GoldState Music, the investment firm founded by Charles Goldstuck, has made a minority investment in Podium Entertainment, the audiobook publisher.
The investment was made alongside Flexpoint Ford and Shamrock Capital, which have acquired Podium from Presidio Investors.
The deal was announced on Monday (September 21). The companies did not disclose financial terms.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Podium changed hands for north of USD $400 million, citing people familiar with the matter.
GoldState was founded in 2022 and invests in music rights, music companies, and music technology.
Its investment in Podium takes the West Palm Beach-headquartered firm into book publishing.
GoldState has raised two funds to buy music rights: a partnership with Flexpoint struck in 2023, and a $500 million raise co-led by Northleaf Capital Partners and Ares Management in April 2025.
In February this year, the firm partnered with London-listed Bridgepoint Group on a separate strategy, targeting growth equity investments in music and music-adjacent companies.
GoldState and Flexpoint have backed the same company before: Flexpoint led a $165 million round for Create Music Group in June 2024 that Goldstuck also joined.
According to the announcement, the Podium deal extends Flexpoint‘s “experience in music assets and royalties into audiobook publishing.”
Charles Goldstuck, Managing Partner at GoldState, said: “I had the pleasure of previously partnering with Scott and couldn’t be more excited about backing the team at Podium. We’ve seen firsthand how digital audio can scale when developed under the right production and distribution models.
“Podium is poised to take full advantage of the changing landscape for audio around the globe.”
“We’ve seen firsthand how digital audio can scale when developed under the right production and distribution models. Podium is poised to take full advantage of the changing landscape for audio around the globe.”
Charles Goldstuck, GoldState
“What streaming did for independent musicians, digital audio is doing for independent authors,” said Mike Morris, Managing Director at Flexpoint Ford. “Podium has built a differentiated platform around valuable IP, helping authors reach global audiences while retaining ownership of their work.
“We believe the company is exceptionally well positioned to capitalize on the continued growth of digital audio, and we’re excited to partner with Scott and the entire Podium team to support the next phase of expansion.”
“What streaming did for independent musicians, digital audio is doing for independent authors.”
Mike Morris, Flexpoint Ford
Podium, headquartered in Los Angeles, says it represents more than 3,000 authors and describes itself as the audiobook industry’s third-largest publisher.
Its catalog has grown from roughly 1,200 titles in 2019, when Presidio first invested in the company, to more than 15,000 titles today.
Under Presidio‘s ownership, Podium expanded beyond audio into ebook and print formats and acquired book sales data service Bookstat.
According to Presidio, Podium ranks as the second-largest publisher of romance audiobooks and the largest publisher of science fiction and fantasy audiobooks in the United States.
“We are incredibly proud of the work we’ve accomplished to date on behalf of the thousands of authors and voice actors Podium represents, and alongside the tremendous support we received from Presidio Investors since 2019, but this is just the beginning of our story,” said Scott Dickey, Chief Executive Officer of Podium Entertainment.
“Partnering with the Flexpoint, Shamrock, and GoldState teams represents an opportunity to rapidly extend our capabilities for the authors and storytellers who trust us every day to deliver their stories and grow their audiences.
“We firmly believe in Podium‘s differentiated author service model which is built to attract, support, and retain the best storytellers in the world.”
“Partnering with the Flexpoint, Shamrock, and GoldState teams represents an opportunity to rapidly extend our capabilities for the authors and storytellers who trust us every day to deliver their stories and grow their audiences.”
Scott Dickey, Podium Entertainment
“This is a proud moment for everyone who has been part of the Podium journey since 2019, and we’re excited for what comes next,” said Karl Schade, Managing Partner of Presidio Investors.
Shamrock Capital, which had approximately $7.4 billion of assets under management as of June 30, 2026, invests in media, entertainment, communications, and related sectors.
The Los Angeles-based firm sold the master recordings of Taylor Swift‘s first six albums back to the artist in May 2025.
As part of the Podium transaction, the company is partnering with Ownership Works to establish a program giving all of its employees an ownership stake in the business.
David Kaefer, a former Spotify executive, is joining Podium‘s board of directors.Music Business Worldwide
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[2026.9 Update] The new welcome bonus is $250, along with the following changes:
The foreign transaction fee (FTF) has been eliminated.
Cell phone protection has been discontinued.
