Department of Education halts plan to garnish Social Security payments over defaulted student loans

The Department of Education has halted a plan to garnish Social Security checks over defaulted loans.

“The Department has not offset any social security benefits since restarting collections on May 5, and has put a pause on any future social security offsets,” Ellen Keast, Department of Education spokesperson said in a statement.

The Trump Administration announced in April that student loan borrowers in default, or people who have not paid their loans for more than 270 days, had the chance of seeing financial consequences including wage and Social Security payment garnishments, which could have potentially impacted over 5 million borrowers.

“The Trump Administration is committed to protecting social security recipients who oftentimes rely on a fixed income,” Keast said. “In the coming weeks, the Department will begin proactive outreach to recipients about affordable loan repayment options and help them back into good standing.”