Strike Debt

[7] After being shut out by major student loan servicer Navient, Strike Debt targeted Corinthian Colleges, a for-profit institution affiliated with predatory lending practices.

It wants to encourage debt erasure as a public policy practice and to erase the stigma behind defaulting.

[8] Announced in late 2014, this Strike Debt initiative began as a platform for debtor organization and advocacy.

[4][5] The collective is looking to create an economic identity common to student debtors, undo the normalized expectations for college students to enter debt, and weaken the moral expectations around repaying debt ultimately worth pennies on the dollar.

Ultimately, the Debt Collective plans to advocate for free education and the abolition of student loans.

Strike Debt had unsuccessfully attempted a similar approach in 2012, to get one million student debtors to default as a statement.

[10] During the COVID-19 pandemic, the collective organized 1,600 debtors to strike, deferring their loan payments, with the hope that mass financial civil disobedience would lead to debt relief and cancellation.