Ask ABC7: Experts answer your questions about student loans

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Currently, nearly 43 million people owe the federal government $1. 6 trillion in student loans. But only about a third are making regular payments, according to the U.S. Education Department.

The rest are either in forbearance, deferment or are delinquent on their payments.

Until this week, the agency had not collected on defaulted loans since March 2020.

Many borrowers stopped paying their loans when the first Trump administration halted student loan payments due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Biden administration did restart payments and interest accrual, but it did not restart collections on defaults. Now, a record 5 million borrowers are in default and are at risk of being sent to collections -- nearly twice as many as in February 2020.



Aissa Canchola Bañez, the policy director at the Student Borrower Protection Center, joined Eyewitness News to answer your questions.

Watch the entire segment in the video above.