{"id":823106,"date":"2025-01-30T10:14:10","date_gmt":"2025-01-30T16:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/30\/as-natural-disasters-intensify-affected-student-loan-borrowers-have-options\/"},"modified":"2025-01-30T10:14:10","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T16:14:10","slug":"as-natural-disasters-intensify-affected-student-loan-borrowers-have-options","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/30\/as-natural-disasters-intensify-affected-student-loan-borrowers-have-options\/","title":{"rendered":"As natural disasters intensify, affected student loan borrowers have options"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Federal student loan<\/a>\u00a0borrowers affected by the\u00a0wildfires ripping across Southern California<\/a>\u00a0have relief options if they\u2019re worried about keeping up with their payments as they recover.<\/p>\n

The same holds true for\u00a0other people<\/a>\u00a0with education debt who find themselves grappling with extreme weather and climate disasters.<\/p>\n

\u201cBorrowers impacted by natural disasters may qualify for temporary relief from student loan payments,\u201d said Carolina Rodriguez, director of the Education Debt Consumer Assistance Program, based in New York.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a good idea for borrowers to familiarize themselves with the relief available to them in case they should need it, experts said.<\/p>\n

There was a record number \u2014 28 \u2014 of billion-dollar disasters in the U.S. during 2023, including wildfires, droughts and tornados,\u00a0according<\/a>\u00a0to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. By November of 2024, there were 24 confirmed weather and climate disaster events with losses also exceeding $1 billion each.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what federal student loan holders should know about their options during a natural disaster.<\/p>\n

How a natural disaster forbearance works<\/h2>\n

The Heroes Act of 2003 provides\u00a0\u201cseveral forms of relief\u201d to certain student loan borrowers who live in or are employed in an area that is affected by a natural disaster, said higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz. Likely one of the most helpful options will be a natural disaster forbearance.<\/p>\n

\u201cClimate change has affected the frequency and severity of natural disasters, making these waivers\u00a0and forbearances increasingly important,\u201d Kantrowitz said.<\/p>\n

At\u00a0Studentaid.gov<\/a>, the U.S. Education Department says its federal student loan servicers check the\u00a0Federal Emergency Management Agency<\/a>\u00a0website at least once each business day to identify all impacted areas connected to a disaster declaration.<\/p>\n

In many cases, the Department of Education will automatically put qualifying borrowers into a natural disaster forbearance, Kantrowitz said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBorrowers generally do not need to apply for this,\u201d he added. Still, borrowers who want to make sure their payments are paused might want to contact their loan servicer.<\/p>\n

The natural disaster forbearance lasts for up to 90 days, according to the Education Department. In some cases, borrowers will be granted 30-day extensions. However, the forbearance can\u2019t exceed 12 monthly billing cycles from the date of the disaster. (Loan interest continues to accrue during the payment pause.)<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, those who want to decline the automatic natural disaster forbearance because they\u2019re able to make their payments should contact the Education Department to do so.<\/p>\n

Relief for current students, delinquent borrowers<\/h2>\n

Borrowers who are students at the time of a natural disaster may continue to qualify for an\u00a0in-school deferment<\/a>, Kantrowitz said, even if they\u2019re not able to complete the school year.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re in default on your student loans and impacted, you or a family member can contact the Education Department and request a three-month suspension of collection activity.<\/p>\n

‘Documentation may not be necessary’<\/h2>\n

Your loan servicer may request certain documents to verify your eligibility for the forbearance, but you should be granted deadline extensions if the disaster makes accessing such paperwork difficult or impossible.<\/p>\n

\u201cDocumentation may not be necessary, given that documentation is often lost during a natural disaster,\u201d Kantrowitz said. \u201cYou just need to show that you are an affected individual. The request can be made orally and does not need to be in writing.\u201d (Showing that you\u2019re impacted may be as easy as providing the address of your home or workplace.)<\/p>\n

Climate change has affected the frequency and severity of natural disasters, making these waivers\u00a0and forbearances increasingly important.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve lost any of your student loan records in a disaster, you can access the information through your\u00a0Studentaid.gov<\/a>\u00a0account.<\/p>\n

Ineligible borrowers may have other relief options<\/h2>\n

If the natural disaster is not federally declared or borrowers aren\u2019t deemed eligible for the forbearance for some reason, they can still request a temporary payment pause by applying for\u00a0a general forbearance<\/a>\u00a0with their servicer, EDCAP\u2019s Rodriguez said.<\/p>\n

Borrowers should keep in mind that interest can continue to accrue on their debt during a forbearance, and that they might not get credit toward a debt forgiveness program while they\u2019re not making payments, she added.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll likely have fewer disaster relief options with your private student loans, Rodriguez said.<\/p>\n

Still, she said, \u201cit is essential to reach out to private lenders as soon as possible to explore available relief and prevent delinquency or default.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

<\/span>Annie Nova, CNBC<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Annie Nova is a reporter on the personal finance team, covering education. Prior to CNBC, she was an editorial intern at MONEY. She reported in the South Bronx for two years for local newspapers. Her work has also appeared on WNYC and in\u00a0The New York Post<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Annie Nova, CNBC
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Federal student loan\u00a0borrowers affected by the\u00a0wildfires ripping across Southern California\u00a0have relief options if they\u2019re worried about keeping up with their payments as they recover. The same holds true for\u00a0other people\u00a0with education debt who find themselves grappling with extreme weather and climate disasters. \u201cBorrowers impacted by natural disasters may qualify for temporary relief from student loan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":823107,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68429,23506],"tags":[128529,13168],"class_list":{"0":"post-823106","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-disasters","8":"category-natural","9":"tag-disasters","10":"tag-natural"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=823106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/823107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=823106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=823106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=823106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}