The future of student loan payments

This month, after an 18-month suspension of student loan payments, millions are poised to make their next payment in October.

Congress suspended federal student loan payments as part of the first pandemic relief package. Interest was frozen and collections stopped.

At the same time, millions of student loan borrowers are praying loans will again be suspended or even forgiven before October.

According to Forbes, advocacy groups claim that 90 percent of borrowers can resume payments in October. They also say loan services will be overwhelmed with the millions of borrowers starting to make payments at the same time.

In Congress, movements are underway to further suspend loans until poorly administered programs can be fixed and at least part of loan debt canceled.

Some hope for extensions exists, since President Biden has been said to favor them.

In June, the Biden administration announced that it would cancel $500 million in student loans for borrowers who said they were misled, defrauded or harmed by colleges and universities.