2026年7月30日 美国东部时间下午2:09 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
作者：梅根·塞鲁洛 记者，MoneyWatch栏目
梅根·塞鲁洛是驻纽约的哥伦比亚广播公司MoneyWatch栏目记者，报道小企业、职场、医疗保健、消费者支出和个人理财话题。她经常亮相哥伦比亚广播公司新闻24小时频道讨论其报道内容。
阅读完整简介
持有联邦学生贷款的人群如果在即将到来的截止日期前采取行动，或许有资格获得月度还款减免。
学生贷款借款人如果在9月30日前报名参加美国教育部的自动还款服务，即可获得最高1%的利率折扣，而常规折扣仅为0.25%。
“此次降息将在借款人考虑新的可负担还款计划并按时偿还贷款时为他们提供帮助，”教育部副部长尼古拉斯·肯特在上个月该增强折扣政策通过时的一份声明中表示。“我们预计这一临时激励措施将提高还款率，并显著改善联邦学生贷款资产组合的整体健康状况。”
以下是你需要了解的信息。
什么是自动还款？
报名参加这项可选服务后，学生贷款借款人的每月还款将自动从其支票或储蓄账户中扣除。报名该服务无需支付任何费用。
目前仅有约40%的学生贷款借款人注册了自动还款服务。教育部希望将这一比例提升至80%左右，恢复至疫情前的水平。
谁有资格享受折扣？
2012年7月1日之后发放的政府贷款借款人有资格获得利率折扣。
已经报名学生贷款自动还款的借款人，以及在9月截止日期前完成报名的借款人，均可享受该折扣。这项仅面向在9月30日前完成自动还款注册的借款人的利率减免政策，将持续至2028年6月30日。
自动还款折扣意味着，例如，一名年利率为6.39%的本科贷款借款人，在2028年年中之前的利率将降至5.39%。
我该如何报名？
借款人可以在其贷款服务机构的网站上免费注册，需要提供银行账户信息以开通每月自动扣款服务。
根据教育部的指导意见，用户应登录其贷款服务机构账户，从导航菜单中选择“自动还款”，输入银行信息并确认还款金额。
有什么弊端吗？
如果账户余额不足，报名自动还款的借款人可能会面临透支费用。
“自动还款可以帮助你避免账单逾期费，但如果你忘记追踪账户余额，在还款日账户余额不足时，你可能需要支付透支或资金不足费用，”消费者金融保护局（CFPB）提醒道。
城市研究所还指出，学生贷款降息带来的经济收益可能并不显著。例如，据这个无党派智库测算，对于一笔5000美元、年利率6.39%的贷款，1个百分点的降息在10年内每月仅能为借款人节省2美元。
不过，对于贷款金额较高的借款人，节省的开支可能会显著增加。据调研机构教育数据倡议组织的数据，联邦学生贷款借款人的平均欠款约为4万美元。
约有950万美国人，即每5名联邦学生贷款借款人中就有1人，处于贷款违约状态，这意味着他们逾期还款已超过9个月。
编辑：阿兰·谢特尔
Want to save on student loan payments? Here’s how to get a discount.
2026-07-30 2:09 PM EDT / CBS News
By Megan Cerullo Reporter, MoneyWatch
Megan Cerullo is a New York-based reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering small business, workplace, health care, consumer spending and personal finance topics. She regularly appears on CBS News 24/7 to discuss her reporting.
Read Full Bio
People with federal student loans may be eligible for a break on their monthly payments — if they act before an upcoming deadline.
Student loan borrowers can earn a stepped-up interest rate discount of 1%, compared to the usual 0.25%, if they enroll in the U.S. Department of Education’s automatic payment feature before Sept. 30.
“This interest rate reduction will help borrowers as they consider new, affordable repayment plans and work to repay their loans on time,” Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent said in a statement when the enhanced discount was adopted last month. “We expect this temporary incentive to drive up repayment rates and significantly improve the overall health of the federal student loan portfolio.”
Here’s what to know.
What is auto pay?
When enrolled in the optional feature, student loan borrowers’ payments are automatically deducted from their checking or savings account every month. Enrolling in the service is free of charge.
Currently, only about 40% of student loan borrowers are registered for automatic repayments. The Education Department would like to double that to roughly 80%, the figure before the pandemic.
Who is eligible?
Borrowers with government loans issued after July 1, 2012, are eligible for the interest rate discount.
People who are already enrolled in automatic student loan payments, as well as borrowers who sign up before the September deadline, are eligible for the discount. That rate relief, which is available only to borrowers enrolled in autopay before the Sept. 30 deadline, is scheduled to remain in effect until June 30, 2028.
The autopay discount means an undergraduate borrower with a loan charging, for example, 6.39% interest would see that reduced to 5.39% until mid-2028.
How do I enroll?
Borrowers can sign up for free on their loan servicer’s website and will need to provide their bank account information to enable automatic monthly payments.
People should sign in to their loan servicer account, select “auto pay” from the navigation menu, enter their banking details and confirm the payment amounts, according to guidance from the Education Department.
Are there any drawbacks?
People who enroll in automatic loan payments could face overdraft fees if they exceed their account balance.
“Automatic payments can help you avoid late fees on your bills. But if you forget to track your account balance and it’s too low when a payment is due, you might have to pay overdraft or nonsufficient funds fees,” the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) warns.
The Urban Institute also notes that the financial benefits of an interest-rate cut on student loans may be minor. For instance, over 10 years, a 1 percentage point interest rate reduction for a borrower with $5,000 in loans at a 6.39% rate would save only $2 per month on their payment, according to the nonpartisan think tank.
The savings could be significantly higher for larger loan amounts, however. The average federal student loan borrower owes roughly $40,000, according to research firm Education Data Initiative.
Roughly 9.5 million Americans, or 1 in 5 federal student loan borrowers, are in default, meaning they are more than nine months behind on their payments.
Edited by Alain Sherter
发表回复