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(NewsNation) — The Trump medication has paused a program to garnish the Social Security checks of those who person defaulted connected their pupil loans, an Education Department authoritative told NewsNation connected Monday.
"The Department has not offset immoderate societal information benefits since restarting collections connected May 5, and has enactment a intermission connected immoderate aboriginal societal information offsets," Ellen Keast, a section spokeswoman, said successful a connection to NewsNation.
The announcement volition travel arsenic invited quality to hundreds of thousands of older Americans with defaulted pupil loans, aft the Education Department warned successful May that national benefits would beryllium taxable to offset arsenic soon arsenic this month.
In May, the Education Department resumed involuntary collections connected defaulted national pupil loans for the archetypal clip since March 2020. As portion of that process, hundreds of thousands of older borrowers were expected to beryllium astatine hazard of having their Social Security checks garnished.
But connected Monday, Keast said Social Security offsets person been paused, and that the Trump medication is "committed to protecting societal information recipients."
"In the coming weeks, the Department volition statesman proactive outreach to recipients astir affordable indebtedness repayment options and assistance them backmost into bully standing," Keast said.
This year, an estimated 452,000 radical aged 62 and older had pupil loans successful default and were apt to acquisition the renewed forced collections, according to a January study from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
The Education Department did not accidental whether the garnishment intermission applied lone to Social Security benefits oregon besides to different national benefits. NewsNation has asked for clarification.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) did not respond to NewsNation's petition for comment.
When the Education Department initially announced the restart of involuntary collections, it warned that the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) would statesman administrative wage garnishment "later this summer" aft sending required notices.
Last month, a national justice blocked the Trump administration's program to determination the $1.6 trillion pupil indebtedness portfolio to the Small Business Administration, keeping the Education Department successful complaint of managing those loans, CNBC reported.
