As the talks are continuing to extend the student loan payment pause there are lenders who want these payments to resume and in fact, are lobbying for this to happen. Large private loan lenders are lobbying congress to resume payments on May 1st. According to Yahoo Finance, large lenders such as SoFi and CommonBond are arguing as society gets back to normal that student payments are a part of that normalcy. It has also been reported that these lenders are expected to lose $20 million in profits if the pause continues.
However, with inflation at its highest since 1982 at 7.5% and gas prices being higher than they were since the 2008 housing crisis adding student loan payments would not be ideal for American budgets as it has shown that salary increase for 2022 is only expected to increase an average of 3.4%.
For the 40 million borrowers who are struggling to pay their student loan debts for a myriad of reasons having this pause on their payments has been helpful in maintaining their budgets as well as allocation to other necessary expenses.
There has not been word on if the Biden Administration will extend the May 1st deadline however, The Congressional Progressive Caucus and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), the chairs of the congressional committees overseeing education, are calling for the extension of delaying student loan payments and clear guidelines of student loan forgiveness in spite of the lobbying from private lenders.
Shanda Gantt 