Millions of borrowers with existing student loans still have not made payments since billing resumed in October after a three-year hiatus, and some have stopped making payments in protest. Some admit that they are in denial.
A survey of 1,000 federal student loan borrowers conducted this month by Intelligent.com found that 25% said they had not made any payments at all, and of those, 9% intentionally withheld payments to put pressure on the government. I said yes. Cancel their debts.
Of the approximately 1 in 10 delinquent students participating in a student loan repayment “boycott,” 44% said they believed their protest would lead to partial forgiveness of their federal student loan debt; 28% said they thought a boycott was “likely to occur.” It would persuade the government to cancel all student loan debt, the study found.
But even if the boycott does not result in further debt relief, most of the protesting borrowers believe their efforts will make a difference.
Eighty-six percent told Intelligence.com that it was “very” (45%) or “somewhat” (41%) likely that a boycott would bring attention to the student loan debt debate.
64% say they think it is “very likely” (32%) or “somewhat likely” (18%) that a boycott will help elect political candidates who believe in loan forgiveness did.
Financial experts advise against missing student loan payments for any reason.
“While we understand the frustration behind the student loan boycott, it is unlikely to lead to positive change,” Jake Hill, founder and CEO of Debthammer, told the outlet. Ta.
“Instead, it destroys the credit scores of those who choose to participate. It may not seem like a big problem in the short term, but missing student loan payments can make it more difficult to obtain financing for future purchases.” It can be difficult.”
The majority (69%) of borrowers who have not yet resumed payments on their loans say they have not done so because they cannot afford it.
A further 18% said they plan to wait until September 2024 to resume payments due to the more serious consequences of missing a payment.
Of the borrowers who resumed repayments, 94% intelligently said it was financially difficult for them to resume repayments.
Many borrowers had high hopes that their loans would be canceled under President Biden's loan forgiveness plan, which would forgive up to $20,000 of debt per borrower, but the Supreme Court ruled last year that defeated.
Since then, the White House has announced other efforts to reduce student loan debt, including canceling $127 billion in debt owed by about 3.6 million borrowers.
