A group of Senate lawmakers are probing leadership at private equity firm KKR about the company’s recently announced multi-year strategic partnership with private student loan lender Sallie Mae.
In a letter to CEOs Henry Kravis, George Roberts, Joseph Bae, and Scott Nuttall, the Senators said they are concerned about the advancement of private equity interests in the student loan industry. This has historically resulted in low transparency and harm to borrowers.
“Private lenders have a history of discriminatory and predatory practices, such as providing inaccurate billing statements, withdrawing excessive funds from borrowers’ accounts, misrepresenting unemployment protections, and wrongfully denying discharges for bankruptcy or for Total and Permanent Disability,” wrote the Senators. “Thus far, KKR has given no assurances that it will protect borrowers from abusive and illegal practices.”
The letter was signed by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Mazie Hirono (D-HI).
The letter follows a 2026 Senate report that found that half of the private lenders surveyed either have sold student loans to private equity firms or plan to do so in the future.
The Senators said that KKR has a history of predatory partnerships with the private education industry. For example, during the period for which KKR was a major lender to for-profit education company Education Management Corp (EDMC), EDMC was charged by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for “claims of illegal recruiting, consumer fraud, and other violations.”
“KKR’s financial relationship with EDMC demonstrates a willingness to tolerate aggressive profit-seeking at students’ expense, and that should be disqualifying for bearing the responsibility for borrowers’ financial futures,” wrote the Senators.
The lawmakers asked the company to provide answers to a series of questions about the partnership by July 13.