CommonBond wants to be R&D for student lending: CEO David Klein

CommonBond, the student lending startup aiming to leverage low-interest alumni loans, sees itself as something like R&D for education financial aid.

In a recent post on its company blog, CommonBond CEO David Klein described a meeting his company was invited to, alongside some of the biggest players in student lending, at the U.S. Treasury Department. We spoke to Klein this past summer.

By being smaller and facing no legacy constraints, he argues, the company can experiment with how to make student lending work better for all parties.

Among the executive attendees were the CEOs of Sallie Mae, Great Lakes, NelNet, and PHEAA, as well as executives from Wells Fargo, JP Morgan, PNC, and Discover. Also in attendance were top officials from the White House, Fed, OCC, and FDIC as well as the CFPB’s Student Loan Ombudsman, Rohit Chopra.

The fact that CommonBond was in the room representing a new approach to student loans was incredibly meaningful.

[CommonBond blog]