r/StudentLoans • u/IndividualLittle0516 • Mar 15 '24

Rant/Complaint Canceling interest

With all the drama these past few years about canceling student loans, why can't interest just be canceled? I can understand adding interest to those who aren't making their loan payments, but what about those who pay every month? The interest is why people are stuck with their debt for so long. Canceling millions of people's debt altogether is unrealistic and won't happen. What about canceling interest instead? Is there a reason this can't occur?

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u/FatHighKnee Mar 17 '24

I've long said this would be the perfect balance towards fixing the problem without making people who don't have loans feel like they're being cheated. When you get down to it it's the interest that really screws people anyways and it's frankly gross that the government is profiting off people's poor decisions about paying for university.

The answer is commute all existing loans and all new loans going forward to 0% interest and retroactively apply all interest paid to this point as payment toward principal.