(Trice Edney Wire) – At least 2.2 million delinquent student loan borrowers have seen their credit scores drop by 100 points or more since loan servicers resumed reporting to credit bureaus in the first quarter of this year.

The end of pandemic relief measures will further reduce affordable credit options for federal student loan borrowers already struggling with rising prices and stagnant wages, making new credit more expensive, if attainable at all. Affected borrowers also will become more susceptible to predatory lenders who exploit their financial difficulties with debt trap business models that worsen – not improve – their financial lives.

According to the New York Federal Reserve’s student loan update, delinquency rates surged to a five-year high in early 2025. Further, during the

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