Trump wants to make a complicated process for millions of student-loan borrowers easier - Business Insider

President Donald Trump's administration is preparing to streamline the repayment process for defaulted student-loan borrowers.The Department of Education is moving the platform for managing defaulted student loans from myeddebt.ed.gov to studentaid.gov, Federal Student Aid's main website, a department spokesperson confirmed.An internal document reviewed by Business Insider said that the transition is intended to improve the user experience of defaulted student-loan borrowers by housing all student-loan operations under Federal Student Aid's main website. The old platform, MyEdDebt, will remain operational until the transition is complete, the document said."ED, in partnership with Treasury, continues to make significant investments to improve borrower experience," the Education Department spokesperson told Business Insider.While all non-defaulted federal student-loan operations are facilitated through Federal Student Aid's main website — from enrolling in new repayment plans to getting updates on coming changes — defaulted student-loan borrowers are required to go to a separate platform to seek assistance on repayment.That extra step can be confusing because, even if a borrower has an account with Federal Student Aid, they would have to create a new account with MyEdDebt to resolve their defaulted student loans. Failure to take action could lead to wage garnishment, the seizure of federal benefits and tax refunds, and a hit to their credit score.This transition comes while student-loan defaults are at a record high. Recent data from the Department of Education said that 7.7 million borrowers were in default by the end of 2025 — which happens after more than 270 days of missed federal payments — with another 3 million borrowers in delinquency.The Department of Education paused wage garnishments and tax refund seizures in January, which it said was intended to give the administration more time to implement the coming federal student-loan repayment changes, including new repayment plans and borrowing caps, that will go into effect on July 1.The department is also planning on transferring defaulted student-loan accounts to the Treasury Department, but the timeline for that shift has not yet been announced.