Westchester committee hears Savvy pitch to help county workers access student loan forgiveness

The Westchester County Intergovernmental Affairs committee met on an ad-hoc basis to hear a presentation on student loan forgiveness programs and tools the county could use to connect employees to benefits. Chair of Intergovernmental Affairs (speaker identified during roll call) introduced the topic and invited Tony Rafa of Savvy to present the company’s technology and service model.

Tony Rafa, director of development strategy at Savvy, described the scale of the problem and the firm’s approach. "45,000,000 Americans, $1,700,000,000,000 in student debt," he said, then summarized how Savvy helps borrowers identify qualifying programs, combine repayment options and automate paperwork. Rafa said Savvy’s county microsite pre-fills employer information, syncs with the PSLF database and automates employer verification forms to reduce paperwork errors.

Rafa emphasized program rules that affect county employees: borrowers must make 120 qualifying payments on an eligible repayment plan, be employed by a qualifying public employer and have accurate employer certification. He also warned that many applications fail due to paperwork: "about 26% of denials are due to paperwork error," Rafa said, and he stated Savvy’s client acceptance rate claim: "it takes that 5% acceptance rate and increases it to Savvy's 99% acceptance rate." The committee’s acting human resources commissioner, Gina Pickenich, confirmed the county does not have centralized data on how many employees have student loans.

The presentation closed after questions about eligibility, timing for recertification and county implementation options. No formal motion or procurement action was taken at the meeting; the committee adjourned at 3:45 p.m.