For the first time since the pandemic, becoming past-due on your student loan payments will hurt your credit again.

The more than 9 million borrowers who are late on their payments may see their credit scores tank by as much as 129 points as the U.S. Department of Education ramps up collection activity again, a new report by VantageScore finds. The credit score company analyzed U.S. Department of Education data.

Meanwhile, those who are paying their student loan bills on time will likely benefit from a rise in their credit scores by much as eight points, according to VantageScore.

Credit scores typically range from 300 to 850, with around 670 and higher considered good.

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It’s been a long time since federal student loan borrowers have needed to worry about the downsides of missed payments, which can also include the garnishment of wages and retirement benefits. That’s because collection activity was suspended during the the pandemic and for a while after. The relief period officially expired on Sept. 30, 2024.

“For the first time in five years, federal student loan delinquencies will start to reappear on credit files,” said Rikard Bandebo, chief economist at VantageScore, in a statement.

Here’s what student loan borrowers should know about their credit scores.

“Borrowers with past-due student loans and lower credit scores face higher borrowing costs across the board — from mortgages, car loans and credit cards,” said Curtis, a member of CNBC’s Advisor Council.

Federal student loan borrowers who’ve defaulted on their loans may also see their wages garnished starting in October of this year, according to a January memo from the U.S. Department of Education.

The borrowers can apply for an income-driven repayment plan, which will cap their monthly bill at a share of their discretionary income. Many borrowers end up with a zero monthly payment. As of now, the applications for IDR plans are unavailable while the Education Department makes sure its plans comply with a new court order. But you should be able to access one in the coming months.

Borrowers can also apply for a number of deferments or forbearances, which can pause your payments for a year or more.

Additionally if you’re already in default on your loans, you should consider rehabilitating or consolidating your debt, experts said.

Rehabilitating involves making “nine voluntary, reasonable and affordable monthly payments,” according to the Education Department. Those nine payments can be made over “a period of 10 consecutive months,” its web site notes.

Consolidation, meanwhile, may be available to those who “make three consecutive, voluntary, on-time, full monthly payments.” At that point, they can essentially repackage their debt into a new loan. (The online loan consolidation application is also temporary unavailable.)

If you don’t know who your loan servicer is, you can find out at Studentaid.gov.

Experts also recommend that you check your credit reports regularly for free at AnnualCreditReport.com to make sure all three credit rating companies — Experian, Equifax and TransUnion — are showing your correct student loan balance and payment status.

When it comes to the rise of multimillionaires, the United States is leading the charge, a new report found.

The number of high-net worth individuals — or those with assets worth more than $10 million — rose 4.4% worldwide in 2024, to 2,341,378, but jumped 5.2% in North America, according to the annual Wealth Report by global real estate consultancy Knight Frank.

The U.S. is now home to almost 40% of the world’s super rich, the report estimates — nearly double the share that resides in China, the region with the next highest contingent of wealthy individuals.

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“While the global economy slowed through 2024, the resilience of the U.S. helped prop up investor confidence,” Liam Bailey, global head of research at Knight Frank, said in a statement. “The trends powering wealth creation, including growth in financial markets led by equity markets and the bitcoin run, continued through 2024.”

Over the year, positive market conditions helped boost investors’ bottom line. The S&P 500 stock index gained 23% in 2024. The tech-heavy Nasdaq grew about 29% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose more than 12%.

“And despite geopolitical tensions, resilient global trade further contributed to growth,” Bailey said.

Meanwhile, the total number of billionaires jumped nearly 8% last year, according to a separate report by Oxfam from January.

“We’ve reached a new era now, we are in the era of the billionaire,” Jenny Ricks, general secretary of the human rights group Fight Inequality Alliance, recently told CNBC. 

Roughly 204 new billionaires were minted in just 12 months, the Oxfam report found.

“Not only has the rate of billionaire wealth accumulation accelerated — by three times — but so too has their power,” Amitabh Behar, Oxfam International’s executive director, said in a statement after the report’s release.

The latest numbers also underscore a deepening divide between the world’s rich and poor. 

Despite the fact that America ranks first as the richest nation, 36.8 million Americans live in poverty, accounting for 11.1% of the total population, according to the latest report from the U.S. Census Bureau. 

Many middle-class Americans are also showing signs of strain amid the escalating trade war and increased inflationary fears.

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House Republicans have called for about $880 billion in spending cuts over the next decade that may target Medicaid, a program that provides health care and other services to millions of Americans.

The budget resolution adopted by the chamber on Feb. 25 is aimed at implementing the cuts to help pay for renewing tax cuts expiring the end of this year. The House Energy and Commerce Committee is charged with finding the savings, and Medicaid is under its jurisdiction. Of note, the resolution doesn’t specifically single out Medicaid.

“It is very hard to imagine coming up with enough savings from what’s in their jurisdiction without a hefty cut to Medicaid, just given its size,” said Josh Bivens, chief economist at the Economic Policy Institute.

Republicans including House Speaker Mike Johnson have said they do not plan to cut Medicaid, in keeping with President Donald Trump’s promise not to touch the program.

Neither the White House nor the Energy and Commerce Committee were immediately available for comment.

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Cuts to Medicaid would impact more than 80 million people who rely on the program for health insurance every month, including many individuals who are middle class, as well as older adults who use it for long-term care benefits, Bivens said.

Because the program is the largest federal program for alleviating poverty, cutbacks would increase hardships for already struggling families, according to new research from the Economic Policy Institute.

Moreover, Medicaid cuts of that size would also make the U.S. more vulnerable to a recession, according to the research.

Republicans and Democrats have opposing views on what the impact of extending those cuts may be. While Democrats say renewing the policy would benefit the wealthiest Americans, Republicans argue it could create a windfall for low- and middle-income Americans. Research from the Penn Wharton Budget Model and the Urban Institute has found high-income taxpayers would benefit most.

High-income households would likely save the additional money they see from any tax cuts, and therefore not result in meaningful spending, EPI predicts.

In contrast, individuals who are affected by the Medicaid cuts would reduce their medical spending, such as by skipping doctors’ visits, the EPI report found. For people with less generous Medicaid coverage, higher out-of-pocket costs would limit their ability to spend in other areas.

A dollar cut to Medicaid generally has a much bigger macro effect than a dollar cut to taxes for high-income people, Bivens said. Because Medicaid beneficiaries are so income constrained, every extra dollar of funding that goes to Medicaid frees up money they can spend elsewhere, he said. Medicaid cuts curb their ability to spend.

An $880 billion cut to Medicaid would prompt a 0.5% drag on economic growth, according to the Economic Policy Institute. That could nudge the unemployment rate up by about 0.3 percentage points, and leave about 550,000 people involuntarily without jobs.

To counteract the slower economic growth, the Federal Reserve could lower interest rates from about 4.25% to around 2.5%, according to the Economic Policy Institute. But that would limit the central bank’s ability to react to any other recessionary shocks that could come up.

Research from the Commonwealth Fund has found when Medicaid is expanded, additional federal funding can help promote stronger state economies. For states that implement expansions, that may boost state output, state gross products and personal incomes in those states, which also benefits the country at large, according to the research.