Education Department says it will not garnish Social Security of student loan borrowers in default

Borrowers who have defaulted on their federal student loans will no longer be at risk of having their Social Security benefits garnished , an Education Department spokesperson said Tuesday.

The government last month restarted collections for the millions of people in default on their loans. An estimated 452,000 people aged 62 and older had student loans in default, according to a January report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The department has not garnished any Social Security benefits since the post-pandemic resumption of collections and has paused “any future Social Security offsets,” department spokesperson Ellen Keast said.

“The Trump Administration is committed to protecting Social Security recipients who oftentimes rely on a fixed income,” Keast said.

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