Debt & Savings
Student Loan Leniency Is Ending Soon. Here’s What You Need to Know
After a one-year grace period, borrowers will be penalized for missing their payments starting in October.
Borrowers have already spent the past two years whipsawed by forgiveness proposals.
Photographer: Jon Cherry/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Americans with federal student loans will soon have to start paying them back again — for real this time.
A repayment grace period rolled out by President Joe Biden is set to conclude at the end of September, smack in the middle of a contentious presidential election. The policy has been shielding borrowers from the worst repercussions of missed payments for the past year. Its end will likely squeeze millions of wallets across the US, given more than 40 million Americans have federal student debt.