The Treasury and Education departments launched a Defaulted Loans Support Center on September 30 for borrowers with defaulted federal student loans. The announcement says the portal replaces older websites and paper, mail and fax processes with online applications. The immediate change is access to a process, not a cancellation of the debt.
Borrowers can compare paths out of default, apply for rehabilitation or consolidation, make a payment and review repayment and discharge options. Rehabilitation applicants can upload documents, see an estimated payment, electronically sign an agreement and track progress. Those steps still require the borrower to choose and complete an applicable resolution path.
The departments describe early users as finding the process easier, but the release does not provide enough survey detail to treat those responses as a guarantee of approval or completion time. It also does not establish that every kind of private or federal loan is handled the same way.
Use the official StudentAid.gov route and check which loans and default status it displays before agreeing to payments. Ask what each option does to the balance, repayment terms and credit reporting. Do not pay a caller who promises that the new portal makes all defaults disappear.