Government is aggressively going after delinquent student loan borrowers. What you need to know

ATLANTA — For the first time in years, the government is aggressively going after borrowers who are late on their student loan payments.

That means the feds can garnish wages, take Social Security payments, and even IRS refunds.

According to one credit reporting company, about 4 million people who have student loans are seriously delinquent -- that’s a little over 20% of all student loan borrowers.

“Debt cannot be wiped away. It just ends up getting transferred to others so why should Americans who didn’t go to college or went to college and responsibly paid back their student loans, pay for the student loans of others?” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

Lauren Thomas Priest works for the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, which has already paid off nearly $500,000 of student loan debt for qualified applicants.

“This presents a huge hardship for student loan borrowers,” Thomas Priest said.

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She says teenagers take out tens of thousands of dollars in student loans at high interest rates without fully understanding what that means…and that they may only be paying back interest without ever touching the principal.

“The interest rates are astronomical and the cost of college is astronomical, and it simply, sorry, income has not kept pace with the cost of colleges,” Thomas Priest said.

Channel 2 consumer advisor Clark Howard agrees the feds are going to come down hard on delinquent student loans.

“It’s going to be brutal,” Howard said.

He suggests that if you’re having trouble paying them, immediately call the Department of Education to create a payback plan.

“The big thing to do with student loans is don’t pretend they don’t exist, but to attack them head-on,” Howard said.

The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta will begin accepting applications in August to pay off student loans, but they only have about $300,000 to do that this year.