The resumption of US government debt collection for student loans, following pandemic-era forbearance, has precipitated a precipitous decline in credit scores for millions of Americans, with delinquency reporting to major credit bureaus after a mere 90 days of non-payment engendering credit rating impacts commensurate with those of personal bankruptcy, thereby potentially precluding access to, or drastically inflating the cost of, essential financial instruments such as automobile loans, mortgages, and credit cards; indeed, Federal Reserve Bank of New York data from Q1 2025 indicates a substantial credit score diminution among over 3 million student loan recipients, subsequent to the cessation of the US Department of Education's COVID-19-induced moratorium – initiated in March 2020 and briefly extended via a one-year grace period upon its 2023 expiration – and the Trump administration's subsequent reinstatement of aggressive debt recovery measures in late 2024.