Paying on student loans? The payback “pause” has been extended to May 1st, 2022. Loan payments, interest, and collections have been paused since March 13th, 2020.
The repayment plans were set to resume after January 31st, 2022, but the pause has been pushed out a few more months. The interest rates have been set to 0% during the pause, in response to the economic instability caused by the reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Collections on defaulted loans have also been suspended, but are expected to resume after the latest extension expires.
Those who borrowed money for educational expenses shouldn’t get their hopes up that the loans will just disappear.
In announcing the extension of the pause, President Biden said, “As we are taking this action, I’m asking all student loan borrowers to do their part as well: take full advantage of the Department of Education’s resources to help you prepare for payments to resume.” He suggested looking at options to lower your payments through income-based repayment plans and to explore public service loan forgiveness.
Reporting for WGRT – Jennie McClelland
