Governor J.B. Pritzker says relief is on the way for student loan borrowers in the state due to the coronavirus pandemic. Pritzker says that the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation has worked in cooperation with other jurisdictions and states to secure protections for private student loan borrowers. “As of today, nearly 140,000 more student loan borrowers in Illinois will now get relief. IDFPR has worked tirelessly to secure loan relief options with 20 student loan servicers, allowing borrowers to request a 90 day forbearance, waived late fees, no negative credit reporting, the pause of debt collection lawsuits for 90 days and enrollment in other borrower assistance programs.”
Pritzker says the protections were needed because the CARES Act did not cover the private student loans. He says the new protections will now be alongside the same extensions given by the federal government that will last until September.
Pritzker also announced the expansion of SNAP benefits for Illinois families. “Illinois requested an expansion of benefits to help put additional food on the table for all Illinois SNAP households with school-aged children, more than 300,000 in all, and that expansion has now been approved, delivering an additional $112 million in food assistance to children across the state.”
Pritzker says that the increased assistance will automatically be credited to a family’s LINK Card in the coming weeks. Pritzker also says that families not currently receiving SNAP but are eligible for free and reduced lunches at public schools will have the ability to apply for a LINK Card in a streamlined process. He says details with the Department of Human Services on the streamlined option will follow in the next few days.
Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Engozi Ezike announced 1551 new positive cases of COVID-19 along with 119 additional deaths over the last 24 hours. There are now over 33,000 total cases and over 1400 deaths across 96 counties in the state of Illinois.