Reduce your total student loan cost by enrolling in automatic payments by Sept. 30

A young woman reviews documents and bills while working at home. (Rido - stock.adobe.com) Rido - stock.adobe.com The U.S. Department of Education is providing a temporary 1% interest rate reduction for federal student loan borrowers who enroll in automatic payments before September 30, 2026. The move was announced by the Department on June 18, and it went into effect on July 1. The 1% reduction is a fourfold increase over the previous 0.25% reduction offered to borrowers who previously signed up for autopay. This temporary reduction comes amid the biggest overhaul of the federal loan program in decades as the government works to simplify how students borrow, how much they can borrow and how they repay their loans. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, autopay rates on student loans were more than