Appearing in The New York Times on September 19, 2025, Ann Carrns talks to Abby Shafroth, the managing director of advocacy at the National Consumer Law Center about how borrowers that are already in default must contact the Education Department’s debt resolution group to get back on track.
You can either “rehabilitate” the loans, which involves making nine affordable payments over 10 months. Or you can consolidate them into a new loan. With consolidation, the default and the missed payments remain on your credit report and influence your score. With rehabilitation, the default is removed, but your credit history still shows late payments that your lender reported before the default.
“It’s not going to get you where you were, but it’ll get better over time,” said Abby Shafroth, the managing director of advocacy at the National Consumer Law Center. “There’s no magic bullet here.”
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