The GAO says those with federal student loans in default may have Social Security benefits withheld
WASHINGTON, DC – Millions of seniors are struggling to pay off student loans. But, these seniors are not scholars; they are senior citizens, older Americans, many of whom have had their retirement plans disrupted as a result.
And, according to the Association of Mature American Citizens [AMAC], Social Security benefits can be garnished if they default on federal student loans.
In fact, says AMAC’s president, Dan Weber, a growing number of seniors are having their Social Security benefits withheld because they are defaulting on their federal student loans. He cites the U.S. Government Accountability Office [GAO], which has reported that “older borrowers (age 50 and older) who default on federal student loans and must repay that debt with a portion of their Social Security benefits often have held their loans for decades and had about 15 percent of their benefit payment withheld.”
Total outstanding student loan debt has reached “stratospheric proportions. It currently stands at more than $1.5 trillion– that’s trillion with a T. And, $86 billion dollars of that debt is owed by Americans over the age of 60,” according to Weber.
The GAO has made suggestions that could aid seniors whose Social Security benefits may be garnished. For example, if benefits are less than $9,000 a year [$750 a month] they cannot be garnished. But, it’s been quite a while since that $9,000 threshold was established and so the GAO suggests that it be increased and indexed for inflation.
Meanwhile, if your benefits are being garnished be aware that the Department of Education may be able to help you create a more-affordable repayment option. Get in touch with the DOE and ask for a suspension or a reduction. You’ll have to provide documentation for relief
More than 50% of seniors whose benefits are being withheld are receiving disability payments and may be able to receive a disability waiver. It can be a difficult process, but it also can be worth the effort. It’s been reported that as many as 33% of disability waiver applications are approved.
Finally, says Weber, there are agencies and organizations that can provide specific help in getting out from under Social Security offset withholding due to a student loan default. He suggests getting in touch with the National Consumer Law Center or The National Center on Law and Elder Rights.
ABOUT AMAC
The Association of Mature American Citizens [AMAC] [https://amac.us], with 2 million members, is a vibrant, vital senior advocacy organization that takes its marching orders from its members. We act and speak on their behalf, protecting their interests and offering a practical insight on how to best solve the problems they face today. Live long and make a difference by joining us today at https://amac.us/join.
I have this problem Social Security Law 208 states that NO SOCIAL SECURITY MAY BE GARNISHED FOR ANY REASON OTHER THAN TAXES ON WORKING SENIORS. IT ALSO STATES THAT THE LAW MAY NEVER BE CHANGED.
tHE LOAN PAPERS I SIGNED SAID. THE LOAN WOULD BE FORGIVEN–ONLY—FOR PERMANENT DISABILITY. i AM PERMANENT DISABLED. ANOTHER REASON WAS IF YOU DID NOT FINISH SCHOOL AND GET A DEGREE. SINCE I WAS DISABLED JUST BEFORE LAST SEMESTER, I DID NOT FINISH SCHOOL, GET A DEGREE OR BE ABLE TO GET A JOB IN MY FIELD THE 3RD REASON. FIELD WAS NURSING.
YET FOR 20 YEARS I HAVE BEEN HAVING TO FIGHT THEM OFF. OVER $3000 , HOW MANY OTHER SENIORS ARE DISABLED AS THEY TAKE OUR MONEY AWAY AND LEAVE US DESTITUTE
AND TO RUB SALT IN THE WOUNDS THEY WANT TO [GIVE] IT TO ILLEGALS
THIS IS NOT RIGHT AND NEEDS TO BE STOPPED. THEY ARE VIOLATING THE LAW TO DO THIS WHY CAN’T THOSE OF YOU WITH POWER DO SOMETHING TO GET IT STOPPED.
I support Mss. Faith’s position if the Law she identifies is accurately described.
Now to my opinion: I do not believe any tax dollars or public funding of any type should be used to pay off any individuals or Companies financial obligations. Individuals and Companies make a personal choice to enter into “Debt “ and those entities are responsible for their “Debts”, not we the tax payers.
I believe it was wrong when the Government bailed out the Auto Industry on the last two occasions and I believe Debt is an individuals/Companies responsibility.
