President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness plan has been put on hold once again after a federal judge in Missouri placed an injunction on the administration's loan cancellation plan.
Jan Miller, president and student loan consultant at Miller Student Loan Consulting, joins Wealth! to discuss some of the options available for student loan borrowers.
Miller notes that the Biden administration's "Plan B" and "SAVE" programs help borrowers make more affordable payments on their student loans, and may offer some borrowers — depending on the amount of the loan — forgiveness after several years of consistent payments. "A lot of people have been banking on that and millions of borrowers, now probably somewhere between 10 and 30 million borrowers, potentially could see forgiveness under these programs," Miller explains.
He notes that student debt is a huge component that may get in the way of borrowers' financial goals, impacting everything from their spending habits to their ability to buy a home. "Not having a portion of that loan forgiven or an eventual promise forgiveness after a certain number of years makes a huge impact on what they can spend now and feed into the economy," he tells Yahoo
While the future of Biden's forgiveness plans may be uncertain, Miller notes that new relief and forgiveness options could be made available down the line. "You have to constantly reevaluate because what I tell you now might not be true in a month after the next court hearing," he explains.
Miller adds, "Ultimately, I do believe that a majority of the forgiveness programs, such as public service loan forgiveness and the income-driven repayment plans will still be around." In the meantime, he encourages borrowers to be patient and avoid making any dramatic changes while these programs are being ruled on.
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This post was written by Melanie Riehl