Automatic enrollment moves delinquent student borrowers into lower-payment plans
H.R. 10220 — SIMPLE Act · Filed by Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) · 6 cosponsors · Introduced Sep 2, 2026 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill amends federal student loan law to automatically enroll borrowers who fall 31+ days behind on payments into income-driven repayment plans, using IRS tax data to calculate their income without requiring them to apply. The Department of Education will notify delinquent borrowers of their options, and if they don't select a plan within 75 days, the government will automatically place them in the plan with the lowest monthly payment. Similar automatic enrollment applies to borrowers rehabilitating defaulted loans. The bill also allows IRS to share tax return information with the Education Department for this purpose.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is automatic enrollment of delinquent borrowers into income-driven repayment plans using IRS data, with the goal of reducing defaults and lowering monthly payments for struggling borrowers. This is a targeted intervention in loan servicing and borrower assistance, not a broad policy change.
What the text implies
- Automatic enrollment may reduce borrower awareness of their full range of repayment options, since the Secretary selects a plan rather than presenting all choices equally.
- IRS tax data sharing expands to cover a broader set of loans (covered loans, not just Part D loans), increasing the scope of tax-return disclosure to Education Department.
The full analysis lists 4 implications of this text.
Who stands to gain
Student loan servicers (reduced default rates, extended loan terms); Federal government (reduced default claims, extended repayment periods)