How can a student loan help company get more clients?

“Student loan help” covers four businesses that look alike in an ad and are regulated very differently: lenders and refinance marketplaces, fee-based advisors, document preparers for federal programs, and companies that negotiate with private lenders. The last two have a long record of FTC and CFPB enforcement. This page shows where demand sits, what a client is worth in each model, and the rules that decide which marketing is legal.

Mostly by searching for a loan, not for help. In the Strive analysis of Google Keyword Planner data from September 2025 to August 2026, the largest terms in this category are refinance and new private loan searches: “student loan refinance”, “student debt refinancing” and “private student loans” each sit in the 10,000 to 100,000 monthly range¹. “Student loan consolidation” is in the same range¹. The category has about 350 distinct terms nationally¹.

Three patterns matter:

• Lenders own the top of the market. Refinance terms carry Google top-of-page bid estimates (high range) of about $250, and “private student loans” about $130, against a category median of $77.29¹. Those bids come from lenders who can earn on a funded loan for years.
• Private loan and refinance terms show up everywhere. They appear in the top terms of all 30 of the 30 state reports¹.
• State prices vary by more than 3 times. State median bid estimates run from $46.08 in Louisiana to $162.88 in Iowa¹. New York, California, Pennsylvania, Texas and Florida are the five broadest markets by distinct terms¹.

These are Google’s bid estimates for a click, not cost per lead.

Federal law has also shifted demand. For periods of instruction beginning on or after July 1, 2026, graduate and professional students may not receive federal Direct PLUS loans, and new annual limits apply to unsubsidized loans ($20,500 for graduate students and $50,000 for professional students), with a transition rule for students already enrolled with a loan as of June 30, 2026¹⁶. On the repayment side, the same law created the Repayment Assistance Plan starting July 1, 2026, and requires borrowers in income-contingent plans to select a new plan before July 1, 2028, or be moved into one automatically¹⁶. Every change like this brings a wave of confused borrowers, and a wave of scammers.

Worked example: a private loan settlement client

Illustrative inputs, not sourced benchmarks. Replace them with your own numbers.

• Private student loan in default: $40,000
• Settlement reached at 60% of the balance: $24,000, so savings of $16,000
• Fee: 20% of savings = $3,200
• Inquiries that enroll: 12%
• Enrolled clients who reach a settlement and make the first payment: 60%

Expected fee per inquiry: $3,200 × 0.12 × 0.60 = about $230.

Two things make that number worse than it looks. Under the TSR, the $3,200 cannot be collected until a settlement is executed and the customer has made at least one payment under it, and fees on individual debts must follow either a proportional or a percentage-of-savings formula². So you carry months of staff cost before any revenue. And the expensive search terms are mostly people shopping for loans. At the category median bid estimate of $77.29¹ and a 10% click-to-inquiry rate, an inquiry would cost about $773, more than three times its value. That is why many legitimate negotiators rely on referrals and content rather than broad paid search.

A refinance lead is a different calculation: the lender earns on a funded loan over its life, which supports bids near $250 a click¹. If you are not a lender, competing for those clicks rarely pays.

Ranked for a small, legitimate advisor or negotiator. Lenders rank paid search first.

Content and organic search

Honest content wins here because the subject changes often and most competitors are either lenders or scammers. Pages that explain the July 1, 2026 federal loan limits, the new repayment plan and the plan-selection deadline¹⁶, and that state plainly that federal programs are available at no cost⁸, answer the questions borrowers actually have.

Paid search and social ads

Check the platform policy before building anything. In the United States, Google allows ads for debt settlement and debt management services only from approved nonprofit budget and credit counseling agencies (as defined in 11 U.S.C. 111) or their national associations, and the advertiser must be certified with Google¹⁴. A for-profit company that negotiates student loans cannot advertise that service on Google. Google also restricts targeting on “Negative financial status” as a sensitive interest category¹⁵. The FTC is now asking whether ad platforms should have to stop impersonation ads before they run²¹, so expect tighter review of anything that looks official.

Referrals and partnerships

Employment attorneys, bankruptcy attorneys, HR departments and financial advisors all meet borrowers in trouble. Offer them a plain, accurate description of what you do, what it costs and when the fee is charged. Many operators find employer benefit programs the most durable channel for advice-only services, because the employer vets the provider.

