Millions of Student Loan Borrowers could Face Garnished wages

New TransUnion analysis finds record number of borrowers 90 or more days past due, with many only weeks away from potentially defaulting

At the end of the Biden presidential administration, the news was reporting about forgiveness of lots of student loan debt.  If you're in dentistry, you know how how much student loan debt is accrued from dental school.  The costs are massive.  Because of that, there was a collected response of relief when the potential debt forgiveness was announced.

However, nothing is over until it's over (I'll love Yogi Berra), and now comes word that those same student loan borrowers may be facing garnishment of wages.  Here's the news report from TransUnion...

Less than two months since the U.S. Department of Education resumed collections activities among defaulted federal student loan borrowers, new research from TransUnion (NYSE: TRU) reveals that the number of consumers delinquent on student loans and at risk for entering default continues to climb. The analysis will be featured in a new TransUnion webinar titled Market Update: Student Loan Repayment Impacts on June 26th.

The updated analysis found that as of April 2025, the latest month for which data are available, 31.0% of federal student loan borrowers with a payment due are 90 days or more past due (90+ DPD) as reported by their servicer.1 This represents a sharp increase over the February 2025 figure of 20.5% reported as part of a previous TransUnion analysis in early May. It also stands at nearly triple the 11.7% figure from February 2020, just prior to the start of the pandemic. In addition, borrowers who have been newly reported as delinquent on their student loans have seen significant drops in their credit scores as a result, by an average of 60 points (based on VantageScore® 4.0).

The April 2025 rate of 90+ DPD delinquency represents the highest figure ever recorded. However, it does represent only a modest increase over March 2025’s 30.6% rate, which may indicate that more student loan borrowers are becoming aware of the importance of maintaining on-time payments.

The full article can be read on this page at the TransUnion website.  There is a lot more info there.