The Government Debt we owe is wicked enough without We the People or our Government setting Taxpayers up to take on any other additional unnecessary debts.
A student loan that is indexed for inflation? Our money is not worth as much as it used to be.
My feeling is … you borrowed the money, you pay it back. Just because you made it to retirement age doesn’t relieve you of your responsibility. Im tired of hearing all the poor me stories from former students, that borrowed money with no regard for how they’d repay it.
Would love to know how many of these College Grads, millions in debt, have Business/Economic Degrees !
Student loan forgiveness would not be fair to those that paid their tuition and their student loans off. Would we get a refund indexed to inflation? I don’t think so. I would probably be okay with forgiving loans of those who could not pay due to disability. Disability insurance coverage should be included with student loans for this reason.
We had student debt when I graduated from college but we sacrificed early in my working career to pay the debt. I have low tolerance for those who intentionally neglect their debt obligations.
How do you get to a retirement age and still owe for a student loan? Fess up you deadbeats!
Yes the numbers need to be adjusted. They were going to take 79% of my income. I have been in the “process” of getting this forgiven for a year and 8 months, as I am disabled now. It is an amazingly arduous process’
I don’t know why people can think of retiring when at 60+ they have student loans.What the heck did they do since their 20’s? I was glad for my student loans in the 60-70’s but I paid them off on regular schedule.No I am unsympathetic for early retirement and now whining about student debt.Did they buy a car or a TV, entertainment stuff.Bad enough we let students take loans in art/humanities/social work etc as millennials and they want us to forgive their loans.EVERY body wants someone else to pay for their individually signed up for loans, healthcare and heaven knows what else.Sorry no sympathy here and furthermore most of these loans are federally given how unpatriotic as well
They had a lifetime to repay. They needed to honor their debt.
If you owe it you should pay it! Either voluntary or by force. It is hypocritical to look at the younger generation and scold them for something older Americans have abused; being irresponsible through ones’ 20s,30s,40s,50s years of age does not release us from the consequences. Bottom line YOU owe it, you have basically been on a from of welfare and are now wanting the rest of America to pay for your education.
I’m a senior and two my children are paying back hundreds of thousands of loans due to them putting themselves through college to be a doctor and an engineer. Now they’re starting life in debt raising families but not whining. Why should seniors be off the hook when they knew going in that they had to it pay back? What a lot of people don’t realize is the interest rate is sky high, sometimes being over 11%. I don’t think the government should MAKE money off those paying back their loans.
My husband and I paid off his student loans in the 1980’s when the economy stunk and jobs were hard to find. You pay back what you borrowed period. We were not wealthy , but we were frugal.
I do not feel sorry for those now having social security garnished. Looks like Responsibility and moral issues aren’t just for younger generations.
I went into online under disability, thus the govt paid my schooling under disability. Yes, seniors with disabilities, now, can apply, and it’s a three to four year process. I am thankful it was there when my husband was stricken with cancer and eventually wad taken from me.
If you owe it, pay it. If one group is forgiven for college debt, others will expect the same (millenials). Taxpayers can’t be expected to fund poor financial planning of some.
Let’s not confuse 50-year-olds who have 15 years yet before they earn Social Security and Social Security seniors. Regardless, a person who has had the advantage of a college education for all these years should pay off the debt. What has age to do with any of this?
Your not Congress. But they should be held accountable regardless! You don’t get to do the stupid things they do that the rest of us pay for! Your borrowed the money, YOU pay it back! Unless you go to work for the Peace Corps or in New York State, become a teacher for at least four years (I think)….. What kind of example are you for the following generation! IN addition I hope your credit score suffers. Since your retired (and obviously retarded), let me remind you it is your responsibility to keep your affairs yours. You want to be a Socialist ….. Go to Cuba, Mexico, or another place that will accept you. Your not worth keeping! I borrowed money for myself and my kids when I was in my fifties. I paid it all back! You should do the same. That’s the “system”
I’ve heard that when you die the student loans that you have are excused. Until you do pass away, they still have to be paid.
I read all the comments regarding “”repaying”” educational loans. Our family motto was always, you borrow – you repay, even if it was a dollar.
