Collections Temporarily Delayed
On January 16, 2026, the Department of Education announced that it was temporarily delaying collection of defaulted student loans, but we don’t know how long the pause will last. If your loans are in default when the delay ends, you could face serious consequences, including losing your tax refunds, a portion of your wages, and even some of your Social Security benefits. The government can take these steps without going to court, and there is no statute of limitations to collect this debt.
Take steps now to make sure your loans aren’t in default! If you are in default, act quickly to get out of default and avoid collections.
If you have defaulted on your federal student loans, the government can tell your employer to withhold up to 15% of your wages to collect your student loans without taking you to court. This is called an administrative wage garnishment. The garnishment continues until your defaulted loan is paid in full or your loans are removed from default. Your employer shouldn’t be able to fire you or take any adverse action against you for having your wages garnished for a federal student loan debt.
Will I get a notice before my wages are garnished?
Yes, you should. After your loan enters default and becomes eligible for collections, you should get an initial notice from the Department of Education explaining the actions the government can take to collect the defaulted student loans. The notice is sometimes called the “initial 65-day notice” because it will give you 65 days to respond before any collections will occur. See our page on what notices you will receive right after your loans go into default.
TIP: Notices are sent to the last known address your loan servicer has on file for you. Make sure your address is updated with your loan servicer and on studentaid.gov especially if you moved recently.
In addition to the initial 65-day notice, you should also get another notice before your wages are garnished. This notice must be sent to you at least 30 days before the government tells your employer to garnish your wages. The notice should tell you that garnishment is about to begin and should offer you options to avoid garnishment or reduce the amount taken. You must take action within 30 days of the date on the notice to stop garnishment from starting. If you do not take action, the government will enter a wage garnishment order on your account and send instructions to your employer to garnish your wages.
If you don’t respond to the notice, instructions will be sent to your employer to begin garnishing your wages. If you switch jobs, the government will have to send you another notice before it can begin garnishing your wages at your new job.
Note: If your wages were being garnished before the COVID-19 student loan payment pause, and you haven’t changed jobs or removed your loans from default, you may still have an active garnishment order. You can try to call the Default Resolution Group to see if you have an active garnishment order.
Can I stop the government from garnishing my wages?
Maybe, but you must act quickly. For most people, the best way to stop or prevent collections, such as wage garnishment, is to take steps to get loans out of default. If you do take these steps within the time deadlines on the notices you receive, you should be able to stop your wages from being garnished. But if you can’t get out of default, you may still be able to stop the garnishment by asking for a hearing to object to the garnishment.
You usually only have 30 days to do this before a garnishment starts.
The process for challenging wage garnishments may be changing. There may be changes coming to the way the government collects student loan debts. Because of these changes, the steps you have to take to try to stop the government from taking your wages may change as well. We will update this page as we get more information, but you can check for further updates on studentaid.gov.
Steps to take to stop the garnishment:
Before garnishment begins (before garnishment order is issued): If you received a notice that garnishment will start soon, you may be able to prevent it by:
- taking steps to get your loans out of default, or
- requesting a hearing to raise objections to the garnishment.
After garnishment starts (after garnishment order is issued): If you missed the 30-day deadline and there is an active garnishment order against you, you can still take steps to get your loans out of default, or try to request a hearing to object to the garnishment. But the garnishment may continue until your loans are removed from default or your request for a hearing is decided.
How do I get my loans out of default to stop or avoid garnishment?
The two main ways to get your loans out of default before a garnishment starts are rehabilitation or consolidation.
But if your wages are already being garnished, your options for getting out of default are different and more limited:
- You can’t use consolidation to get out of default if your wages are currently being garnished or you have an active garnishment order against you.
- You can apply for a loan rehabilitation to get your loans out of default, but the garnishment will continue until you’ve made your 5th payment under the rehabilitation agreement.
For more information, see our page on getting your loans out of default.
How do I request a hearing to object to the debt and avoid a garnishment?
If you want to request a hearing to challenge the defaulted loan and try to avoid wage garnishment, you must act quickly.
- Send a written request: You must send a written request for a hearing to the Department of Education within 30 days of receiving the wage garnishment notice. You can still send in a written request after the 30-day deadline, but collections may continue until after the request is decided.
- Explain your objections: Clearly describe why you think your loan is not in default or what objections for why the debt should not be collected. You must include any documents or evidence that supports the reason for your objections.
- Hearing: Most hearings are handled as a paper review. While you can ask for a phone or in-person hearing, usually the Department decides your case based on what you submit with your written request.
For instructions on submitting a written hearing request, visit the collections page on studentaid.gov.
What are some objections I can raise in my hearing request to try to stop the garnishment?
Objections are usually based on a defense to the student loan debt or on your financial hardship.
Some common objections include:
- you are eligible for a closed school discharge, and have submitted a closed school discharge application that is still pending.
- you already repaid the loan,
- it is not your loan or there is some other reason why you do not owe the money,
- you lost your job and have been unemployed for at least 12 months,
- you already entered into a repayment agreement on your loan and are making payments as required,
- you are facing financial hardship (see more information below),
- you filed for bankruptcy and the case is still open or the loan was discharged in bankruptcy,
- your school made misrepresentationsto you and you have submitted a borrower defenseapplication that is still pending,
- the school failed to pay you a refund after you withdrew from classes, and you have submitted a unpaid refund dischargeapplication that is still pending,
- you are totally and permanently disabled and you submitted an application for a Total and Permanent Disability Dischargethat is still pending,
- you were a victim of identity theft or forgery, and you have submitted an application for a forgeryor identity theft discharge that is still pending,
Note: If you are applying for borrower defense, unpaid refund, total and permanent disability, forgery, or a closed school discharge, you can raise your pending application as an objection to stop collections from starting. If you applied for relief before you received the notice, you can raise your pending application as an objection as well. When you send in your request for review, you have to attach a copy of your cancellation or discharge application and include the date you submitted it.
How can I stop wage garnishment due to financial hardship?
In some cases, you may be able to stop or reduce a wage garnishment because it would leave you unable to afford basic expenses, like rent, food, and medical costs.
When submitting an objection based on financial hardship, you should include:
- Proof of household income: pay stubs or tax returns for household income, including any income you, your spouse, and any dependents earn.
- Proof of expenses: copies of your monthly bills, including housing costs, car payments, insurance payments, child care costs, medical expenses, etc.
- Estimate of other expenses: estimate of how much you spend each month on food, clothing, and public transportation.
- Explanation of higher than average expenses: the government will compare how much you spend to the average standards set by the IRS to determine whether your expenses are reasonable. If your expenses are higher than the average, you should explain why.
For more information, visit the Federal Student Aid website page on collections.
