Consumers and retailers brace for student loans payment restart

Justin Thurmond and his family in Alma, Ark., will keep their thermostat set at a balmy 78 degrees this summer to save money. They’re ending their weekly meals out, juggling streaming services and cutting back on groceries and other spending. It’s still not enough to offset the $460 he’ll need each month to pay down $42,000 in student loans come Oct. 1. That’s when Thurmond and 43.6 million other borrowers will have to resume monthly payments on a collective $1.6 trillion in college debt, according to the Department of Education, ending a three-year pause.