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Department of Education suspends student loan payments throughout COVID-19 outbreak

On March 13th, President Trump announced that student loan interest would be waived during the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to support people who were struggling financially at this time (you can see our original article here). At the time, there were minimal details about how this would be operationalized by the Department of Education. On March 20th, President Trump provided some more guidance on this and clarified that federal student loan payments would be suspended at this time.

How to suspend your student loan payments?

To suspend your federal student loans, you can go to your online federal student loan portal and request a forbearance. You can also call, but putting in the request online should be quicker. President Trump stated that the suspension would be for 60 days, but could be potentially longer if necessary.

What about private student loans or loans held by my college or university?

The Trump administration policy only applies to federal student loans. If you have borrowed private student loans or other types of loans, you should get in touch with the lender to see if they are able to offer assistance.

For everything you need to know about finding student loans, check out Scholarships360’s Ultimate Student Loan Guide!