Debt strike: How student-loan borrowers are finding ways to stop payments without defaulting [View all]

The White House says President Joe Biden will decide by the end of August whether to extend the pandemic-era pause on student loan repayment — and how much, if any, student debt to cancel.

But many struggling borrowers are already pushing back, finding ways to stop their loan payments without actually defaulting. René Christian Moya, an organizer with the Debt Collective, says these actions add up to a “debt strike.” Through such a strike, Moya says, debtors gain collective power, which he hopes will lead to full cancellation of all federal student debt.

The Debt Collective’s previous organizing, in 2015, helped lead the federal government to eliminate millions of dollars in outstanding student loans. Moya told Capital & Main why it is important for those overwhelmed by student loans to act, and how to do so, both for themselves and to reform a failed loan system he says now does more harm than good.

René Christian Moya: What we want to achieve with the debt strike is to reframe and politicize what people are already doing — safely getting down to $0 a month payments. Until we get full student debt cancellation, we want people to withhold payment and declare themselves as part of the strike.

https://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/story/news/2022/08/09/student-loan-debt-when-refusing-pay-solution/10280285002/