Purchased leads and direct mail

Much of the enforcement history involves these channels. The FTC’s 2024 impersonation case described mailers stamped “FINAL NOTICE” and “Time Sensitive” promising “complete loan forgiveness” to get borrowers to call telemarketers⁷. If you buy leads, ask how they were generated, read the ad or mailer that produced them, and confirm consent covers calls from your company.

This is not legal advice. Talk to a consumer finance attorney about your exact model and each state you serve.

The Telemarketing Sales Rule and the advance-fee ban

A “debt relief service” is any program represented to renegotiate, settle or in any way alter the terms of a debt with an unsecured creditor, including reducing the balance, interest rate or fees³. When sold by phone, no fee may be requested or received until²:

• at least one debt has been renegotiated, settled, reduced or otherwise altered under an agreement the customer signed, and
• the customer has made at least one payment under that agreement.

Fees held in a dedicated account must sit at an insured institution, belong to the customer, be administered by an unaffiliated company, and be returned within seven business days if the customer quits². The usual exemption for calls a customer makes in response to an ad does not apply to debt relief services⁴. A web form that leads to a phone sale can still be telemarketing.

Never imply government affiliation

The FTC’s Government and Business Impersonation Rule makes it an unfair or deceptive practice to falsely pose as a government entity or to materially misrepresent affiliation with, or endorsement by, one⁵. The rule took effect April 1, 2024⁶, and the FTC’s first case under it was a student loan debt relief operation that allegedly took more than $20.3 million by claiming to be affiliated with the Department of Education⁷. Practical rules: no names, seals or colors that suggest a federal agency, no “program” language that sounds official, and no claim to take over servicing of a borrower’s loans.

FTC and CFPB enforcement history

Two lessons repeat across the cases. The CFPB alleged that collecting fees up front to submit forms the Department of Education processes for free violated the TSR advance-fee ban⁹¹⁰. And individual owners are personally liable and banned, not just the company¹²¹³.

State debt management laws

States add their own layer. Two examples:

• Texas. Anyone providing a debt management service to a Texas resident must register with the consumer credit commissioner, whether or not the provider is located in Texas¹⁸, and the law applies even to providers that charge no fee¹⁷. Some providers are exempt, such as Texas-licensed attorneys who do not hold themselves out as providers and financial institutions¹⁷. Refinancing or consolidating a loan is an extension of credit and is not a debt management service¹⁷. Fees are capped by statute and by plan type, and no fee may be charged before a compliant written agreement is signed¹⁹.
• Florida. A person engaged in debt management or credit counseling services may not charge a Florida debtor more than $50 for setup or the initial consultation, and ongoing fees are capped (for debt management, the lesser of 15% of the monthly payment or $75 a month)²⁰.

Licensing for student loan servicers and debt relief varies widely by state. Check every state you market to before you launch.

The keyword data here is annual and does not show a reliable monthly pattern. Demand for help tends to follow policy events (new federal rules, deadlines, payment restarts) more than the calendar; the next fixed dates in law are July 1, 2027, when tighter deferment and forbearance rules start for new federal loans, and the July 1, 2028 deadline for borrowers in income-contingent plans to select a new plan¹⁶. Track your own inquiries by week and mark each policy announcement.

• Charging before results. The TSR advance-fee ban applies to debt relief sold by phone, including inbound calls from ads²⁴.
• Selling free federal paperwork. It has produced bans and redress orders again and again⁹¹⁰.
• Looking official. Seals, agency-style names and “final notice” mailers are what the FTC cites⁵⁷.
• Promising forgiveness or a specific savings amount. False forgiveness promises run through the 2017 sweep and the 2024 case⁷⁸. Describe options, never outcomes.
• Buying ads Google does not allow. For-profit debt settlement and debt management ads are not permitted in the US¹⁴.
• Ignoring state registration. Texas requires it even for providers outside Texas¹⁸.
• Buying leads without seeing the creative. You inherit the problems in the ad that generated the call.

• The biggest searches are loan and refinance searches, priced by lenders at about $130 to $250 a click.
• Debt relief sold by phone cannot charge a fee until a debt is actually settled or modified and the customer has paid under the new terms.
• Falsely implying any link to the Department of Education violates the FTC’s impersonation rule and the core of a decade of cases.
• Google does not allow for-profit debt settlement or debt management ads in the US, so referrals and content carry more weight.
• Federal loan limits and repayment plans changed in 2026, and accurate, honest guidance on those changes is the best marketing available.