WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 (UPI) ─ An increasing number of student loan borrowers are struggling to repay their education debt as outstanding student loan balances nationwide increased by $13 billion in the third quarter of 2015, according to the New York Federal Reserve.
The number of private and student loan borrowers who are at least 90 day delinquent in payments rose to 11.6 percent in the three months leading up to October, up from 11.5 percent the previous quarter. The Fed said the 11.6 percent number likely understates delinquency rates “because about half of these loans are currently in deferment, in grace periods or in forbearance and therefore temporarily not in the repayment cycle.”
“This implies that among loans in the repayment cycle delinquency rates are roughly twice as high,” New York Fed economists said.
The information comes as a growing number of people are enrolling in the multitude of student loan repayment options. Some $103 billion of the more than $1.2 trillion in outstanding student loan debt is in default, the Department of Education said.
Income-based plans that include Income-Based Repayment and Pay As You Earn allows enrollees to pay as little as nothing and still remain current on their debt.
