evidence, and Discharge

To report student loan fraud, file with the federal agency that handles the type of misconduct involved: the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General for FAFSA fraud and school misconduct, the Federal Trade Commission for identity theft and debt relief scams, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for servicer problems. Filing with the wrong agency wastes time, so the first step is identifying what actually happened to you.

Match the Fraud to the Right Agency

Four situations account for most student loan fraud, and each has its own reporting channel.

FAFSA fraud happens when someone deliberately misrepresents income, household size, or other details on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid to get more grant money or a larger loan than they qualify for. Report this to the Department of Education’s OIG.

Institutional misrepresentation is when a school inflates job placement numbers, lies about graduation rates, or steers students into programs it knows are ineligible for federal aid. Federal regulations allow the Department of Education to fine these schools or cut them off from Title IV funding entirely.¹ Report this to the OIG as well.

Identity theft is when someone uses your personal information to take out student loans in your name. Report this to the FTC at IdentityTheft.gov.²

Debt relief scams involve companies posing as government-affiliated services that promise loan forgiveness or lower payments in exchange for upfront fees, then either disappear or do nothing. Federal rules prohibit debt relief companies from collecting any fees before actually settling or reducing a debt.³ Report these at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

Servicer misconduct, such as misapplied payments or refusal to process paperwork for income-driven repayment or forgiveness, is often not fraud in the criminal sense, but it belongs with the CFPB.

Gather Evidence Before You File

The strength of your report depends almost entirely on the documentation behind it. Investigators can’t act on vague allegations.

The OIG hotline page spells out what to prepare: an accurate statement of facts describing the wrongdoing, the dates it occurred, names and addresses of the people or organizations involved, the identity of any witnesses, and any relevant contract or grant numbers, along with supporting documentation.⁴

For financial fraud, pull together loan promissory notes, billing statements, payment records, and any correspondence with the school or lender. If a school misrepresented itself to enroll you, save everything showing what you were told: marketing emails, brochures, screenshots of website claims about job placement, and notes or recordings of conversations with recruiters. The gap between what was promised and what was delivered is the core of an institutional fraud claim.

If someone stole your identity to take out loans, gather evidence that the loans aren’t yours: proof of your actual address when the loans were disbursed, your real enrollment history (or lack of one at the school in question), and any correspondence from servicers about loans you never applied for.

Reporting to the Department of Education OIG

The Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General is the primary federal agency investigating fraud in student aid programs. Use this channel for FAFSA fraud, institutional misconduct, and any misuse of federal education funds.

The fastest way to file is through the OIG’s online complaint form. The OIG encourages using the online form because complaints submitted by fax or mail take longer to process.⁵ Upload all your supporting documents through the portal. If you prefer physical mail, send your complaint to:

U.S. Department of Education
Office of Inspector General Hotline
400 Maryland Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20202-1500⁵

Everyone who files a hotline complaint is granted confidentiality. The OIG will not disclose your name outside its office unless you consent or the Inspector General determines disclosure is unavoidable during the investigation. Confidentiality covers your identity only, not the facts you provide. Other people involved may still be able to infer who filed based on the details.⁴

Reporting Identity Theft to the FTC

If someone opened student loans using your stolen identity, your first stop is IdentityTheft.gov, the federal government’s official site for reporting and recovering from identity theft.² The site walks you through creating an FTC Identity Theft Affidavit and generates a personalized recovery plan.

Print and save your Identity Theft Affidavit immediately after completing the form. Once you leave the page, you won’t be able to retrieve it. Combine the affidavit with a police report to create a complete Identity Theft Report, which carries more weight with creditors and loan servicers than either document alone.⁶

Place a fraud alert on your credit reports at the same time. An initial fraud alert lasts up to one year and requires creditors to verify your identity before opening new accounts. A security freeze goes further by blocking access to your credit report entirely, and federal law guarantees both are free.⁷

Fraudulent loans will damage your credit until you dispute them. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, once you notify a credit bureau that an item on your report is inaccurate, the bureau must investigate and either correct or delete it within 30 days.⁸ File your dispute directly with each of the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion). Include your FTC Identity Theft Affidavit and police report, specify the exact accounts opened fraudulently, and provide any documentation showing the loans aren’t yours. The investigation is free. If you already placed a security freeze, you don’t need to lift it; the freeze blocks new accounts and doesn’t affect your ability to challenge existing entries.

