On Friday, September 1, interest began accruing again on student loans for more than forty-five million Americans, and on October 1, monthly payments will start coming due again. After Joe Biden’s half-hearted attempt to cancel some student debt was struck down by the Supreme Court, the administration has focused more on getting debtors to pony up than on providing relief.

The results have been chaotic. Borrowers report loan servicers providing wrong information, hours-long wait times when they try to call for help, and a new Biden-developed repayment plan that often tells borrowers they will have a lower monthly payment, only to force them into making a higher payment once they enroll.

The Debt Collective, emerging out of the Occupy Wall Street movement, is a debtors’ union that has long advocated for the cancellation of student loan debt. Jacobin spoke with Debt Collective organizer and cofounder Thomas Gokey about the collective’s new tool to allow borrowers to petition the Department of Education directly for debt relief, as well as the recent past and future of student loan debt.