It continues to gather interest. If you don’t pay it down, you will have a larger loan in the future.

Pay your debt.

Student loans are collected by contracted third-party loan servicing organisations, not the Government.

If you don't pay, the servicer can initiate legal proceedings against you on their own regardless of what's happening within the Education Department.

Don't gamble with your future. You should have never stopped paying. Your loan is probably in a worse position now than you were 4 years ago due to interest. The longer you wait the worse your situation will be.

I hate that, as someone who was truly on top of this 4 years ago and submitting paperwork for public service forgiveness and all, I have no fucking clue as to what is happening now or what's next. So, as someone who definitely owes money on that, and had a kid right before the pandemic hit, and is desperately adrift keeping shit together, I really hope someone has a great ELI5 coming on this thread lol

I moved all my debt from a third party to being a government loan. Does that change anything?

Yes, that is the wisest move you could have mmade considering your circumstances as I understand. I am not an accountant, lawyer or professional of any kind that's relevant. Some of what I say here may be incorrect. To the best of my knowledge it's accurate. I am someone who had the entirety of their student loans forgiven, thanks to president Joe Biden. It took a large amount of time spent reading legalese, time on the phone with loan servicer representatives and way too much time worrying about shit which I could not change quickly or easily.

First thing: No one should ever be trapped in a situation, where they feel they must choose between bills/food/rent or paying loans granted for educational purposes and enabled/encouraged by the government. No one. Honestly it's ironic in my opinion, that there is a lack of educational resources available for mitigating debt gained solely for the purpose of education.

Thankfully, there are also many, many rules in place, made to prevent your situation and others like it from occurring.

1. Call your loan servicer or spend time on their website.

If you suck on the phone, go to their website. If the website sucks or is confusing, take short notes and write down any questions. The most likely best option for you is an Income Driven Repayment plan. IDR. However, some people may not qualify due to whatever loan scams were available when the loan was first taken out.

2. The servicer representatives are paid regardless of what you do.

The person you talk to is not getting a commision. Your payments do not go to them. They are there to answer your questions. Their job is to keep the account out of default. They (probably) do not want you to go into default or declare bankruptcy. They (hopefully) want you to communicate, work with them and eventually make payments or contribute to society (more on that later). The government owns your debt. That debt is also probably insured or negligable. The government probably does not NEED your balance in full on time. They have other ways of generating income, like literally generating physical currency. Having wages garnished and getting drops in your credit score are from not doing anything and gnoring the debt and their notices.

3. IDR.

On an IDR they will look at your income and any other expenses you might have. Some things count in your favor like paying your electric bill and rent, other things are irrelevant like a nyetflix subscription or paying for ubers. They determine through algorithms or math or something if you can afford to make payments or not. If you are truly in dire finanacial stress, you probably will get a deferment if you aren't already on one.

4. There are other debt forgiveness programs.

If you work as a teacher you can get loans forgiven. Same goes for certain types of public service. There are other repayment plan options. Check studentaid.gov, it has a forgiveness page with a wealth of information. It isn't always easy to understand because there is a lot of nuance and circumstances covered. You can try calling their hotline number too but I had better luck with the servicer. Mine were forgiven due to being totally and permanently disabled. I had no idea it was an option.

5. Conclusion.

There are other comments here basically saying "jUsT pAy it" which aren't contributing to the conversation at all. They should be treated as what they are: trolls and losers. Fuck them. They deserve nothing, not a second glance, not a reply, not even a downvote. Fuck. Those. Pricks.

Good luck, don't let your past define your future. Unless you want it to.

Start paying, even if it's minimum payments.

You want to be in good standing (if you aren't already) before the changing of the guards. They will garnish your wages, and it'll be worse than whatever you were gonna pay. It'll so fuck up your credit. Check the interest and see if you can at least start tackling that if it's not too egregious. Republicans are securely on the side of the loan companies and there a chance they'll let them loose with the right bribe or two, and it make get worse before it gets any better.

As much as it sucks, we most likely aren't getting student loan forgiveness. It didn't happen while Biden was in the height of his presidency, so it's even less likely to happen now. It's especially not happening now when the next guy up would most likely just repeal anything shoved through for it at the last minute before he takes office.

Switching to a government backed loan like you did should give you more options to potentially continue deferment based off your income, but that is something you would need to sort out with your loan provider. The term is "income based repayment".

An interesting essay I read at some point: https://www.bitsaboutmoney.com/archive/the-waste-stream-of-consumer-finance/

Especially the following sentence:

This effectively makes paying consumer debts basically optional in the United States, contingent on one being sufficiently organized and informed.

Now, I don’t know how risky that would be and whether it also applies to student debt, but the system seems to be pretty wild, to say the least.

Another aspect to consider is whether you anticipate inflation to exceed interest. With all the threats of major tariff wars it might make sense not to pay them/resist paying for as long as possible for that reason alone.

I would first call them and ask for forgiveness. If you were paying diligently and suddenly stopped they may accept.