Points Boost is now available for UR point redemptions, offering up to a 10% boost on select hotel bookings. This is pretty useless—even with the boost, redeeming UR points with a Freedom card still isn’t as good as redeeming them with the CSP/CSR.
The card art is updated.
[2024.4 Update] The $200+5% on grocery&gas offer is expired. The current offer is $200.
[2023.7 Update] There is a new $200+5% on grocery&gas offer. Screenshot. [2023.9 Update] Expired. The current offer is $200.
Offer Link
Benefits
$250 offer: earn $250 cash back after spending $500 in the first 3 months.This is one of the best offers on this card.
Earn 5% cash back in each quarter’s bonus categories, 1% cash back on all other purchases. You need to activate beforehand, and the deadline is the 14th of the last month of each quarter, it won’t be activated automatically for a new card. For example, here is the bonus category calendar for 2020:
Earn 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards, earn 3% cash back on dining (restaurants & delivery) and drugstore, and earn 1% cash back on all other purchases.
Although this card is advertised as a cash back card, it actually earns Ultimate Rewards (UR) points. We estimate that UR points are worth about 1.6 cents/point, see below for a brief introduction. So the 25k sign-up bonus could be worth about $400, and the 5x UR points earning rate on bonus categories could be worth about 8%!
Refer a friend: You can earn 10,000 bonus UR points for every approved account you refer, up to a maximum of 5 approved referrals (50,000 UR points) per calendar year.
Cell phone protection: get up to $800 per claim and $1,000 per year in cell phone protection against covered theft or damage for phones listed on your monthly cell phone bill when you pay it with your eligible credit card. Deductible $50.[Update] This benefit is eliminated as of 2026.9.
[New] No foreign transaction fee.
No annual fee.
Disadvantages
You have a $1,500 cap in 5% bonus categories per quarter, which means you can earn up to 7.5k points per bonus category each quarter. After that, you earn 1 point per dollar spent.
Introduction to UR Points
You can earn UR points with Chase Freedom Student, Chase Freedom, Chase Freedom Unlimited (CFU), Chase Sapphire Preferred (CSP), Chase Sapphire Reserve (CSR), Chase Ink Cash (Business), Chase Ink Unlimited (Business), Chase Ink Preferred (Business), etc.
You can move your UR points from one UR card to another at any time.
UR points never expire. You will lose the UR points on one card if you close the account, but you can prevent losing your UR points by moving the points to another UR card beforehand.
If you have Chase Sapphire Preferred (CSP), Chase Sapphire Reserve (CSR), or Chase Ink Preferred (Business), UR points can be transferred to some hotel points. One of the best ways to use UR points is to 1:1 transfer to Hyatt points. UR points can also be transferred to some airline miles. One of the most common and best ways to use UR points is to 1:1 transfer them to United Airlines (UA) miles (Star Alliance), and combine them with the UA miles earned from the UA card. Other good options are: Southwest (WN) (Non-alliance), British Airways (BA) (Oneworld), Virgin Atlantic (VS) (Non-alliance), etc. If you use UR points in this way, the value is about 1.6 cents/point.
If you have Chase Sapphire Reserve (CSR), you can redeem your UR points for up to 2.0 cents/point towards air tickets or hotels on Chase Travel with the “Points Boost” feature; if you have Chase Sapphire Preferred (CSP) or Chase Ink Preferred (Business), the value is up to 1.5 cpp (or 1.75 cpp for premium cabin).
If you have any of the UR cards, you can redeem your UR points at a fixed rate 1 cent/point towards cash.
In summary, we estimate that UR points are worth about 1.6 cents/point.
For more information about UR points, see Maximize the Credit Card Points Values (overview), and Introduction to UR: How to Earn and Introduction to UR: How to Use (very detailed).
Recommended Application Time
[5/24 Rule] If you have 5 or more new accounts opened in the past 24 months, Chase will not approve your application, no matter how high your credit score is. The number of new accounts includes all credit card accounts, not only Chase accounts. See this post for details about how to possibly bypass this rule.
This product is available to you if you do not have this card and have not received a new cardmember bonus for this card in the past 24 months. Note that what matters here is the time you got the sign-up bonus, not the time you open the account or close the account.
Don’t apply for more than 2 Chase credit cards within 30 days, or it’s highly likely that you will get rejected.
If you have more than $10,000 deposits in Chase checking, you can get this card even with no credit history at all. You can go to a branch and find a banker to apply for this credit card directly through Special Consideration. Special Consideration is no longer available.
