Student loan pause

2022 - 4 - 5

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Forbes"

Biden Likely To Extend The Student Loan Payment Pause — Here's ... (Forbes)

Millions of federal student loan borrowers have not had to pay their student loans for over two years. But the payment pause is set to end on May 1, ...

And in fact, Senator Murray suggested just such an approach last month: extend the payment pause to allow the administration to complete its overhaul of key federal student loan programs. An extension of the payment pause would give the Biden administration time to finalize these programmatic changes so that borrowers have better options when repayment actually resumes. Throughout the past six months, the Biden administration has been engaged in negotiated rulemaking, which is a process to overhaul key federal student loan programs. There are increasing signs that Biden is likely to extend the student loan payment pause again, although so far, there is nothing official. Student loan borrower activists, advocates, and allies have been dramatically increasing the pressure on Biden to act. But the payment pause is set to end on May 1, which is in just 26 days.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "ABC News"

White House to extend student loan pause through August (ABC News)

The Biden administration plans to freeze federal student loan payments through Aug. 31, extending a moratorium that has allowed millions of Americans to ...

Last year, Biden asked the Education and Justice departments to review the legality of widespread debt cancellation, but no decision has been announced. It remains in question whether Biden will pursue widespread debt forgiveness to reduce the nation’s student debt. The Trump administration initially gave Americans the option to suspend loan payments in March 2020, and Congress made it automatic soon after. In March, the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank warned that resuming loan payments could place a heavy burden on borrowers who faced financial hardship during the pandemic. Student loan payments were scheduled to resume May 1 after being halted since early in the pandemic. “It is ruining lives and holding people back,” she said in a statement last month.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "CNBC"

Biden administration expected to extend payment pause for student ... (CNBC)

Federal student loan borrowers could get more time before they have to resume payments again.

Yet the Biden administration has expressed reluctance to resume the payments before it makes its decision on student loan forgiveness. "When the inevitable resumption does finally happen, millions of borrowers will likely miss it and go delinquent because of the false expectations the government is now setting." "What's a borrower to believe or plan for anymore when the government keeps changing its mind?" Even prior to the public health crisis, student loans were a major challenge for many households. Nearly all borrowers eligible for the pause have used it, with just around 1% of them continuing to pay, according to an analysis by higher-education expert Mark Kantrowitz. - The Biden administration has expressed reluctance to resume the payments before it has come to a decision on loan forgiveness.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "CBS News"

White House expected to extend pause on student loan repayment ... (CBS News)

The Biden administration is expected to announce an extension of the federal student loan payment pause Wednesday, according to an administration official ...

The Biden administration has already extended the federal student loan payment pause several times. Student loan debt is the second largest amount of debt for U.S. consumers behind mortgages. While the Biden administration plans to extend the federal student loan payment pause, first reported by Politico, no decision has been announced on canceling student loan debt. That same group of Democratic lawmakers have also called on the president to cancel student loan debt. Roughly 37 million student loan borrowers have been in limbo for several months over whether the payment pause would be extended. The payment pause was previously slated to end May 1.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "USA TODAY"

Biden to delay student loan repayment, again extending pause, as ... (USA TODAY)

Biden's extension of the pause in student loan payments would mark the fifth time the government has continued the freeze, without wide forgiveness.

On Monday, borrowers from California, Florida, New York, Massachusetts, Ohio and Pennsylvania traveled to Washington to press the president to cancel student loan debt. Regardless of when payments restart, the government is expected to face challenges in getting borrowers to resume their payments. Conservative advocacy groups, led by Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform, say the moratorium has been overly generous to those with student loan debt at the expense of those without a higher education. The president had campaigned on forgiving up to $10,000 in debt per borrower. This time, inflation is climbing and gas prices are soaring in connection to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. All the while, the nation’s $1.7 trillion student loan debt portfolio continues to grow, with no firm direction for the indebted. Some Democratic lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, have been pressing Biden to use his executive authority to cancel up to $50,000 in student loan debt per borrower.

Post cover
Image courtesy of "Politico"

White House to extend the student loan moratorium once again (Politico)

The White House plans to once again extend the moratorium on federal student loan payments through the end of August, according to multiple people familiar ...

Biden administration officials had signaled in recent weeks that they were likely to extend the relief, telling federal student loan servicers to hold off on sending notices to borrowers that their monthly payments would be starting. But other more centrist Democrats in Congress, some of whom are up for reelection this year, had also called on the Biden administration to at least extend the moratorium into next year. The various extensions of the payment pause have cost more than $100 billion, according to Education Department estimates. They’ve called for a partial extension of the pandemic relief that is targeted only to borrowers who are struggling. But some economists have argued that the extension itself could add to the inflation crisis. Just last week, nearly 100 lawmakers led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer sent a letter to Biden asking him to extend the pause “until at least the end of the year.”

Post cover
Image courtesy of "The Hill"

Biden administration expected to extend student loan pause this week (The Hill)

The announcement could come as soon as Wednesday and would extend the moratorium on federal student loan payments and interest accrual past the current May 1 ...

The Biden administration reportedly told companies in recent weeks to not send out notices about student loan payments resuming. We invite you to join the discussion on Facebook and Twitter. Whether Biden will act to forgive $10,000 in federal student loans per borrower is a looming question after he supported forgiving at least that much in the 2020 campaign. Since then, the administration has not publicly announced if the memo is complete. While it’s unclear when the new extension would end, Biden has faced calls to allow borrowers to pause payments until after the midterms. The Biden administration is expected to announce another extension to the student loan pause this week, multiple sources told The Hill.

Explore the last week