Borrowers Behind on Student Loans Load Up on Other Types of Debt
Student loan borrowers in delinquency are now more likely to hold credit cards, auto loans and mortgages — and to miss payments on them, new data shows.
Delinquent student-loan borrowers now carry more non-education debt than before the pandemic and they are increasingly falling behind on those balances, new data shows. The trend points to mounting financial strain as overall student-loan delinquencies rise from Covid-era lows.
In August 2025, nearly 16% of student-loan borrowers — about 6 million Americans — were at least 60 days past due or in default, roughly the same share as in 2019. But that return to so-called normal fails to capture how borrowers’ other debt loads have changed. Among those behind on their student loans, 38% also had an auto loan in 2025, up from 30% pre-pandemic, according to an Urban Institute analysis of credit panel data for Bloomberg News. The share with a mortgage nearly doubled from 8% to 15%.
During the payment pause, more borrowers also appear to have gotten access to credit cards: 64% of those in delinquency today have one compared to 39% in 2019. The Urban Institute’s analysis did not assess how much debt these cardholders are carrying.