A New Bill Would Auto-Enroll Struggling Borrowers in Income-Driven Repayment. Here Is What It Means Now.

A new bill in Congress wants to stop struggling student loan borrowers from ever reaching default in the first place. On September 2, 2026, Representative Suzanne Bonamici of Oregon introduced the SIMPLE Act (H.R. 10220), which would require the Department of Education to automatically notify delinquent borrowers of their income-driven repayment options and, if they still do not act, enroll them in the lowest-payment plan available. It is a good idea with a rough track record. Similar versions of this bill have failed to make it out of committee in 2016 and again in 2024. Here is what the bill would actually do, why it is showing up again now, and what your family can do this month without waiting on Congress.

What the SIMPLE Act Would Actually Do

The bill's mechanics are straightforward, and they happen in two stages.

Stage one: a 31-day notice

Once a federal borrower is 31 days past due on a payment, the Department of Education would be required to contact them directly and show what they would owe under every income-driven repayment (IDR) plan available, including:

• Income-Based Repayment (IBR)
• Pay As You Earn (PAYE)
• Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR)
• The newer Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP)

Stage two: automatic enrollment at 75 days

If the borrower does not respond or choose a plan within that window, the bill would automatically enroll them in whichever IDR plan produces the lowest monthly payment once they reach 75 days past due.

To make that calculation possible without paperwork, the bill amends Section 6103 of the tax code so the IRS can share income data directly with the Department of Education. That is the same kind of data-sharing consent that already speeds up IDR applications today, just applied automatically instead of requiring the borrower to opt in. Borrowers with no adjusted gross income on file, and who hold only loans disbursed before July 1, 2026, would be automatically enrolled at a $0 monthly payment.

The bill was referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce and the House Committee on Ways and Means on introduction. It has seven sponsors so far: Bonamici, along with Representatives Lucy McBath, Mark Takano, Frederica Wilson, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Seth Moulton, and Eleanor Holmes Norton.

Why This Is Showing Up Again Right Now

The timing is not a coincidence. The bill lands three weeks after the New York Fed's Q2 2026 Household Debt and Credit Report showed the share of student debt in serious delinquency (90 or more days past due) had fallen sharply, from 12.88% to 7.83% year over year.

That sounds like good news, and in one sense it is. But the Fed's own release cautioned that the improvement is heavily driven by collections and credit reporting resuming after the pandemic-era pause, not by fewer borrowers actually struggling. A separate New York Fed research note found that more than 17% of borrowers have been 90 or more days late at least once since reporting resumed, and roughly 3.6 million borrowers defaulted between late 2025 and early 2026 alone.

At the same time, millions of borrowers are in the middle of the SAVE plan's court-ordered wind-down. Servicers began sending the roughly 7 million remaining SAVE borrowers a 90-day notice on July 1, 2026, asking them to choose a new repayment plan. The earliest wave of those borrowers faces a September 29, 2026 deadline, and missing it means being automatically placed into the Standard or Tiered Standard plan, which typically has a much higher monthly payment than any IDR option. A separate lawsuit, Havens v. U.S. Department of Education, is asking a federal court to revive the REPAYE plan instead, but legal observers do not expect a ruling before the deadline.

Put together, lawmakers are looking at a system where borrowers can fall behind through no fault of their own, simply by missing a notice or a deadline in the middle of a repayment plan transition, and where the consequences of that paperwork gap can be severe. The SIMPLE Act is an attempt to build a permanent safety net under that gap instead of relying on borrowers to catch every notice themselves.

This Bill Has Failed Before, So Do Not Wait for It

It is worth being direct with families about the odds here. This is not the first time Bonamici has introduced a version of this idea. Similar bipartisan bills carrying the SIMPLE Act name or a close variant have been introduced multiple times since 2016, often with different Republican co-sponsors joining in different sessions of Congress. None of them have advanced past committee, including the most recent attempt in 2024.

Even in the best case, where this version passes, the auto-enrollment requirement would not take effect until July 1, 2028. That is nearly two years away, and it does nothing for a borrower who is behind on payments this fall.

A rough timeline of this idea in Congress shows how long it has been circulating without becoming law:

• 2016: An early version is introduced with bipartisan cosponsors and does not advance past committee.
• 2017: A related bipartisan effort on preventing student loan defaults is announced in the Senate.
• 2024: The most recent prior version is introduced and again stalls in committee.
• September 2, 2026: The current version, H.R. 10220, is introduced with seven Democratic cosponsors and referred to two House committees.

The honest takeaway for families is that this bill is worth watching as a sign of where policy might be headed, but it should not change anything about what you do this month. If you or your student are at risk of falling behind on a federal loan payment right now, the tools to fix that already exist. You do not need Congress to act first.

What Happens Next in Congress

From here, H.R. 10220 sits with the House Committee on Education and Workforce and the House Committee on Ways and Means, which can hold hearings, amend it, or let it stall without a vote, which is what happened to its predecessors. Because it currently has only Democratic cosponsors in a divided Congress, it would likely need Republican support to move further than the 2024 version did. Families who want to track its progress can search "H.R. 10220" on congress.gov, which shows every committee action and vote in real time.