The question needs to be asked….. what did you do with the MONEY??? Did you squander it or did you actually use it for education purposes. I’ve met persons who proudly announced that the loan was used as a downpayment for a home, which has increased over the years.
Also, who is NOT DISABLED some way or other!!!! I managed to contract polio at the age of 8, twice breast cancer survivor, have PPS (post polio syndrom ), survived a stroke and recently diagnosed with glaucoma….NO I AM NOT DISABLED!!!!
So pay off your loans!!!!
Pay your debt
I simply cannot imagine a person having student loans and not having paid them off before reaching SS age! That reeks of plain human sorryness. I am against the push today by so many politicians and leftists to just forgive and write off the debt of school loans. What’s next for our younger generations? Should they, after sufficient whining about how unfair it is, get their defaulted mortgages or car loans paid off by taxpayers? Oh, well, whatever not? After all, we taxpayer’s are spending over $100 billion annually to provide welfare, free education, free medical care for tens of millions of illegal alien noncitizens that should NOT even be in our country and millions of foreign immigrants here legally but not US citizens all while we continue to import 2-3 million more of such every year. Oh, and let’s just continue, as congress does, to ignore our $21 TRILLION bational debt and kerp borrowing money to give to other nations and provide freebies for EVERYONE including foreign noncitizens in our country. If I were a citizen of any other country (except 3-4) I’d want to move to the US, too, because foreigners are so well treated here, not like a citizen but even better.
I never received one cent from a student loan to pay my way through college. It was called get a job, make your own way, and pay for it. I worked one full time job, one part time job, went to college (some of it junior college to avoid high 4 year college cost), did Army correspondence courses to continue my rank progression in the Army National Guard, and did billings for a water system as a 2nd part-time job. I have absolutely NO SYMPATHY for anyone on social security and still owe student loans. I was in my 30’s when I got my diploma and walked away from college debt free. PAY UP or HAVE YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY GARNISHED. You can always get a job while you are on social security and pay it off. Pay your debt and reimburse the tax payers that probably never got the chance to go to college, but payed your way by working. Stop Whinning and Pay your debt. You made it, pay it. Keep It Simple Stupid with a college degree.
Did we have such a problem with student loan payback before the government took over student loans in July 2010? I dont remember hearing that much about this student debt before then. Should the government be in the loan business?
We paid our school debts and our 2 kids college debts by working two jobs each and now that we are retired you want our money for the deadbeats .. no way.. get a job no matter what age you are and figure out how to pay your own debts- stay out of my pocket
My husband’s student loan was paid off back in the 90’s as he was the main bread-winner. I did not start going back to school (and then only part-time) until kids were raised, educated or in the military and could fend for themselves adequately. So, by the time I was finished with my education, it was close to retirement time. FedStudentLoan has been very good about helping me with payments commensurate with my retirement income. Please don’t always assume that education was gotten when one is 19-22 years old. Some of us were QUITE a bit older when we started. That said, I agree: I borrowed it, I’ll pay it back.
I’m with you Jerr – well said!!
A bit more info might help. Are these FAFSA loans, Staffords and Perkins, taken directly by the Senior? Why would any elder person do this? To get a degree so as to develop into a better paying job in your 50s or 60s? I’m not saying this never happens, but its got to be rare. I’d guess what this is referring to are Federal Direct or Private PLUS loans when the student cannot make the loan repayments? In either case, he who makes a loan commitment has the responsibility to repay it. The primary reason we have such a national student debt problem is because the Federal Direct lending system is essentially lending to children. 18-20 year olds have no concept of future debt obligations and what this will mean to their monthly cash flows. I didn’t at that age, and fortunately for me, student loans back then were hard to get without a cosigner. But as long as we let children make these kinds of life decisions, the nation student debt load will only increase.
Part of the problem for many borrowers is that under Clinton we had a new program given many of us. Well how nice of them to not even count the years we already paid into what we borrowed. the new program only counts the years you got into it. so for me ive got 2200 left and seriously ive been chasing this for years because i took the Clinton crap and they dump the 10 years i paid into sallie mae. so im screwed paying way more than i should and if that aint enough the brats that owe above 7500 can get it dumped but not me. how fair is that. so basically ive been paying on a simple loan of about 15,000 for over 20 years with interest. stupid. rip off while foreigners get to come here and get freebies.
