A service that aims to help individuals pay off their student loans in the most efficient way possible has raised $10 million in venture capital funding.
Called Summer, the service aims to give users a 360-degree analysis of their student loan situation and offer options, such as student loan forgiveness programs. Summer’s Chief Executive, Will Sealy, likened the product to how tax accountants help individuals with the complexities of filing tax returns by understanding all of the deductions and options available. Sealy previously worked at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in its student loan division.
Summer currently supports 120 different loan forgiveness programs and is watching about 100 more proposals that are currently pending in state legislatures across the country. The service has been used by about 10,000 individuals so far, who have collectively saved $8 million, according to the company.
Student loan debt has become a hot-button topic in the mainstream media and on the presidential campaign. A lot of attention is being paid to the fact that there is more than $1.5 trillion of outstanding student loan debt and that the total is only growing higher everyday.
Summer is free to users. The business model is to sell the service to enterprises who want to offer it to their employees, such as companies who can use the service as an incentive to hire recent college graduates.
“We’re trying to create the software that democratizes expertise, that gets the expertise into the hands of the end consumer, who might not be able to afford an accountant that doesn’t even unfortunately exist in the student loan space at this current moment,” Sealy said, according to a published report.
