With student-loan repayments resuming this fall, approximately one in five borrowers have some financial risk factor that may make them fall behind on payments, according to new research from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
Americans owe $1.77 trillion in federal and private student loan debt as of the first quarter of 2023.
Nearly 20 percent of borrowers, about 5.9 million, have two or more risk factors that indicate they will struggle with making their student loan payments according to the June 7 CFPB report. That’s up from the estimated 5.1 million borrowers who were at risk in April 2022.
Further, more than one in 13 student-loan borrowers are behind on some other repayment obligations, an increase from before the pandemic….