Could Trump reinstate forgiven student debt? Here’s what experts say

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Could Trump reinstate forgiven student debt? Here’s what experts say

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Since President Joe Biden took office, the Education Department has canceled the federal student loans of nearly 5 million people, totaling $175 billion in relief,

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to the White House.

It has done so mostly by improving existing student loan relief programs that had long been plagued by problems, including the Public Service Loan Forgiveness initiative and income-driven repayment plans.

Those borrowers should be in the clear, experts say.

“Any regulatory changes must be prospective only,” meaning that eliminations to loan forgiveness programs would only impact new borrowers, explained Betsy Mayotte, president of 

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, a nonprofit that helps borrowers navigate the repayment of their debt.

“They aren’t allowed to change regulations retroactively,” she added.

For that reason, even borrowers who have been pursuing forgiveness under an income-driven repayment plan or a program like PSLF, but have not yet received that relief, may be safe.

The terms of a loan, which are spelled out in the

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federal student loan borrowers sign when they take out the debt, can’t be change in the middle of repayment, experts said.

In June, U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree in Wichita, Kansas, described student loan forgiveness as having an “

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,” in his decision to block one of the Biden administration’s relief measures.

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The retraction of student loan forgiveness is incredibly rare, Kantrowitz writes in

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in The College Investor.

For example, in February, some borrowers saw their debts reinstated under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Yet that only occurred because

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, and the borrowers were not yet eligible for the relief.

“Don’t worry,” Kantrowitz said. “The president does not have the legal authority to reinstate forgiven loans.”

Still, borrowers should keep a record of the notices they’ve received about their forgiven debt, and any loan documents showing a $0 balance, Kantrowitz said.

In a new report, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau cites, among the errors reported by student loan borrowers, “

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,” in which a loan servicer tacks a loan balance back on to one’s account.

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