Dear Neighbor,

Please be advised that the U.S. Department of Education will resume collections on defaulted federal student loans, starting May 5, 2025.

If you hold a federal student loan and have missed any loan payments, paid late, or have made incomplete payments, you may be referred to a federal debt collection service or enrolled in an income-based repayment plan. For student loan holders unable to make payments on their student loans, the Department of Education will move forward with involuntary collections. This means that you may see automatic deductions from your paycheck, Social Security benefits, or tax refunds to cover loan payments.

After the COVID-19 pandemic affected students’ abilities to repay federal student loans, the Biden Administration offered federal student loan borrowers an additional year in which they would be shielded from the negative impacts of missed and late payments. Now, the Trump Administration is putting an end to Biden-era protections for federal student loan holders and putting over one-fifth of our country’s 43 million borrowers at risk of having their wages, Social Security benefits, and tax refunds collected involuntarily.

What can you do?

If you are missing payment(s):

Log onto your services portal to pay the missing amount. To learn more about which repayment plan may work best for your financial situation, please see Repayment plans below.

If you are out of work:

You may request an unemployment deferment with your servicer. Other deferment plans such as the graduate fellowship deferment, military service and post-active-duty deferment, and the cancer treatment deferment may also be available to you.

If you don’t qualify for a deferment:

Student loan borrowers who choose to request a forbearance will not have to pay their loan payments for up to three years. Interest will still accrue during the forbearance period.

Repayment plans:

Income-driven repayment plans may help you to pay your loan bills in a timeline that best works for your finances. Capped at a monthly rate of a portion of your discretionary income, your student debt may be forgiven after payment for a designated number of years.

For more information on how to pay your missing payment(s) or to find out which financial option may best work for you, visit here. You can also call our office at (310)-831-1799.