We recommend you to apply for this card after you have a credit history for more than 8~9 months.
Note that you can not have more than one Freedom Flex card at the same time, therefore you can not increase its 5% bonus categories spending limit by holding multiple cards. [Update] Actual data points show that you can still get multiple of this card by product change.
Summary
This Chase Freedom Flex (CFF) card is an upgrade from the old Chase Freedom card. Pretty like the old Freedom card, you can mainly use it on the 3x (~4.8%) and 5x (~8%) bonus categories. After you accumulate enough UR points, you can apply for a CSP/CSR and then transfer these UR points to airline miles/hotel points to get maximum value out of your points. The old Freedom card is already a fantastic card, and this upgraded CFF card is even better! This card makes a lot of other dining credit cards less attractive. Everyone should have one!
You can apply directly for this card if under 5/24, otherwise you can do a product change (from other Freedom cards or Sapphire cards) to obtain it.
Related Credit Cards
After Applying
Call 800-436-7927 to check Chase application status. This is an automated telephone line, and the information has the following meanings: Receive decision in 2 weeks means your application is probably approved; Receive decision in 7-10 days means your application is probably rejected; Receive decision in 30 days simply means your application requires further review and there’s nothing to tell you for now.
Historical Offers Chart
Note that sometimes there is a $200 + 5% on grocery in the first year offer, and the latter part is not shown in the plot.
Offer Link
Editorial disclosure: Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
If you like this post, don’t forget to give it a 5 star rating!
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It’s hard to argue with a purchase price of $160,000 and a median monthly rent of $1,300, even in a high interest rate climate. Those median figures are why Birmingham, Alabama, has topped Realtor.com’s list of the top 50 U.S. cities for investors.
Birmingham had the highest net share of investor homebuyers in the nation in 2025, with 21% of sales going to investors and 14.4% of sellers also being investors, giving it a net investor purchase share of 6.6%.
A Cash Flow City
While “cash flow” seems to be a quaint, bygone term for many investors, in Birmingham these days it’s still very much in play.
“In Birmingham, the money is in the rent check, not the resale,” Cameron Walker of Clever Real Estate told Realtor.com. “That’s the whole story of why investors hold.”
Realtor.com’s top 10 list of cash-flowing cities is as follows, along with the percent of investor buyers holding properties:
Birmingham, Alabama: 6.6%
Memphis, Tennessee: 6.2%
Kansas City, Missouri: 5.7%
St. Louis, Missouri: 4.6%
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: 4.4%
Columbus, Ohio: 4.3%
Miami, Florida: 4.2%
New York, New York: 3.4%
Cleveland, Ohio: 3.4%
Salt Lake City, Utah: 3.1%
Realtor.com senior economist Hannah Jones said of the report:
“Seven of the metros—Memphis, Birmingham, Kansas City, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Columbus, and Cleveland—are classic cash-flow markets where affordable entry prices, climbing rents, landlord-friendly tax environments, and durable renter demand attract investors. Miami and New York are outliers driven by big investors buying in because prices are expected to keep rising and it’s easy to sell later, rather than to earn steady rental income.”
Be Careful Picking Your Investment Location in Birmingham
Bolstering Birmingham’s credibility as a solid investment are its robust healthcare system, a large, recurring student base (the University of Alabama), and financial institutions. Unsurprisingly, neighborhoods close to major employers are in high demand.
For investors, the cash flow sweet spot is solid B- to C+ areas. According to Spartan Invest, these areas are:
Center Point/Roebuck (ZIP code 35215): A staple single-family turnkey area
Bessemer (ZIP code 35022): The Amazon fulfillment center and industrial distribution are major employers.
Hueytown and Pleasant Grove (ZIP codes 35023, 35127): West of the city center, a working-class suburban neighborhood with long-term tenants.
Pinson/Grayson Valley (ZIP codes 35126, 35235): Slightly pricier, more upscale neighborhood with affordable suburban living. Likely less cash flow, but fewer headaches too.
Emerging/hybrid areas: Appreciation plus cash flow. These areas, sometimes priced below $100K, offer cash flow but at a cost. The areas are gentrifying and will take five to 10 years to stabilize, so property management could be more labor-intensive.
