NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The weeks are winding down until student loan payments resume in early October and thousands of Tennesseans say they're not getting enough information.
This is an issue that's also felt by millions across the country, because many say the process to get information has not been easy.
Teresa Murray, who is a consumer watchdog with U.S. Public Interest group says if you have questions about your loans or how to start paying, you should not use online search engines to get answers. Scammers are aware of the challenges that borrowers are going through and they are taking advantage, which could make an already expensive process even worse.
Budget cuts to the department of education’s finances plays a part in the difficulty of getting information.
“They've been told to reduce their staffing, reduce their hours, not supposed to have evening and weekend hours that they would normally have, and then you have a lot of the servicers whose contracts actually expired during the pandemic,” said Murray.
It’s important to know that your student loan servicer could have changed, so you should look up your servicer on studentaid.gov. She says one of the best things to do is call student loan servicers early to get the latest update.
She says getting the help you need could take some time, so getting things started now is better than later.
"Normally the servicers are dealing with like a few million people a month in a normal month and now it's like 40 million people are trying to call and get through and get answers and it's just a hot mess," she continued.
Murray says things will only get worse in the next ten days. Don’t ignore your debt and make sure all of your information is easily accessible. It may feel like it's been forever since these payments were active, but she says planning ahead is the best way to go so you're not behind.
