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            *                       FIEND'S SUPERBEAR MARKET REPORT                     *

            *                                 April 29, 2025                            *

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            *                       e-mail: fiendbear@fiendbear.com                     *

            *                    web address: http://www.fiendbear.com                  *

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                                            Fiend Commentary                             

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                                      The Great Student Loan Wake-Up

                                                       

For three years, Americans with student loans lived under the illusion that maybe—just maybe—the debt would go away. The Biden administration extended the payment pause again and again, giving millions hope that some form of forgiveness was inevitable.

It wasn’t.

Now the bill is due—with interest.

Many borrowers are waking up to find larger balances than when the pause began. Worse, during the freeze, they spent that "extra" cash elsewhere—on rising rents, credit cards, vacations, or just basic survival during inflation.

Now those long-forgotten monthly payments are crashing back into household budgets, right as the broader economy shows signs of slowing.

• Instead of spending money on goods and services, borrowers are forced to shovel money back into loan repayments.
• Missed or late payments damage credit scores, making it harder (and more expensive) to finance cars, homes, or major purchases.
  
  

The ripple effect is predictable:

• Reduced consumer spending
• Weaker demand for big-ticket items
• Tightening credit markets
• Growing financial stress across the middle class
  
  

It’s a quiet drag on the economy, layered on top of already shaky fundamentals like ballooning household debt and higher interest rates.

The student loan pause was politically convenient in the short term—but economically damaging in the long term.

By delaying reality and encouraging false hope, policymakers made the inevitable adjustment even harder.

Millions of Americans now face a simple, brutal truth:

Debt never disappears. It just waits.

                                   

                                                                                               

 

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