By Leada Gore
al.com
(TNS)
Social Security recipients who have fallen behind on student loan payments face having their benefits slashed as soon as next month.
The Trump administration announced in May it would restart the Treasury Offset Program, a collections initiative for people who in currently in default on their student loan payments.
The program allows the government to withhold up to 15% of a Social Security benefit to repay a delinquent loan, Newsweek reported.
Checks cannot be reduced to lower than $750, however.
The 15% is calculated from the total benefit amount before deductions and is the same whether benefits are retirement or disability payments.
The garnishments could start as soon as June.
According to CNBC, there are some 2.9 million people age 62 and older with federal student loans, a 71% increase from 2017 when there were 1.7 million such borrowers. More than 450,000 borrowers in their age group are in default and are likely to receive Social Security.
In a statement, the Department of Education said it has started notifying approximately 195,000 defaulted student loan borrowers that they are subject to TOP offsets. The remainder are expected to be notified later this summer.
All will receive 30 days’ notice before the withholdings start.
Payments and interest on student loans were paused during the COVID pandemic before restarting in 2023. In May, the Department of Education announced it would begin involuntary collections that would include garnishing tax refunds, paychecks, Social Security and disability benefits.
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©2025 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit al.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC.
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