Earlier this week, the Times published a great piece on predatory lending practices in the private student loan industry. It reveals an industry rife with tricks designed to maximize profit by withholding critical information from student borrowers.

As Gretchen Morgensen outlines, private student lenders are:

1)     Advertising loans as having terms that don’t end up in the final agreement.
2)     Hiding fees associated with servicing and collecting (until it’s time to pay, of course).
3)     And guiding students to sign promissory notes committing to pay off loans before disclosing the interest rates students will have to pay.

Markets work when consumers can make smart choices. When lenders withhold information from borrowers in order to maximize profit, they take advantage of consumers and poison the market.

We know the Obama Administration and Democrats in Congress take the issue of college affordability seriously - they already proved it with the College Cost Reduction and Access Act, in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and in the President’s plan to end wasteful subsidies to banks and use the savings to expand college aid.

This week, President Obama and Congress are acting to curb the unfair practices of the credit card industry. Next, they should set their sights on abuses in the private student lending industry.