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The government last month restarted collections for the millions
of people in default on their loans. An estimated 452,000 people
aged 62 and older had student loans in default, according to a
January report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The department has not garnished any Social Security benefits
since the post-pandemic resumption of collections and has paused
“any future Social Security offsets,” department spokesperson
Ellen Keast said.
“The Trump Administration is committed to protecting Social
Security recipients who oftentimes rely on a fixed income,”
Keast said.
Advocates encouraged the Trump administration to go further to
provide relief for the roughly 5.3 million borrowers in default.
“Simply pausing this collection tactic is woefully
insufficient,” said Persis Yu, executive director of the Student
Borrower Protection Center. "Any continued effort to restart the
government’s debt collection machine is cruel, unnecessary and
will further fan the flames of economic chaos for working
families across this country.”
Student loan debt among older people has grown at a staggering
rate, in part due to rising tuition that has forced more people
to borrow heavily. People 60 and older hold an estimated $125
billion in student loans, according to the National Consumer Law
Center, a sixfold increase from 20 years ago.
That led Social Security beneficiaries who have had their
payments garnished to balloon from approximately 6,200
beneficiaries to 192,300 between 2001 and 2019, according to the
CFPB.
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Associated Press writer Collin Binkley contributed to this
report.
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