On his first day in office, President Biden signed a range of executive actions including two that will affect the financial lives of millions of Americans. One directs the Education Department to extend the pause on federal student loan payments, and the other directs the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to extend the federal eviction moratorium, the Wall Street Journal reported. Both measures were put in place last year in response to economic hardships caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The executive order for federal student loans directs the Education Department to extend the pause on principal payments and interest accrual for direct federal loans until at least Sept. 30, 2021. Loan repayments and interest accrual has been paused for borrowers with federal student loans since March 13, 2020. Collection on defaulted loans has been suspended as well. More than 22 million borrowers with direct federal student loans paused payments during this period, according to data analyzed by Mark Kantrowitz, publisher and vice president of research at savingforcollege.com. Many borrowers were hoping for an executive order from President Biden that would forgive some of their debt. During his campaign, Mr. Biden proposed forgiving $10,000 in debt for every American with federal student loans. In recent days, Mr. Biden and his transition team said he was unlikely to use executive action for loan forgiveness.
