Trump administration will start to garnish wages for defaulted student loans

""This Administration's decision to garnish wages from defaulted student loan borrowers is cruel, unnecessary and irresponsible," Persis Yu, deputy executive director of the advocacy group Protect Borrowers, said in a statement."

""All student loan collections activities "are required under the Higher Education Act of 1965 and Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 and conducted only after student and parent borrowers have been provided sufficient notice and opportunity to repay their loans," the department said."

""For "ordinary garnishments" - those not for support, bankruptcy or any state or federal tax - "the weekly amount may not exceed the lesser of two figures: 25% of the employee's disposable earnings, or the amount by which an employee's disposable earnings are greater than 30 times the fe"

"The department will start to notify about 1,000 defaulted borrowers of plans to withhold some of their wages, a spokesperson told Axios in a statement."

The Department of Education will begin garnishing wages from defaulted student loan borrowers the week of Jan. 7 and will notify about 1,000 borrowers initially. Notices will expand month-to-month as the administration scales collection efforts. Approximately 5.3 million borrowers currently in default could face garnishment after a five-year pause if payments do not resume. In addition to wages, the government can seize federal tax refunds, Social Security and disability benefits. Collections are conducted under the Higher Education Act of 1965 and the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 following notice and repayment opportunity. The Consumer Credit Protection Act limits how much of disposable earnings can be garnished.

Read at Axios