This is really an incredible statistic and if it weren’t for all the other economic stories unfolding, this would be front page and center or should be.
School-Loan Reckoning: 7 Million Are in DefaultFigure translates into about 17% of all borrowers being severely delinquent
Updated Aug. 21, 2015 6:56 p.m. ET547
Nearly 7 million Americans have gone at least a year without making a payment on their federal student loans, a high level of default that suggests a widening swath of households are unable or unwilling to pay back their school debt.As of July, 6.9 million Americans with student loans hadn’t sent a payment to the government in at least 360 days, quarterly data from the Education Department showed this past week. That was up 6%, or 400,000 borrowers, from a year earlier.That translates into about 17% of all borrowers with federal loans being severely delinquent, a share that would be even higher if borrowers currently in school who aren’t yet required to repay were excluded. Millions of other borrowers are months behind but haven’t hit the 360-day threshold that the government defines as a default
Source: School-Loan Reckoning: 7 Million Are in Default – WSJ