Barragán Briefs: Updates on Student Loan Collections and Support for the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino Act

Advisory: Education Department to Collect Defaulted Student Loans starting May 2025

Washington, D.C. — Rep. Nanette Barragán (CA-44) April 24 has advised that the U.S. Department of Education will resume collections on defaulted federal student loans, starting May 5, 2025.

If you hold a federal student loan and have missed any loan payments, paid late, or have made incomplete payments, you may be referred to a federal debt collection service or enrolled in an income-based repayment plan. For student loan holders unable to make payments on their student loans, the Department of Education will move forward with involuntary collections. This means that you may see automatic deductions from your paycheck, Social Security benefits, or tax refunds to cover loan payments.

After the COVID-19 pandemic affected students’ abilities to repay federal student loans, the Biden Administration offered federal student loan borrowers an additional year in which they would be shielded from the negative impacts of missed and late payments. Now, the Trump Administration is putting an end to Biden-era protections for federal student loan holders and putting over one-fifth of our country’s 43 million borrowers at risk of having their wages, Social Security benefits and tax refunds collected involuntarily.

What you can do

If you are missing payment(s): 

Log onto your services portal to pay the missing amount. To learn more about which repayment plan may work best for your financial situation, please see Repayment plans below.             

If you are out of work: 

You may request an unemployment deferment with your servicer. Other deferment plans such as the graduate fellowship deferment, military service and post-active-duty deferment, and the cancer treatment deferment may also be available to you. 

If you don’t qualify for a deferment:

Student loan borrowers who choose to request a forbearance will not have to pay their loan payments for up to three years. Interest will still accrue during the forbearance period. 

Repayment plans: 

Income-driven repayment plans may help you to pay your loan bills in a timeline that best works for your finances. Capped at a monthly rate of a portion of your discretionary income, your student debt may be forgiven after payment for a designated number of years.               

Details: For more information on how to pay your missing payment(s) or to find out which financial option may best work for you, visit here. You can also call Rep. Nanette Barragán’s office at 310-831-1799.

Rep. Barragán’s Statement on the United States Hispanic Business Council and Latino Organizations’ Support for the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino Act

Washington, D.C. — Rep. Nanette Barragán (CA-44) released the following statement April 23, in response to the United States Hispanic Business Council and Latino organizations’ support for the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino Act.

“Thank you to the United States Hispanic Business Council, Javier Palomarez, and the various Hispanic Chamber and business leaders for their dedication and support for the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino Act (H.R. 1330). This bipartisan legislation would establish a museum on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to recognize the achievements and contributions of the Latino American community and tell our American stories.

Latino Americans, who make up about one-fifth of America’s population and are the largest ethnic community in the country, deserve to have our history told in a location that signifies our role in the ongoing American story – on the National Mall. 

The support from the United States Hispanic Business Council and other Latino organizations, and their efforts to work with Members from both sides of the aisle, demonstrates the broad coalition working to make the museum a reality. I look forward to a day where we can celebrate with our community, and all Americans, the opening of the National Museum of the American Latino.”