The U.S. Department of Education plans to resume collecting defaulted student loans on May 5 after a yearslong pause that began with the pandemic.

In an announcement this week, the department warned that millions of borrowers could be referred to debt collectors and see deductions from their paychecks.

The US Education Department will restart student loan collections from 5 May, targeting over 5 million borrowers in default. Wage garnishment and benefit offsets will resume after a pause that began during the COVID-19 pandemic.