I worked my A$$ off to get through college! Sometimes having 2 jobs! I didn’t borrow money to pay for my college. What wasn’t covered by scholarships, was paid out of my wages. Why are seniors having long ago unpaid college loans? What were you doing for the 30-40 yrs you worked that these remain unpaid?
No doubt the loans need to be paid by the borrower, but I’d suggest re-financing with a non-government agency. Many times you can get a better interest rate, and they can work with you on your payment schedule.
If the government didn’t guarantee every loan private lenders would help potential students evaluate their ability to repay their borrowing. Like most things the government is involved in it over estimates the benefits and under plays the problems.
Come on, they should have paid them already. Or better yet, don’t take a loan you have no intention of re-paying. No one forced you to take the loan, and that money was from taxpayers. Don’t want to repay, then work your way through school, other people do it. Sad to see the “entitled” mentality was alive and well even when these people took loans. Hey, I took a loan and I paid it back as soon as I got a job. No excuse for this, and it’s a terrible example to the young.
student loans were a way for financial institutions to make money. then students realized they would be offered ‘a bit more money’ than what they needed for books and tuition and it became a ‘pay off when you graduate’ situation and then people just did not make payments and interest accrued and some just defaulted (two attorneys in San Francisco were found to be making over $500,000.00 a year and had never made one payment toward student loans. That is fraud!!! Colleges should post exactly what the expenses are and what jobs are available for students to work so as to reduce tuition costs (yard work, food services, etc.) College loans were not set up to be ‘free lunch.’ they were set up as assistance and a money maker for the lenders. anyone that has borrowed should have paid back, made arrangements for repayment or used their earned salaries to pay off the loans. How many never graduated and yet have student loans? it should not be forgiven but paid back….taxpayers are gouged enough. the people ‘borrowing’ knew it was a LOAN, NOT A FREEBIE. IT NEEDS REPAID. Check with politicians/their families, foreign students and other groups to see who needs to repay also and then do some collecting. have to wonder how many students that now owe for student loans also have parents that never paid back the loan/interest. why was the government not following this more closely and collecting using social security numbers. free lunch is NOT free.
It is nice that Amac is trying to help Seniors not have their Social Security decreased because of unpaid federal education loans. However in today’s Article, (June 27th,2019) we are told about Bernie Sanders saying Free College for everyone if he is elected President, and smart people are saying, no way. Now why haven’t these Social Security aged people paid off their loans during the time that they were working????????
Bernie Sanders has cornered the “Millenial” vote because of the abusive student loan issue. I paid off my college and graduate school loans but before marrying me, my wife became unemployed and was sanctioned and penalized repeatedly by the Federal Loan contracted-collection agencies. For those unfamiliar with the facts, under U.S. Dept. Education direction, interest is calculated by the Federal collection agencies on principal, penalties, and prior interest owed which causes an education loan balance to double or “balloon” very quickly. This is usury which is unlawful in every U.S. state. The U.S. Dept. of Education has stated by official memo that the Equal Protection Clause of the Consitution does not apply to Federal practices and that the Federal Government and its collection agencies do not need to follow the “lead” of the 50 States and Territories in its collection practices. The U.S. Dept. of Education attorneys have obviously failed to read U.S. Supreme Court Case Law. In Bolling vs Sharpe (1954), the School Board of Washington D.C. (a Federal agency) continued to practice racial segregation AFTER the U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Brown vs Board of Education. The D.C. Board of Education’s argument was that as a Federal agency, Brown vs. Board of Education did not apply to them. The U.S. Supreme Court DISAGREED in its Bolling vs Sharpe judgment. The sole threat faced by the Trump Administration is a stampede to the polls in 2020 by “leftist” Millenials who want their usurious student loans remedied. Marxist-Leninist, “Bernie”, has offered to cancel their debts and thus buy the Millenial vote. My best advice to the Trump Administration is to reign back the usurious U.S. Dept. of Education and step in line with the collection practices of the other 50 States and Territories. Current usurious collection practices condoned by the U.S. Dept. of Education would NOT prevail in a U.S. Supeme Court challenge.