With the pause on federal student loan payments set to expire at the end of the month and no announcement yet from President Joe Biden about whether he will issue another extension, borrowers and lenders are growing increasingly frustrated over the lack of clear policy direction, NBCNews.com reported. Although most debt forgiveness advocates, policy experts and loan servicers don’t expect Biden to restart federal loan payments so close to the midterm elections, the White House’s drawn-out decision-making process has led to uncertainty for both borrowers trying to plan their finances and servicers who are unsure whether they need to start notifying loan holders about coming payments. “Education Secretary [Miguel] Cardona said he would give borrowers ample notice — we are now just three weeks away from a financial cliff,” said Natalia Abrams, the president and founder of the Student Debt Crisis Center. Biden has extended the federal student loan moratorium, which began under former President Donald Trump, four times. The White House hasn't said whether he will continue to extend it. The White House didn’t reply to a request for comment. Debt forgiveness advocates say that inflation is already putting a financial strain on many borrowers and that Biden’s delayed announcement is unnecessarily contributing to peoples’ financial anxiety. Adding to the uncertainty is the lack of clarity about whether and when he will cancel some student loans. “It is really confusing for borrowers and servicers to navigate,” said Kyra Taylor, an attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. “There’s this question of ‘when will I have to make payments again?’ And then there’s a secondary question of ‘how much am I going to have to repay with cancellation looming?’”
