MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- With 2026 on the horizon, student loan borrowers are facing uncertainty about how much they will be paying for their loans in the new year.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced wages will be garnished for student loan borrowers that are in default, meaning they are nine consecutive months past due on payments.

Garnishing wages includes taking money away from paychecks.

Also, earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) announced a proposed settlement that would end the SAVE plan, which allowed borrowers a break from payments and interest going up.

“It’s very, very complicated and confusing for borrowers out there,” President of Student Loans Over 50 Erik Kroll said. “A lot of unknowns, trying to get clients to switch plans.”

Kroll says borrowers who signed up for auto pay deductions could see money come out of their bank account, and that starting in January, borrowers should hear from the DOE or loan servicers.

“They need to move on to a different plan. It could just be that they’re stuck in forbearance and need to move into a plan, it might be that they’re automatically moved into a plan, we just don’t have those specific details,” Kroll said.

Alexis Blank lives in Racine and started paying student loans in 2006 after getting her graduate school and undergraduate degrees.

“The grand total for the loans was around $50,000 roughly, for both of those degrees,” Blank said.

Blank says she paid the minimum payments after graduation, something she wishes she knew not to do, as the interest has built up over time.

“I think the total has bloomed to about $76,000 and that’s with me paying on it,” Blank said. “Looking at what the payments will be, I think that’s the anxiety that it’s provoking, because it’s a large payment on top of your other expenses.”

Blank said she had some relief from the SAVE plan but is now facing her largest student loan bills since she graduated back in 2006.

“The forbearance that I had as part of the SAVE plan kind of helped put that at zero interest for a while,” Blank said. “We haven’t had the payment, so we’ve been able to take care of other things.”

Kroll wants people to be urgent as the year ends, advising people with student loans to make sure their payment information is updated and to set up a plan that works best for their income.

“In many cases, we’ve been able to get borrowers lower payments, or as low or very close to what they were expecting to pay just by the timing of when we file the tax return or which documentation we use for the income,” Kroll said.