Thursday, July 14, 2005
Consumer Bankers Association Blasts CNN for Inaccurate Reporting
Source: AXcess News Joe Belew, Consumer Bankers Association (CBA) President, lashed out against CNN for reporting inaccurately about student loans in its broadcast Wednesday, saying the cable news network distorted the interest rate banks receive from student loans. Belew said the CNN reporter, Kitty Pilgrim, stated at least five times in a 90-second story that "banks" receive an extraordinarily high, government-guaranteed interest rate of 9.5 percent on their loans to college students.
In a news release Thursday, Belew's said, "banks do not and never have been eligible to receive a guaranteed minimum interest rate of 9.5 percent. Only non-profit and state government-owned student loan organizations were permitted to issue the tax-exempt bonds that funded the 9.5 percent loans. Only those non-profit and state organizations, along with two non-bank lenders that purchased non-profit organizations, receive those taxpayer-funded payments."
"If someone from CNN had bothered to contact CBA or a bank lender, they would have learned the truth", said Belew.
The CBA then demanded that CNN correct their story. MORE
# posted by ATN @ 5:58 PM 
