The Hill BY LEXI LONAS
Student loan payments return Sunday with hope, confusion and fear clouding the restart after a three-year pause.
The Biden administration is hoping to provide some relief to borrowers with a new income-driven repayment plan and an “on-ramp” repayment program, but the on-switch also comes as Congress is struggling to keep the government funded.
A shutdown could hurt student loan servicers already struggling to handle more than 45 million accounts getting turned on at once after a break that began in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.
Here is what borrowers need to know as student loan payments begin:
Borrowers have an ‘on-ramp’ repayment option
While student loans are restarting, the typical consequences for missing payments will not be enacted until October 2024. The Biden administration is offering an “on-ramp” repayment option for the upcoming year that allows borrowers to miss payments with few financial consequences…