Stable B+ Cash Flow/Growth Hybrid Markets
Houses here cost between $180,000 and $250,000. If you don’t mind trading lower cash flow and modest appreciation for better-quality tenants, investing here will put the passive in passive income and is good for long-term holds:
Fultondale & Gardendale (ZIP codes 35068, 35071)
Alabaster & Pelham (Shelby County; ZIP codes 35124, 35007, 35114, and 35144 )
Other Markets in Alabama Worth Considering
If you’re wary about the investor gold rush occurring in Birmingham but like the Southern climate and low property taxes and income taxesin Alabama, other cities you might consider investing in include the following.
Huntsville
Houses here are more expensive (according to Zillow, they average $290,453), but there is a solid employment base in aerospace, defense, engineering, and technology supporting high-income residents.Axios reported in July that defense manufacturer Redwire plans to extend its Huntsville operation by 164,000 square feet, adding 150 new skilled jobs.
Make no mistake: Huntsville is a long-term investment play, not a short-term one.
Mobile
Further south, Mobile offers a different take on investing in Alabama. Gulf Coast industries such as manufacturing, shipbuilding, and the Port of Alabama, and affordable prices (the median price for a single-family home is around $199,226) below the acquisition costs of other expanding Sunbelt metros, with rents of roughly $1,293, put this market in neutral territory cash flow-wise but dip into negative numbers when storm-related insurance and maintenance are factored in.
Montgomery
This benefits from employment in government, the military, and education. Again, affordable home prices (a median single-family home is just over $152,082, and average rents are $1,347) put this in possible positive cash-flow territory.
Investing here is about finding modestly priced properties in decent neighborhoods near a reliable employment and tenant pool. It’s less of a stampede than Birmingham but requires a more nuanced approach.
A Look at Memphis and Mississippi for the Closest Southern Comparisons to Birmingham
Memphis, Tennessee, and Mississippi are also well worth considering along with Birmingham if you like the idea of investing in markets away from the colder Northeast and Midwest.
Realtor.com ranked Memphis second behind Birmingham for net investor buying, with a median listing price of only $167,000. There’s not much to choose between the two cities. For landlords, the final selection might come down to neighborhood-level taxes, insurance, crime, and other day-to-day management costs, as well as the quality of the housing stock.
Mississippi is also reasonably affordable (median house prices are around $196,333). It has recently enjoyed high appreciation, although the added cost of coastal insurance is a big deciding factor in whether to invest here.
Final Thoughts: Resist the Hype and Make Sure the Numbers Work
It’s not difficult to see why investing in Birmingham is so appealing. In a market where very few of the numbers add up, Birmingham is a cash-flowing ray of sunshine.
But it is already a very investor-heavy city, and over 14% of its investors have sold to other investors. Why? Birmingham is not known for high appreciation, so if the cash flow is so great, why sell?
Often, boots-on-the-ground investing stories are very different from those written from the luxury of a laptop in an office. Investors have to consider things that don’t show up on an economist’s calculations: the cost of utilities, the officiousness of Section 8 and city property inspectors, and crime, along with the customary costs of vacancies, taxes and insurance, and repairs.
Running the numbers meticulously and comparing different neighborhoods, neighboring cities, and states will give you a clearer overall picture of which Southern city is best for parking your investment dollars.
One thing’s for sure: Birmingham should be in the conversation.
Every day, we fret about small changes in mortgage rates, even if it amounts to just a handful of basis points.
The 30-year fixed climbed from 7.17% to 7.22%! Oh no!
Meanwhile, there are lenders out there offering the same loan for nearly one full percentage point higher.
Some lenders are offering a rate of 6.125%, while others will only give you 6.99% for the same basic loan scenario.
This all points to it being absolutely imperative to shop around instead of worrying about daily rate movement.
Shopping Rates Is More Important Than Tracking Rates
I’m all for tracking mortgage rates. I do it all the time. Daily in fact.
But I also run this mortgage blog and like to keep an eye on things for prospective home buyers and those looking to refinance an existing mortgage.
If you’re a consumer, tracking rates might be a waste of time, or a little too “in the weeds.”
There might actually be much more value or better ROI in shopping rates instead.
At the end of the day, mortgage rates are going to go what they’re going to do.
Whether that’s go up, go down, or move sideways.
And while us pundits can guess which way they’re going to go, or make fancy forecasts, they’re often going to be wrong.
Why? Because like anything else, it’s hard to make accurate predictions.
Very few expected the U.S-Iran conflict to break out, leading to rates climbing more than a full percentage point higher in the span of six months.
Yet here we are…facing the highest rates since early 2025 and the threat they could move even higher still.
