JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon Calls US Student Lending A ‘Disgrace’

Months after he called out “irrational” student lending that has been impacting the economy through his annual letter, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon noted that U.S. student lending is “hurting America.” Dimon also noted that the government has “irresponsibly” lent over $1 trillion as of 2010 and that they want to forgive it now, Yahoo Finance reported.

Dimon said, according to the outlet, “I think they should look at all parts of student lending, fix the broken parts, and then forgive those people who need forgiveness, and then help people get into school, and then make sure the schools are responsible in getting the kids out,” Dimon continued, “and what we’ve done is a disgrace, and it’s hurting America.”

Forgiveness for student loans has become a focal issue of the upcoming 2020 election, and Democratic candidates have been unveiling plans. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) debuted a cancellation plan, which the outlet described as “sweeping,” that would tax transactions of a financial nature.

The news comes as student loan debt in the United States has set a new record and reportedly reached $1.465 trillion last November per a Bloomberg analysis. According to Bloomberg’s analysis of student loan securitization data, the debt level is more than two times the $675 billion in student loan debt back in June of 2009 when the Great Recession concluded.

At the time, it was noted that individuals who took out student loans in 2012 have defaulted at a faster pace than any other borrowers since the financial crisis, and that loans issued in 2012 have the highest cumulative loss percentage in comparison to any other year since 2009 at the end of the recession. That implies borrowers who took out student loans in 2012 are having a harder time paying them back on a monthly basis in comparison to those who got them before or after the recession.