If you had a student loan forgiven because your school defrauded or misled you, you might be wondering whether you fall inside the group this new lawsuit is trying to represent.
Who the lawsuit is seeking to cover
Woods v. U.S. Department of Education, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, is seeking class-action status for borrowers whose loans were discharged between April 2022 and January 2025 — a group the suit estimates at more than 300,000 people. The claim: the Department continued reporting these already-canceled balances to Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion as active debt, in some cases years after the discharge.
One of the named plaintiffs, Marine veteran Jorge Cortes, fits that description directly — his ITT Technical Institute loans were forgiven in August 2022, within the proposed class window, yet a $21,586 balance was still appearing on his credit report as of this summer.
What “covered” means at this stage
This is a proposed class action — the court has not yet certified the class, and the case remains pending. That means eligibility isn’t finalized; it’s the group the plaintiffs are asking the court to recognize, not a confirmed list of who will automatically receive relief.
If you think you might be included
- Check whether your loan discharge date falls between April 2022 and January 2025.
- Pull your credit reports to see whether the discharged balance is still listed as active.
- Keep an eye on the case’s progress, since class certification — and any next steps for affected borrowers — is still pending before the court.
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