Trump Administration Hits Pause on Garnishing Social Security for Student Loan Defaults

The Trump administration’s announcement that it is putting a halt to the garnishment of Social Security checks is a move that is tending to the welfare of thousands of elderly Americans who are in debt due to their student loans.

After just a few weeks when the government resumed the process of taking money from the people’s bank accounts, they could do the same with the tax refunds they usually got, the stale collection seemed to have started. This procedure had been refurbished by the Education Department by the 5th of May. The Department of Education made use of the Treasury Department’s “offset program” again, through which they can draw the amount due from such state benefits as tax refunds and social security, but here we are Fortunately, the specific method which affects Social Security recipients remains dormant for the time being at least. The Department of Education confirmed no deductions have been made to the Social Security program so far, nor are they thinking of doing so at the moment until further notice.

“The Trump Administration is determined to safeguard Social Security recipients who depend on an income that is often unchangeable,” announced Education Department spokesperson Ellen Keast. Furthermore, she mentioned that the agency, soon, shall reach out to the borrowers directly in order to provide them with some advice on the repayment plans that are affordable for them and to support them in their return to a good position.

This event is not alone in the so-far list of actions taken by President Trump’s team – just in the preceding month, the Administration adjusted the method of collecting Social Security overpayments that had been changed and reduced the maximum recovery from the 100% of the person’s monthly payment down to the 50% one, after the tremendous reaction of the advocates who emphasized the savings of the aged and disabled, stating the system wasn’t fair to them.

And the concern that’s been brought up is not an abstract one for sure. It is estimated that 3.6 million people aged 60 and older in America are still repaying student loans. This group is more than 452,000 people, amongst which there are the 62 and older ones – a large part of them do not have only the student debt issue, but have also let it get out of control and the result is that they are in the situation of having the loan in default, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Although the student debt is usually considered to be of a new generation, this space that the pause made just shows how real the money loss is for those older debtors, who most of them get through the month by the social security payment they have. The good news is that for the time being, these people don’t have to worry about the loan being taken away from the checks they receive, which means that they can get some relief and will have no problems in case of necessity.