Pause Student Loan Payments Now

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Pause Student Loan Payments Now

United States Department of Education

UPDATE: With student loans now being moved from the Department of Education to the Treasury Department, the system is clearly in transition. Borrowers shouldn’t pay the price for that chaos. We need an immediate payment pause so the government can get this right and put Americans first.

The Department of Education must implement a payment pause to provide immediate relief to millions of Americans.

Sponsored by

Student Debt Crisis Center (SDCC)

To: United States Department of Education
From: [Your Name]

We, the undersigned, urge the Department of Education to act immediately and implement a payment pause on all federal student loans.

In one year of the Department leadership, they have failed Americans by:
- Announcing a move of the student loan portfolio to the US Treasury Department.
- Creating months-long delays and egregious account errors and application processing.
- Not granting loan forgiveness for eligible borrowers.
- Restarting interest accrual on the SAVE plan and announcing the end of the SAVE plan.
- Negatively changing the student loan system to make repayment less affordable and grant borrowers fewer protections.

Amid an affordability crisis and the current state of affairs, student loan payments should be the last thing on anyone’s mind. Student loan payments are an unacceptable source of additional stress for Americans who are already stretched thin. We called for a payment pause in 2025, which the Department of Education chose to ignore, but we are resuming our call for a pause right now. Given the growing economic anxiety and hardship facing Americans, an immediate payment pause is not just necessary, it is imperative.

The Department of Education has temporarily suspended all collections practices, which is the least it could do. It must now extend this action to pause all payments for Americans with federal student loans and stand up even more for borrowers. Any refusal or delay to do so would result in irreparable harm to millions of Americans and their families.