Administrative Wage Garnishments Restarting
The federal government has restarted collections on federal student loans that are in default. That means if you haven’t made a payment on your federal student loans in more than 270 days, you could soon face serious consequences, including losing your tax refunds and a portion of your wages. The government announced that it will start sending wage garnishment notices to borrowers on January 7, 2026. Tax refund offsets began in May 2025 and will continue through this tax filing season. Social Security benefit offset has been paused, so federal benefit payments are protected from collection for now. Unlike other types of debt collection, the government can take these steps without going to court. There is no statute of limitations on collecting federal student loan debts. This means you could face collection actions for debts that are years old.
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, your loan holder can tell your employer to withhold up to 15% of your wages to collect your student loan debt without taking you to court. This is called an administrative wage garnishment. The garnishment continues until your defaulted loan is paid in full or you are removed from default. Your employer cannot fire you for having your wages garnished by the government to pay back your student loan debt. You should get a letter before your wages are taken, giving you information about requesting a hearing or review to try to stop the wage garnishment.
Make sure your contact information is updated with the Department of Education and your loan servicer. Many people who don’t get notice that their tax refunds have been taken have moved and failed to let the government know their new address. Don’t miss out on important updates. Call your loan servicer or log in to your studentaid.gov account to update your contact information.
Can I stop the government from taking my wages?
If you get a letter from the federal government letting you know that your wages will be garnished to pay back your student loan debt, don’t ignore it. You can take steps to try to stop the wage garnishment by requesting a review.
For instructions on how to submit a written request for review, contact the Department of Education Default Resolution Group. You can call the Default Resolution Group at 1-800-621-3115. You can find more information and set up an account with the Default Resolution Group to manage your requests online at myeddebt.ed.gov.
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.
What will the government consider when reviewing my request to stop the wage garnishment?
The government will usually consider whether or not you have any defenses to paying back your student loan debt.
Some of the main defenses include, but are not limited to:
- you already repaid the loan,
- it is not your loan or there is some other reason why you do not owe the money,
- you have been unemployed for at least 12 months due to an involuntary separation from employment.
- you have already entered into a repayment agreement with the loan holder and are making payments as required,
- you have filed for bankruptcy and the case is still open or the loan was discharged in bankruptcy,
- your school made misrepresentations to you when you were enrolling or when you borrowed federal loans and you have submitted a borrower defense application that is still pending or will submit a borrower defense application,
- the school failed to pay you a refund after you withdrew from classes, and you have submitted a unpaid refund discharge application that is still pending or will submit an unpaid refund application,
- you are totally and permanently disabled and you submitted an application for a Total and Permanent Disability Discharge that is still pending or will apply,
- the loan is not enforceable because of forgery or other reasons, and you have submitted an application for a forgery or identity theft discharge that is still outstanding or you will apply,
- you are eligible for a closed school discharge, and have submitted a closed school discharge application that is still pending or will apply.
Will the government stop a wage garnishment because of my financial hardship?
In some cases, the government will stop a wage garnishment because the garnishment would leave you unable to afford basic life expenses, like rent, food, and medical costs.
If you request a review in response to a garnishment notice on the basis of financial hardship, you must prove that, you will not be able to afford basic living expenses if the government garnishes your wages. When submitting a financial hardship review request, you should provide as much documentation as possible. If the government grants your request, it may decide to reduce the garnishment amount or may completely stop withholding so that you can afford your basic living expenses.
When submitting a hardship request, you should provide proof of the income you, your spouse, and any dependents earn. Generally, you can do this by providing copies of pay stubs or tax returns. You should also provide proof of expenses by providing copies of your monthly bills. For example, you should include copies of your monthly car loan bills & insurance payments, medical insurance payments or other medical expenses, and child care expenses or child support payments. You should also list an estimate of how much you spend each month on food, clothing, and public transportation, but you do not need to provide documentation for these expenses.
The Department will compare how much you spend to the IRS National Standards to determine whether your expenses are reasonable. If your expenses are higher than the IRS National Standards, you should include a written explanation about why that is the case.
For more information on the collection of federal student loan debt, visit the Federal Student Aid website page on collections.
