The Treasury Department has created a new file to hold personal information on people with federal student aid, and the public has until Nov. 6 to comment on it. The notice, published in the Federal Register on Oct. 7, 2026, says Treasury will receive records from the Education Department that include Social Security numbers, dates of birth, income figures and default and collection data. A Privacy Act notice is the form the government uses to announce a new set of personal records.
What Treasury says it is building
The system is named “Department of the Treasury .033, Federal Student Aid Portfolio Research, Analysis, Oversight, Reporting, and Compliance Records.” The notice says two Treasury offices, the Office of the Fiscal Assistant Secretary and the Office of Economic Policy, would receive and keep the records. Their stated job is to oversee and report on student aid portfolio work Treasury does with Education.
The data comes from Education under an interagency agreement. The notice names three Education systems as sources: NSLDS, DMCS and EDMAPS. It covers people who got federal grants or loans, including co-signers and parents.
The new system is effective on publication, Oct. 7. The notice says its routine uses, the list of outside groups that may receive the records, take effect 30 days later, on Nov. 6, unless Treasury decides to change them after comments come in.
What the notice does not say
The notice says Treasury will monitor “portfolio transition and implementation activities” and collection-related activities. It does not announce that student loan servicing or collections are moving to Treasury, and it does not set a date for any wage garnishment or tax refund offset to restart.
Anyone who has a federal student loan in default, or who co-signed one, is the group the file is most likely to describe. A comment can ask Treasury to narrow the data it collects or limit who receives it. Comments go in under docket TREAS-DO-2026-0628, and the Federal Register page for the notice is the place to start.
Nov. 6 is the day the comment period on Treasury’s new student aid records system ends, and the notice says its routine uses start that same day unless Treasury changes them after reading comments.
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The default numbers behind the notice
The College Investor, a personal finance site, reported in June that about 7.8 million borrowers were in default as of Dec. 31, 2025, with roughly $179 billion in defaulted balances. The report ties the Treasury role to a March 19, 2026 agreement between Education and Treasury, and says that agreement sets no timeline for any phase.
The same report says wage garnishment and Treasury offset of tax refunds have been on hold since January 2026. When wage garnishment does resume, federal rules let it take up to 15 percent of pay. The report also points to a change that starts July 1, 2027, letting a borrower rehabilitate a defaulted loan twice, and to collection costs that can reach 20 percent of a balance.
Those are the report’s figures, drawn from Congressional Research Service material and the March agreement. The Treasury notice does not repeat any of them.
What kinds of records move
The categories listed include Social Security number, taxpayer identifying number and date of birth, plus income, default and collection data. A Social Security number in a government file is a reason to read the routine uses closely, since those list who outside the government may be given the data and why.
The system also covers analyses and reports that Treasury generates itself, along with compliance records. The notice cites the Economy Act “or other legally operative authorities, as applicable,” as its authority.
Who has said what
Neither Treasury nor the Education Department has announced when borrowers in default would hear about any change to collections, The Federal Register entry, dated Oct. 7, is the official document so far.
Reading the notice and commenting by Nov. 6
The full text is free on the Federal Register page for document 2026-20494, published at 91 FR 64242. Reading the sections on routine uses and record access shows who may receive the data and how a person can ask what Treasury holds about them.
A short comment is enough. It helps to name the part of the notice being addressed, say who the writer is in plain terms, such as a borrower or a parent co-signer, and say what change is wanted. Comments should be filed before Nov. 6, since the notice says changes to the routine uses would follow comments received by then.
Borrowers can also look up their own loan status with their servicer and keep a copy of any letter about default. The balance and the dates on it are what matter if collections restart.
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
