Student loan firm files for bankruptcy

AUSTIN, Texas, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- Education Finance Partners Inc. has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in Texas, four months after it stopped issuing education loans, records show.

In filings this week in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Austin, the company listed assets of less than $1 million and liabilities of between $10 million and $50 million, the Austin American-Statesman reported Thursday.

The student loan sector was among the earliest casualties of the credit freeze, the newspaper said.

The company stopped lending money in August and laid off 113 employees in Austin.

Education Finance Partners had 200 employees in Austin and had planned to move its headquarters to San Francisco, but instead ceased operations in September.

Executives and attorneys for the company were not available for comment, the newspaper said.