A federal judge sided with a coalition of financial firms, rejecting an agreement between U.S. regulators and a money manager that could have brought student-debt relief to hundreds of thousands of borrowers. U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika in Wilmington, Delaware, denied on Sunday the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s proposed 2017 settlement with a group of 15 investment vehicles known as the National Collegiate Student Loan Trusts. Noreika’s one-page order didn’t specify her rationale. An accompanying opinion was filed under seal. The agreement promised to audit some 800,000 student loans to resolve ... (full story)