Reporting Debt Relief Scams

Companies that promise student loan forgiveness in exchange for upfront monthly fees are almost always scams. Some impersonate the Department of Education or your loan servicer to sound legitimate. In one recent case, the FTC obtained a temporary restraining order against an operation that used fake government affiliations to charge consumers upfront fees as high as $1,400 for forgiveness programs that didn’t exist.⁹

Report these scams at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Select the category for credit, debt, and loan issues, then follow the prompts to describe what happened. Include any contracts you signed, payment receipts, emails, and the company’s contact information. There is nothing a debt relief company can do for you that you can’t do yourself for free through your federal loan servicer or StudentAid.gov.¹⁰

Filing a Servicer Complaint With the CFPB

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau accepts complaints about both federal and private student loan servicers. If your servicer is misapplying payments, giving you wrong information about your balance, or failing to process paperwork for income-driven repayment or forgiveness, the CFPB is the right channel.¹¹

Submit your complaint online at consumerfinance.gov/complaint or by calling (855) 411-CFPB (2372). The CFPB forwards your complaint to the financial institution, which generally has 15 days to respond.¹²

Filing with the CFPB doesn’t replace reporting to the OIG or FTC. If a servicer’s behavior looks like fraud rather than just poor service, file with both.

Getting Fraudulent Loans Discharged

Reporting fraud is one step. Getting the loans off your record is another, and the process depends on whether someone stole your identity or a school misled you into borrowing.

False Certification Discharge for Identity Theft

If someone took out federal student loans in your name without your knowledge, you can apply for a false certification discharge. You’ll need to certify under penalty of perjury that you didn’t sign the promissory note and didn’t benefit from the loan proceeds. The application also requires supporting evidence, which can include any of the following:¹³

A judicial finding of identity theft
The FTC Identity Theft Affidavit from IdentityTheft.gov
A police report alleging identity theft
Documentation showing you disputed the loans with at least three major credit bureaus
Other supporting evidence, such as signature comparisons or proof you lived in a different state when the loans were disbursed

A police report is helpful but not mandatory. Any combination of the evidence types above can satisfy the requirement, and the Department of Education also accepts other evidence it deems sufficient.¹⁴

Borrower Defense to Repayment

If a school’s misconduct led you to take out federal loans you otherwise wouldn’t have, you may qualify for a borrower defense discharge. This applies when a school made misleading claims about things like job placement, salary outcomes, program accreditation, or credit transferability to convince you to enroll.¹⁵

The legal standard varies with when your loan was first disbursed. For loans made before July 1, 2017, you need to show that the school did something that would support a lawsuit under your state’s consumer protection law. For loans disbursed between July 2017 and June 2023, you must prove the school made a material misrepresentation that you reasonably relied on, and that it caused you financial harm.

Submit your application online at StudentAid.gov/borrower-defense. When the Department of Education receives your application, your loans automatically go into forbearance, meaning no payments are required and your loans won’t go into default while the review is pending. If your loans are already in default, they’ll be placed in stopped collections status instead, halting wage garnishment and tax refund seizures.¹⁶

What Happens After You File

The biggest frustration people have after reporting fraud is the silence. The OIG is legally prohibited from sharing investigation status with anyone outside the Department of Education, including the person who filed the complaint. Unless an investigator contacts you directly for more information, you won’t hear back. Federal regulations governing law enforcement records prevent the OIG from disclosing any actions taken on your allegation.⁴

The FTC and CFPB work differently. The CFPB forwards complaints to the financial institution and typically gets a response within 15 days. The FTC collects fraud reports into a database that law enforcement agencies across the country use to identify patterns and build cases, but it doesn’t resolve individual complaints the way the CFPB does.

None of these agencies move quickly on criminal investigations. If you’re dealing with identity theft, focus your energy on the steps that protect you right now: the false certification discharge application, credit bureau disputes, and fraud alerts. Those processes run on their own timelines regardless of whether the OIG ever brings a case.

1
Federal Student Aid. FSA Enforcement Bulletin, September 2024 – Conduct That Creates a Risk of Engaging in Substantial Misrepresentations
2
Federal Trade Commission. Report Identity Theft
3
Federal Trade Commission. Debt Relief Services and the Telemarketing Sales Rule – A Guide for Business
4
U.S. Department of Education Office of Inspector General. OIG Hotline
5
U.S. Department of Education Office of Inspector General. How Do I File a Hotline Complaint
6
Federal Trade Commission. Identity Theft – What To Do Right Away
7
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. What Is a Credit Freeze or Security Freeze on My Credit Report?
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S.C. 1681i – Procedure in Case of Disputed Accuracy
9
Federal Trade Commission. FTC Stops Operation That Allegedly Targeted People Seeking Student Loan Debt Relief
10
Federal Trade Commission. Student Loan Debt Relief Scams
11
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Where Can I File a Financial Aid or Student Loan Complaint?
12
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Submit a Complaint
13
eCFR. 34 CFR 685.215 – Discharge for False Certification of Student Eligibility or Unauthorized Payment
14
Federal Student Aid. Loan Discharge Application – False Certification (Identity Theft)
15
eCFR. 34 CFR 685.206 – Borrower Responsibilities and Defenses
16
Federal Student Aid. Borrower Defense to Repayment Application