Student loan wage garnishment is back, and a half-million Floridians are at risk
If you’re behind on paying your student loans, the federal government might soon come for your paycheck.
After an almost six-year hiatus, the Department of Education told the Washington Post that on Jan. 7 it would resume garnishing wages of those in default on their federal student loans.
That means the federal government can seize up to 15% of your post-tax paycheck if you’re more than 270 days behind on repaying your federal student loans.
More than a half-million Floridians meet the legal definition of being in default, according to Protect Borrowers, a debtor advocacy organization that analyzed federal student loan data. Nationwide, the organization pegs the total number of defaulted borrowers at close to 9 million.
And for those people, particularly those living in higher-cost areas like Miami, losing a portion of their paycheck could exacerbate affordability struggles, said Aissa Canchola Bañez, policy director at Protect Borrowers.
“If you’re struggling to keep up with your rent, with the price of groceries, you’re also struggling to keep up with the rising cost of your student loan bill,” she said.
The Department of Education had told the Post that it would send out the first 1,000 garnishment notices to those in default last week and scale up from there.
What is wage garnishment?
Once the Department notifies a borrower that their wages are to be garnished, the person in default has 30 days to respond before the government orders their employer to withhold a portion — up to 15% — of their post-tax paycheck.
“The federal government, as collector, has some of the most aggressive tools at their disposal that no other kind of traditional lender or creditor has,” said Canchola Bañez. Beyond taking part of a worker’s paycheck, it can also zero any tax refunds and even dock a percentage of their Social Security benefits.
Unlike other creditors, like banks or credit card companies, the federal government can employ those collection actions without a court order.
Once the 30-day grace period has passed, the government orders the defaulted borrower’s employer to withhold a portion of their worker’s paycheck until the borrower gets out of default or until the loan is paid off.
“Wage garnishing is tremendously disrupting, to say the least,” said Howard Dvorkin, founder of Debt.com. “Garnishment is coming right out of the top when you get paid. There’s no float, you can’t play games.”
What do the numbers say?
In Florida alone, almost 2.8 million borrowers owe $113 billion, federal data shows. And according to Protect Borrowers’ analysis, roughly 22% of them — 580,655 — are in default, owing just north of $14 billion.
There were just over 45 million federal student-loan holders nationwide as of the end of last year, and they owed a combined $1.7 trillion, according to data from the federal government.
Almost 9 million — or 20% — of them were in default, according to Protect Borrowers’ analysis of federal data. It’s been more than 270 days — the federal government’s definition of being in default on student loans — since those debtors made payment on their more than $208 billion in total debt.
Those borrowers are vulnerable to wage garnishment — and their ranks are swelling. Since 2025, more than 3.6 million student loans have entered default, according to Protect Borrowers.
That’s one every nine seconds. And it’s three times the number of defaults — 1.22 million — in 2019, one every 26 seconds.
The country’s worsening affordability crisis is partially to blame for the uptick, said Canchola Bañez. But a big part of the problem is confusion around loan repayments. For nearly six years, due to the economic fallout during and after the pandemic, the government didn’t financially punish those in default on their loans — taking them off many people’s radars.
“I’ve talked to folks who literally don’t know if their loan is in default or not,” said Canchola Bañez.
What’s more, she added, many borrowers try to renegotiate their loans with the Department of Education by enrolling in afffordable repayment plans or asking for debt forgiveness. But the Department is heavily backlogged. More than 800,000 such applications are currently stuck in the pipeline.
All the while, the people who took out those loans are expected to keep paying. “You could potentially see folks fall into default as they’re desperately waiting to access the repayment options afforded to them under federal law,” Canchola Bañez said.
Worried about wage garnishment? Here’s what to do
First, said Dvorkin, check on the status of your loan to see if you’re in default or not.
If you are, try to pay your way out of default before garnishment starts. You can try to consolidate your loan — basically rolling your unpaid debts into one new one with lower monthly payments. You can also seek loan rehabilitation, which can return your debt to good standing if you make a series of agreed-upon payments to your loan provider.
If you do receive a garnishment notice, act fast. You have 30 days to dispute the debt or try to enter into a repayment plan — though, again, wait times could be long, Dvorkin noted.
Visit StudentAid.gov to check on the status of your federal student loan and seek repayment help.
This story was produced with financial support from supporters including The Green Family Foundation Trust and Ken O’Keefe, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners. The Miami Herald maintains full editorial control of this work.