Try out my new mortgage rate calculator to compare various rates side by side.
Control What You Can Control by Shopping Mortgage Rates Instead
Instead of worrying about rate movement from day to day, or month to month, control what you can control.
That means getting your house in order, whether it’s increasing your credit scores to obtain the best loan pricing or saving up a larger down payment to avoid mortgage insurance.
At the same time, no matter what rates are doing, the very best use of your time could be shopping rates.
Despite the 30-year fixed being the same exact loan offered by dozens and dozens of different lenders, it can be priced completely differently on any given day.
Take this screenshot above of a list of lenders offering a 30-year fixed on a typical home purchase.
The cheapest lender on the list was offering a quote of 6.12% with just shy of two discount points.
And the most expensive lender on the list was offering a quote of 6.99% with about 1.75 in discount points.
Same Loan, Different Price: Why Pay More?
This was for the same exact loan scenario, e.g. same down payment, loan amount, credit score, etc.
The end result is a monthly payment that is $200 cheaper (or more expensive) for the same exact mortgage.
It’s not like one comes with different features, like leather seats, or some other actual differentiator.
They’re all just plain old 30-year fixed mortgages with completely different prices.
Kind of like when you go to the grocery store and they have the store brand right next to the name brand product.
Because lenders market themselves and try to sell a commodity as if theirs is better for X, Y, or Z reason.
This means the best thing you can do is shop amongst lenders offering the same exact thing and find the cheapest, most competent one.
The last bit is important though. You need a lender that can actually close your loan. Because what good is a cheap loan that never funds?
(photo: Eden, Janine and Jim)
Before creating this site, I worked as an account executive for a wholesale mortgage lender in Los Angeles. My hands-on experience in the early 2000s inspired me to begin writing about mortgages 20 years ago to help prospective (and existing) home buyers better navigate the home loan process. Follow me on X for hot takes.
Sometimes there’s just too much to do. In our Insider Insights surveys over the past year, HBR subscribers have consistently reported a common pain point: The sheer volume of work you and your teams are juggling. Whether the cause is AI, layoffs, a budget crisis, all of the above—or something else entirely—everything can feel futile when it’s impossible to make progress.
Shopify (SHOP +7.12%)and Intuitive Surgical(ISRG +0.11%) were considered market darlings for a long time, but in recent years, they have faced significant headwinds that have threatened their status. Both stocks have dropped substantially this year. Shopify is down 19% while Intuitive Surgical has declined 29%. However, there are reasons to remain bullish on both stocks and to buy the dip before they rebound. Let me explain.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
1. Shopify
Shopify’s second-quarter results were excellent. The company’s revenue came in at $3.6 billion, 34% higher than the year-ago period. The company’s operating income of $488 million jumped almost 68% year over year, while its non-GAAP net income of $439 million, which excludes the impact of equity investments, grew 30% year over year. Shopify’s third-quarter guidance came in ahead of analyst estimates, too.
The stock jumped after its latest quarterly update, but it remains down by 9% over the last 12 months. What’s going on? Some investors remain worried that artificial intelligence (AI) will eventually replace some of Shopify’s services. Further, the company trades at 53.2x forward earnings, which seems a bit too steep for a company with somewhat uncertain prospects, given how quickly AI continues to develop.
Today’s Change
(7.12%) $9.82
Current Price
$147.74
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$177BMarket cap calculated using publicly traded shares outstanding only. Does not include unlisted, private, or dual-class non-traded shares. Implied market cap may vary.
Day’s Range
$144.25 – $150.18
52wk Range
$94.00 – $182.19
Volume
25.5M
Avg Vol
9.3M
Gross Margin
47.61%
But is Shopify really in danger of losing out to AI? In my view, the evidence suggests otherwise. The e-commerce specialist has launched various AI-powered initiatives that are helping boost the productivity of merchants on its platforms. Thanks to AI, Shopify’s clients can build storefronts much more easily, write up product descriptions more quickly, better analyze data, make products easier to find through AI-powered searches, and much more.
These initiatives are working, as management noted, and Shopify won’t stop there. The company will continue integrating AI across its platform to help merchants and their customers. The company’s services are unlikely to be completely replaced by the technology, in my view. AI could, instead, be a net benefit to the business. Meanwhile, the shift toward e-commerce continues unabated, and Shopify remains a leader in the industry, with a strong competitive advantage stemming from switching costs. All these factors make the stock an attractive pick on the dip.
