Companies report getting overwhelmed with student loan refund requests

(CNN) - Student loan service companies are being overwhelmed with refund requests after President Joe Biden’s forgiveness program.

Despite the pandemic pause, many borrowers continued to make student loan payments and are wondering if they can get that money back.

The answer for many is “yes.”

While most of the 42 million people covered by the pause did not make payments, about 9 million kept paying.

It’s not clear how much of the U.S. Department of Education’s $1.6 trillion portfolio of loans would be affected. But many borrowers should be able to get refunds of up to $10,000 in federal student loan debt.

And for Pell grant recipients, the total climbs to 20,000 if they make less than $125,000 a year. The income limit for a married couple is even higher, at a combined total of $250,000 a year.