When do student-loan payments resume? Here are 6 tips to get ready.

Confusion and the launch of many new programs are some of the reasons why advocates, borrowers and servicers have been bracing for years for the challenges that resuming payments on this scale will pose to the student loan system.

When payments have restarted after smaller, more limited freezes, borrowers fell into delinquency and default at elevated rates. Now, tens of millions of borrowers will be seeking help with their student loans all at once, amid servicer cuts to staff and customer service hours.

“No matter how much prep or money the Department of Education and the servicers had, the system wasn’t built for 40 million people all resuming repayment at the same time,” said Betsy Mayotte, the founder of the Institute of Student Loan Advisors.