President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed a bill allowing couples who combined their student loans when they were married to separate the debt, opening up the possibility for some of these borrowers to have part of their debt forgiven.
In 2006, Congress eliminated a program that allowed married couples to merge their student debt into a joint loan in exchange for a lower interest rate and single payment. Through the program, couples became legally responsible for each other’s debt.
But the terms of the joint loans prevented borrowers from severing their debts — even in cases of domestic violence, economic abuse, or divorce — and excluded them from access to debt relief, such as Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan, Public Service Loan Forgiveness or payment programs that lower monthly payments based on income.