Summer student loan debt instruments continue to flourish with $6M Series A extension.

Recent moves to pay off student debt, including government policies like SECURE ACT 2.0 passed by Congress in December, have created conditions for employers to increase student loan payments for those with debt as well as retirement accounts.

In late February, the Supreme Court heard arguments related to a lawsuit to block President Biden’s debt relief program. At the same time, the new information that happened last week indicates that the Supreme Court may make a decision on the program.

However, some fintech startups not only offer some help options, but also offer a way to help employers alleviate some of the burden, and also provide recruitment and retention tools. Those include Goodly, Highway Benefits, Candidly and Summer, which secured $6 million in additional Series A funding.

General Catalyst, QED, Flourish Ventures, Partnership Fund for NYC, Story Ventures, Gaingels, Calm VC and Avidbank participated in the financing round, bringing the secured B Corp.’s Series A funding to $16 million and a total of $18 million. . .

Will Seeley, Summer Co-Founder and CEO. Image Credits: Summer

It’s widely known that about 47 million student loan borrowers owe nearly $1.8 trillion, and in the wake of the 2020 global pandemic, the federal government has now suspended federal student loan payments for three years, according to co-founder Will Seeley. and the CEO of the summer.

“Before the Borrowers Challenge last year, there were more changes in student loan policy and student loan laws than there had been in a decade,” Seely told TechCrunch. “The changes are confusing and confusing for the average person, who may have a dozen types of loans: some from private banks, some from the federal government, and some from your parents’ borrowers. “

Although stopping payments would help, Seely said the average loan payment is around $700 a month and it’s “nerve-wracking” not knowing when payments will resume, meaning the payments could hit millions of people at once. .

Seely, a former policy analyst and aide to Senator Elizabeth Warren and a veteran of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, started in 2017 with COO Paul Joo with experience in the US Attorneys Office and Boston Consulting Group.

TechCrunch When it reported on a $10 million Series A in the summer of 2019, the company was just getting started in giving borrowers a full 360-degree view of their current student loan situation and options for how to pay it off. In the most cost-efficient way possible.

Now four years later, Summer works with financial institutions, employers and other organizations to help employees plan for college, reduce student loan debt burden and facilitate retirement savings through employer matches.

It also secured partnerships with companies like Fidelity Investments and Intuit and expanded its work with the American Federation of Teachers, putting tens of millions of workers in front of the summer. To date, the company is projected to save more than $1 billion for borrowers across the United States, Seely said.

Meanwhile, the new funding will allow Sumner to introduce new products and services as well as hire Leigh Gross as chief revenue officer. Gross, who joined the company from credit data access company Array, will lead Summer’s initiatives around sales, business development and revenue stream growth.

“We are working to help employees enroll in federal and state loan assistance programs to reduce debt and work with employers to pay off debt quickly, so that employees can benefit from such benefits in their jobs,” Seely said. “Additionally, the new law allows any employee who is paying off student loans now or will continue to make future payments to their employer to have the ability to match the payments to their retirement plans. Borrowers do not have to choose between saving for retirement or paying off debt.”