Over 40 million borrowers nationwide are set to resume making payments following a three-and-a-half-year payment pause, fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Congress passed a law in June barring further extensions of the payment pause. The US Supreme court also voted against the Biden Administration’s student loan forgiveness plan earlier this year. Better than 727,000 student loan borrowers are from Wisconsin that hold more than $23 billion in debt.
“The resumption of student loan payments after more than three years is going to cause serious challenges,” said Attorney General Josh Kaul said late last week. “Sufficient protections must be in place to ensure that folks making payments are treated fairly.”
Students that graduated from college during the 2022/23 school year that are from Wisconsin average $32,289 worth of student loan debt.
In a letter partially drafted by Attorney General Kaul, several state leaders voice concerns over the difficulty to navigate complex systems, including the Biden Administration’s new SAVE program, which reduces monthly loan payments for eligible borrowers. The letter adds that new programs created by the Biden administration come with the caveat of service errors, both in billing and account inaccuracies, as well as very slow waiting times, with difficulties in escalating complaints.
Along with repayments, come scams. Wisconsin’s Department of Ag, Trade, and Consumer Protection says “companies” pressure people into scams, and says to think twice before agreeing to anything.
