To: President Donald Trump, The United States House of Representatives, and The United States Senate

Forgive old student loans for retirees on Social Security

Student loan debt will be forgiven when the borrower starts receiving Social Security retirement payments or Social Security disability payments. This applies to all student loans initiated prior to ten years before the start of the Social Security retirement payments and to all loans initiated prior to the start of Social Security disability payments.

Why is this important?

Because interest accumulates during student loan deferment periods, the balance on student loans exceeds the principal more than once during a borrower's lifetime. The result is that borrowers are stuck with student loan debt when they retire on Social Security, even if they had paid back their principal once or twice. Many of the student loan forgiveness bills apply only to loans taken out during the past 10 or 20 years and ignore old student loans.