2. Intuitive Surgical
Intuitive Surgical is a leader in the robotic-assisted surgery (RAS) market, offering the da Vinci system, one of the industry’s leading devices. However, the company is facing increased competition, notably from Medtronic (MDT -1.07%), which earned U.S. clearance for its Hugo RAS system for urologic procedures in December of last year. Further, Intuitive Surgical’s shares are hardly cheap.
The company is trading at 32.6x forward earnings. Can Intuitive Surgical bounce back? Yes, it can, and here’s why. The company has a solid market lead, and that’s unlikely to change even with mounting competition. The da Vinci system has been around for more than 25 years and has a large installed base of 11,710 devices as of the end of the second quarter. So, it has achieved widespread adoption and accumulated extensive real-world use.
Today’s Change
(0.11%) $0.44
Current Price
$402.09
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$142BMarket cap calculated using publicly traded shares outstanding only. Does not include unlisted, private, or dual-class non-traded shares. Implied market cap may vary.
Day’s Range
$397.72 – $403.97
52wk Range
$328.57 – $603.88
Volume
1.9M
Avg Vol
3.1M
Gross Margin
66.66%
This large installed base also helps Intuitive Surgical improve its devices by enabling it to receive feedback from surgeons. The company’s latest version of the da Vinci system boasts several new features, including Force Feedback Technology, which allows physicians to better feel the pressure they are applying to patients’ tissues during procedures.
So, Intuitive Surgical has a first-mover advantage and a data flywheel: a larger installed base provides more data to analyze and improve its da Vinci system, which then attracts more surgeons and generates more data. But it’s also worth noting that Intuitive Surgical benefits from high switching costs, given that its devices carry high upfront costs for hospitals, not to mention the time it takes to train surgeons to use them.
Meanwhile, Intuitive Surgical is still looking at a large addressable opportunity in the underpenetrated RAS market, which, by the way, will only expand over the long run as the world’s population ages. Given all that, Intuitive Surgical’s prospects still appear attractive, and the company’s shares are worth buying at current levels.
Audible Deal: 4 Months for $0.99/Month for Prime Members
Amazon is offering Prime members a discounted Audible Standard membership for just $0.99 per month for the first four months (affiliate link here and below).
The offer is available for a limited time and is scheduled to end on October 7, 2026 at 11:59 PM PT. After the promotional period, the membership automatically renews at $8.99 per month unless canceled. Let’s go over the details.
Offer Details
Prime members can sign up for Audible Standard and pay just $0.99 per month for four months, for a total of $3.96 during the promotional period.
The membership includes the ability to choose one audiobook each month from Audible’s catalog. Members also get access to podcasts and Audible Originals while subscribed.
The offer is limited to eligible Prime members and ends October 7, 2026 at 11:59 PM PT. After four months, the membership renews automatically at $8.99 per month unless canceled.
GET AUDIBLE
Guru’s Wrap-Up
This is a cheap way for eligible Prime members to try Audible Standard for a few months.
At $0.99 per month, you’re paying just $3.96 total for the first four months, which is a big discount compared with the regular $8.99 monthly price.
Just keep in mind that the subscription automatically renews after the promotional period, so set a reminder to cancel if you don’t want to continue at the regular rate.
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases made through this article. Using links on the site for Amazon purchases is the best way you can support the site as you normally can’t earn cash back for these purchases. But, you should still check shopping portals such as Rakuten, TopCashback, RebatesMe, ShopBack and others for possible cashback. Your support is always greatly appreciated!
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A coalition of 89 groups, including the AFL-CIO, AFT, and NAACP, asked four congressional committees to hold an emergency hearing on student loan servicing failures.
The letter cites wrong payment amounts, false past-due notices, and lost PSLF credit since the July 1 repayment overhaul.
The Education Department defended the changes as “historic reforms to simplify repayment.”
A coalition of 89 advocacy groups, unions, and nonprofits is asking Congress to convene an emergency hearing on the student loan system, citing servicing errors and confusion that have followed the repayment overhaul that took effect July 1.
The letter (PDF File), was led by Protect Borrowers and Young Invincibles and signed by groups including the AFL-CIO, the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association, the NAACP, and the UAW.
The letter went to the chairs and ranking members of four committees: Senate HELP (Bill Cassidy and Bernie Sanders), Senate Banking (Tim Scott and Elizabeth Warren), House Education and Workforce (Tim Walberg and Bobby Scott), and House Financial Services (French Hill and Maxine Waters).
