Announcement Comes Days After Advocates Call On Administration to Halt Wage Garnishment

*The following press statement was updated at 3:01 PM ET, January 16, to reflect an announcement from ED that they will also be abandoning forced collections.

January 16, 2026 | WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Education (ED) announced that it is pausing its plans to garnish wages and seize tax refunds from defaulted student loan borrowers. The announcement comes after news broke of the Administration’s plans to begin sending notices the week of January 7th to defaulted borrowers notifying them that they are subject to wage garnishment. 

In response, Aissa Canchola Bañez, Policy Director at Protect Borrowers, issued the following statement:

“After months of pressure and countless horror stories from borrowers, the Trump Administration says it has abandoned plans to snatch working people’s hard-earned money directly from their paychecks and tax refunds simply for falling behind on their student loans. Amidst the growing affordability crisis, the Administration’s plans would have been economically reckless and would have risked pushing nearly 9 million defaulted borrowers even further into debt. Earlier this month, a coalition of partners sent an urgent letter to ED urging them to do just this. We are pleased to see they have heeded our calls.”

This announcement also comes on the heels of a major push by Protect Borrowers, AFT, National Education Association, NAACP, Debt Collective, Young Invincibles, and Student Debt Crisis Center, urging the Administration to pump the brakes on wage garnishment. Under President Trump, a borrower defaulted on a loan every nine seconds—marking an unprecedented default crisis three times worse than prior to the pandemic.

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About Protect Borrowers

Protect Borrowers (formerly Student Borrower Protection Center) is a nonprofit organization led by a team of experts, lawyers, and advocates fighting to build an economy where debt doesn’t limit opportunity. We investigate financial abuses, take predatory companies to court, and push for policies to protect working people from debt traps. We aim to deliver immediate relief to families while building power, driving systemic change, and fighting for racial and economic justice.

Learn more at protectborrowers.org or follow us on social @BorrowerJustice.