NEW Rule 8: Professionals must be verified

From time to time, we have users come to r/StudentLoans in a professional capacity or claiming to have expert knowledge. These users sometimes do have valuable expertise gained from their work that they graciously share with the sub (such as u/betsy514), but some are self-interested entrepreneurs who are hoping to profit off of this large and growing community. And others make low-effort posts like "PM me, I can help", which provide no information about their expertise or possible conflicts-of-interest.

In order to balance the competing needs of the community, the moderators are instituting this new Rule: Users are allowed to be here in their professional capacities (subject to the other rules of the sub), but must be verified by the mod team and will be given flair noting their role/affiliation. This way users will be able to quickly identify expert sources of information while also being made aware of actual or potential conflicts-of-interest those experts may have.

Posts and comments by unverified professionals will be removed. Repeat infringers may be temporarily or permanently banned. Please help by using the report function to flag content from unverified professionals and reminding them of this rule.

If you are not a professional, you do not need to be verified to participate here.

Some examples of professionals (not an exhaustive list). This rule applies to users who--

• work for student loan servicers, lenders, collectors, or aggregators.
• work for school financial aid offices, bursars, or similar.
• work for non-profit organizations that focus on student loans (even if that's not the primary focus).
• work for the US Department of Education or any state/local student aid providers.
• work for journalism outlets (regardless of medium) or educational firms that cover student loan topics.
• are selling, promoting, or conducting market research for any student loan-related product or service, whether or not for profit (must still follow Rule 2).
• are attorneys, CPAs, or other specialists focusing on student loan matters (even if that's not your primary focus).
• are conducting research or polling for work, school, or otherwise (must still follow Rule 6).
• are here as part of their official work duties in any way ("on-the-clock").
• offer any kind of "help", "solution", "resolution", or similar to other users via private message, email, another subreddit, or anywhere else besides r/StudentLoans posts and comments.

If you claim to have professional expertise from the recent past -- even though you're no longer in that role or with that firm -- we may still ask for proof of that.

Verification Process

To be verified, please send a moderator mail message that tells us who you are, what your professional affiliation with student loans is, and provide documentation to that effect using an upload/sharing service such as imgur, dropbox, or a verified Twitter account. You are in the best position to know what documentation will prove your identity; if we need more, we will ask. Good documentation will likely include the following:

1. Your name
2. Your title/role
3. Your employer/firm/organization/school
4. A link between the above and your reddit account (e.g. a picture of your employee badge that contains #1, #2, and #3 along with a handwritten post-it that lists your reddit username and the picture's date).

The flair we give you will contain the information from #2 and #3 only. We won't ever share or use your real name (unless you already do so here yourself) and we won't share the documentation you provide; it will be for verification only. If you have other privacy concerns, let us know and we can discuss them on a case-by-case basis.

Once you are verified, you will be notified and given flair on r/studentloans and r/PSLF. There is no need to re-verify, unless you change employers/roles, though the mods reserve the right to ask for more documentation or to cancel verification based on new information we receive.

Again, this rule only applies to users who claim to be professionals as described above. If you are a professional and would like to contribute here fully anonymously, without revealing your affiliation, we can't stop you. But then you must not claim to be a professional in your posts or comments.

Comments are open below for questions and discussion about this rule.