The National Consumer Law Center has filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education, asking the court to compel the Department to comply with a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request submitted by NCLC on October 10, 2017. The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, seeks the immediate release of records in connection with the Department’s contractual arrangements with Maximus Federal Services, Inc. or the Default Resolution Group. A report released in 2014 by NCLC, found that many borrowers unnecessarily are having their wages, Social Security and Earned Income Tax Credits seized by the federal government and that these abuses are rooted in structural problems related to the Department’s contracts with private collection agencies. The information sought by NCLC’s FOIA request is intended to determine what the Department of Education is telling its contractors what to do and not to do in their collection efforts.