U.S. Education Department pauses wage garnishment

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Education announced it is pausing plans to garnish wages of student loan borrowers in default.

The seizure of tax refunds and other federal benefits from borrowers with student loan debt are also being delayed. 

The collections were set to begin this month.

In a statement, education officials said the temporary delay will give them time to implement reforms to the student loan system.

However, it is unclear how long the garnishments would be paused.

The department has previously said that more than 5 million borrowers were in default, and nearly 4 million were delinquent.