It asks them to “engage in critical oversight and convene an emergency hearing” to hold the Education Department and its federal student loan servicers accountable.
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Why It Matters
The letter comes at a time when roughly 7 million borrowers are being moved off the SAVE plan and into potentially higher-cost repayment options. The coalition estimates a typical SAVE borrower could pay more than $4,000 more per year under the new Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP), and says some borrowers have already reported payment increases of more than $500 a month.
Errors are making this entire transition harder to budget for. When a servicer sends the wrong payment amount or a false delinquency notice, borrowers can’t plan around a payment number they can’t trust.
The Errors Cited In The Letter
The coalition lists problems borrowers reported from May through August 2026:
Conflicting SAVE notices. After the Education Department said in May that 7 million-plus borrowers would receive 90-day transition notices, borrowers reported contradictory messages from the department and servicers. Some servicer accounts still showed SAVE forbearance running until 2028.
$50 payment notices that were wrong. In June, more than 6,000 borrowers were told their payment would be $50 a month, then were charged much higher amounts. Some had to reapply for an income-driven plan from scratch.
Long hold times in July. Borrowers reported waiting “countless hours” to confirm their new payment amounts.
Married borrower and IBR problems. Attorneys reported IDR payments for married borrowers that weren’t prorated for a spouse’s debt, wrongful IBR denials for some consolidated loans, and early payment increases for borrowers who had consented to automatic recertification.
False past-due notices in August. Some borrowers still in the SAVE forbearance received notices saying they were behind and at risk of default, similar to the MOHELA glitch that sent false past-due notices.
Lost PSLF credit. In August, borrowers saw Public Service Loan Forgiveness payment counts drop with little explanation. The department attributed the changes to fixing coding errors.
This is not cited in the letter, but borrowers still do not have a paper RAP application they can use yet either. Paper applications can sometimes help with these issues, but they’re not available.
The Numbers Behind The Request
The coalition says 25% of student loan borrowers are behind on a loan and more than 9 million, or 1 in 5, are in default. It puts delinquency rates near 50% for Black and Native American borrowers, and says delinquent borrowers’ credit scores have dropped 57 points on average over the past year.
The groups warn that if borrowers leaving SAVE default at the same rate as others, the number of borrowers in distress could reach 17 million or more.
Readers should note the letter does not footnote the sources for these figures, and different datasets measure delinquency differently. The New York Fed’s most recent quarterly data, for example, showed student loan delinquencies falling to 7.83% from 12.88%. Federal Student Aid data earlier showed 7.7 million borrowers in default.
Until we have updated reporting, it’s impossible to know which is truly accurate. But – none are that great to begin with…
The Oversight Gap
The letter argues these errors are piling up while federal oversight shrinks. A Government Accountability Office report found the Education Department had stopped monitoring servicer calls and reviewing borrower data for accuracy. The coalition also points to staffing cuts in the Federal Student Aid Ombudsman Group, which has left borrower complaints stuck in a backlog.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the other federal agency that has policed servicers, told staff in an internal memo last year to “deprioritize” student loan oversight. The administration has also pushed to cut most of the CFPB’s workforce.
The letter argues the CFPB has been gutted just as more students and families are forced to rely on the private student loan market, which the bureau oversees.
What Borrowers Can Do Now
Don’t wait on Congress to fix a servicer mistake. Screenshot payment notices, save call reference numbers, and check your payment count on StudentAid.gov after every change.
If a servicer won’t correct an error, file a complaint with the Student Loan Ombudsman and document the date. PSLF borrowers who lost months should keep employer certifications current and review our breakdown of PSLF requirements after SAVE ends.
What’s Next
The decision sits with the four committee chairs, all Republicans, who control hearing schedules. Watch whether ranking members Sanders, Warren, Bobby Scott, or Waters press the chairs publicly, and whether any Republican chair takes up the request.
Separately, the bipartisan PSLF Inclusion Act would count SAVE forbearance months toward forgiveness, a proposed fix for borrowers who lost PSLF progress during the transition.
The bottom line is all pathways lead to Congress, and borrowers who want to see change should be contacting their members of Congress.
Read the full letter: Coalition Letter Calling for Oversight, September 2026 (PDF)
The post 89 Groups Demand Congress Take Action As Student Loan Errors Hit Borrowers appeared first on The College Investor.
