Older Americans are showing some of the most concerning signs of trouble with their student loans as millions of borrowers struggle to stay current following years of disruption to the federal repayment system. Gen X borrowers had a student loan delinquency rate of 10.4 percent, compared with 9.7 percent for millennials and 9.6 percent for Gen Z, according to Credit Karma's 2026 Student Loan Debt Report released this week. The report specifically examined TransUnion data for 24.2 million Credit Karma members with open student loans at the end of the third quarter of 2026.
But larger data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows a similar trend of older borrowers among those experiencing more severe repayment difficulties. Borrowers who entered federal student loan default in late 2025 or the first quarter of 2026 were 38.9 years old on average, compared with 36.4 among those entering default before the pandemic. More than 9.3 million borrowers were in default as of June, which marked an increase of approximately 400,000 from March, according to the latest Federal Student Aid data.
And while student debt is often associated with Americans who have recently left college, the current repayment crunch is affecting borrowers well into middle age. The New York Fed found that among borrowers who recently entered student loan default, nearly 40 percent of those with auto loans were behind on those loans, 56 percent of those with at least one credit card were past due on a card and 20 percent of mortgage holders were behind on their mortgage. As of June, Federal Student Aid reported that 42.3 million recipients owed more than $1.7 trillion in outstanding federal student loans.
And while Gen X borrowers aren't necessarily carrying the greatest amount of student debt collectively, they have the highest delinquency rate among the three younger generations, according to Credit Karma. In that report, 4.9 million Gen X members had student debt, with a total balance of $264.3 billion and a median balance of $30,600. Of those borrowers, 50.9 percent were fully current, 38.5 percent had loans in deferment and 10.4 percent were delinquent.
Many are still paying off their own education or loans they took out for their kids. While helping aging parents & trying to save for retirement. Something eventually has to give,” Michael Ryan, a finance expert and the founder of MichaelRyanMoney.com, told Newsweek.
A 25-year-old who falls behind has decades to recover financially. He or she doesn't have that luxury.” Millennials represented the largest group of borrowers in Credit Karma’s report. Some 12 million millennial members held $549.7 billion in student debt, with a median balance of $25,400.
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