What to Do This Month If You Are Behind, or Worried You Might Fall Behind

If a federal loan payment is coming up and you are not confident you can make it, income-driven repayment is already available today, without waiting for any new law. A few concrete steps:

• Run the numbers first. Use the Loan Simulator at studentaid.gov to see an estimated payment under each IDR plan using your actual income and family size. This is the same comparison the SIMPLE Act would eventually automate.
• Confirm any application you already filed actually processed. The Department has acknowledged real calculation errors in this summer's IDR and RAP rollout, including cases where a first payment went out under the wrong plan before the mistake was caught. If your paperwork went in more than a few weeks ago and you have not seen a decision, call your servicer to confirm the status.
• Mark September 29 on your calendar if you are a SAVE borrower. If you received a SAVE transition notice around July 1, choose a new plan before that date. Missing it means an automatic default into a plan with a much higher payment, and undoing that afterward is far more work than choosing ahead of time.
• Call your servicer the moment you know a payment will be late. Do not wait for a 75-day auto-enrollment that does not exist yet. Being proactive at day 10 or day 20 gives you far more options than waiting until collections activity starts.

Most families are surprised by how much lower an IDR payment can be compared to the Standard 10-year plan, especially in the first few years after graduation. That gap is exactly what this bill is trying to close automatically. You can close it yourself today.

What Happens If You Miss Payments and Fall Into Default

It helps to understand what this bill is actually trying to prevent. For federal loans, delinquency starts the day after a missed payment and becomes serious delinquency at 90 days past due, which is what shows up on a credit report. Default is a separate, more serious status that generally hits at 270 days, or roughly nine months, of nonpayment.

Once a loan is in default, the consequences escalate quickly:

• The Department of Education can garnish up to 15% of your wages, without a court order.
• The government can seize your federal and state tax refunds.
• Substantial collection costs can be added directly to your balance.

None of that requires a lawsuit first. If you are already in default, there are two main paths back to good standing:

• Loan rehabilitation: nine on-time payments over ten months, at an income-based amount.
• Direct Consolidation: can restore access to IDR plans and federal aid more quickly than rehabilitation.

There is also a 360-day window after entering repayment or leaving default where you can typically avoid or reverse wage garnishment and tax refund offset by setting up a payment agreement, so acting inside that window matters.

Free Help Is Available if You Are Not Sure Where to Start

None of this is easy to navigate alone, and families should not feel like they have to. A few free resources worth knowing about:

• The Federal Student Aid Ombudsman Group, a free federal resource for borrowers who believe their servicer made an error.
• Your state attorney general's office, which typically has a student loan or consumer protection division that handles servicer complaints.
• The National Foundation for Credit Counseling, which maintains a directory of accredited nonprofit credit counselors who can walk through repayment options at no cost.

Be cautious of any company that asks for an upfront fee to "enroll" you in an income-driven repayment plan or promises fast loan forgiveness for a price. Every plan mentioned in this article, IBR, PAYE, ICR, RAP, and loan rehabilitation, is free to apply for directly through your servicer or studentaid.gov.

The Bottom Line

The SIMPLE Act is a reasonable response to a real problem: borrowers falling into default over missed notices rather than an inability to pay. But it has failed twice before, and even if it becomes law this time, the auto-enrollment protections would not start until 2028. The safety net it is trying to build already exists today in the form of income-driven repayment, RAP, and a servicer that is required to work with you. The families who come out ahead this fall are the ones who use those tools now instead of waiting to see what Congress does next.

If your family is weighing loan options against grants, scholarships, and savings for this year or next, you can create your free CollegeLens plan to see the full financial aid picture in one place, not just the loan piece.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the SIMPLE Act? The SIMPLE Act (H.R. 10220) is a bill introduced by Rep. Suzanne Bonamici on September 2, 2026, that would require the Department of Education to notify delinquent federal borrowers of their income-driven repayment options and automatically enroll them in the lowest-payment plan if they do not act within 75 days of becoming delinquent.

Has the SIMPLE Act passed into law? No. It was just introduced and referred to committee. Similar versions of this bill failed to advance past committee in 2016 and 2024, and if this version passes, the automatic enrollment requirement would not take effect until July 1, 2028.

Do I need to wait for this bill to get help with my student loans? No. Income-driven repayment plans, including IBR, PAYE, ICR, and RAP, are already available today. You can check your estimated payment under each one using the Loan Simulator at studentaid.gov without waiting for any new legislation.

What happens if I miss a federal student loan payment? Delinquency starts the day after a missed payment. It becomes serious delinquency at 90 days past due, which is reported to credit bureaus, and default at around 270 days, which can trigger wage garnishment of up to 15% and seizure of tax refunds.

What should SAVE plan borrowers do before the September 29 deadline? If you received a SAVE transition notice around July 1, 2026, choose a new repayment plan, such as RAP, IBR, Standard, or Tiered Standard, before September 29. Missing the deadline results in automatic enrollment in a plan that typically has a higher monthly payment than the IDR options.

-- Sravani at CollegeLens