Interest on federal student loans is beginning to accrue again this month, creating additional financial strain for millions of borrowers still navigating repayment challenges.

Watch Meghan Daniels' video report: Student loan interest returns, adding pressure to borrowers

Over 7 million borrowers had their student loan interest paused in 2024 due to the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan. While monthly payments remain paused until December of this year, interest will begin collecting again starting this month.

"The added stress of loan repayment will definitely have a huge impact on students, on families just being able to exist," Kevin Towns, Director of Financial Aid at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, said.

The SAVE Plan was designed to make monthly student loan payments more affordable based on income and family size, but the return of interest complicates the path to loan forgiveness.

One borrower, who requested anonymity due to concerns about employment repercussions, expressed frustration with the timing of interest resumption amid rising living costs.

"It's just this is just, it's not equity. It is not equality. It is, I know I keep saying predatory, but it just," they said. "I got that it's a loan. But why is the government making money off of it?"

Towns warns that adding interest to already substantial student loan balances could push financially vulnerable borrowers into deeper trouble.

"The immediate thing I think about is the fact that if students aren't able to pay on their student loans, how they could experience garnish, wage garnishments, they could see impacts to their credit, which then will impact their ability to purchase homes, purchase vehicles, it could impact small things like car insurance," Towns said.

Despite these challenges, Towns recommends several strategies for borrowers facing the return of interest.

"First thing, contact your servicer, understand what your current loan debt is, what your options are, what are the current, because there's been changes to repayment plans," Towns said.

He also encourages borrowers to utilize resources available through their universities.

"There's a lot of colleges that are also invested in making sure that students have the resources they need in order to make informed decisions about loan repayment," Towns said.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

It started like any other shift for Cody Moore, until he noticed some odd behavior from one of his regular customers, and stepped in to save her from being scammed out of hundreds of dollars.

Watch the video report from Meghan Daniels in the video player below Walgreens employee prevents woman from falling for scam in Farmington Hills

They always target the older people who don't have anybody," Cody said.

Cody is a shift lead at Walgreens in Farmington Hills. He tells me he noticed something not quite right with one of their regulars.

She was buying some gift cards for $500, which I thought was weird because I've never seen her buy gift cards," Cody said.

He said he noticed an unsaved number out of California calling the woman repeatedly. This raised some red flags for Cody.

So I asked her was that the number who she was getting these gift cards for and she said, yeah, so I informed her that it was obviously a scam and not to answer that, Cody said.

Becky Ulcinski was in line behind the elderly woman while this was all going down. She says the relief on the woman's face was obvious.

She said, 'thank you so much. You're a good person. I have been worried about this all day, and you're right, it is a scam now that I think it through, no bank is gonna want Target gift cards,'" Becky said.

She said she had second thoughts, but I guess those people can be kind of convincing sometimes," Cody said.

Becky says seeing Cody trust his instincts and go out of his way to help the woman made her proud of her community.

He could have just said, 'this isn't my problem,' ring them up and sent her on her way," Becky said. "And the fact that he recognized the scam and said, I'm not, we're not going to be a part of this, we're stopping this right here was just so wonderful to see.

Mayor Theresa Rich stopped in to the Walgreens after seeing a post about the encounter on Facebook. She says scams like this happen all too often among the elderly population.

"Yeah, I think there's a special room in hell for people who target our elderly population," Mayor Rich said.

But she's proud to hear there are people like Cody who choose to stand in the gap for the most vulnerable among us.

This is what our neighbors and friends are for and especially for those who have senior loved ones who may not be in the same town," Mayor Rich said.

Yes, definitely, I always think about that because I do have grandmas and they are elderly and I would want someone to step in and help them," Cody said.

Cody tells me he hopes he can be a reminder to others on how important it is to look out for your fellow human.

Just use empathy and look out for the elderly and the youth and everyone, honestly," Cody said.

Web Extra: Farmington Hills police sergeant talks about how to avoid scams Web Extra: Farmington Hills police sergeant on how to avoid scams Where Your Voice Matters

For over a decade, Target's Price Match Guarantee gave shoppers confidence they were getting the best deal, but that policy has now come to an end.

Watch the video report from Meghan Daniels below 'It's just the tip of the iceberg': Local economist speaks on Target ending it's Price Match Guarantee

"I think this is kind of the start of that ending, as corporations are gonna start to say, 'Well, we can't keep absorbing those costs,'" said local economist Paul Traub.

Target is rolling back the program as the Big Box store reported softer sales and shifting consumer habits earlier this year.

Customers I spoke to aren't thrilled over the announcement.

"I did not know that. That's sad," said Gloria Murray.

A few people said it's going to change the way they shop.

"Probably around Christmas time it probably will," one woman told me.

"Will it change how you shop, potentially? Absolutely," said Gary Coppen. "You know, things are hard enough as it is. I mean, you need to make sure that you can get value."

While others say it doesn't change much for them.

I guess it depends on what items you buy, but I've never used it," Gloria said.

Traub tells me that with rising prices of consumer goods across the board, companies no matter the size are struggling to keep up.

"It's a sign that corporate companies are saying we're responsible to our shareholders and we can't continue to allow our profit margins to deteriorate because of higher prices for the goods that we're selling," Traub said.

He continued to say that price matching doesn't benefit these companies, and as prices for goods continue to rise, they can only eat the cost for so long.

"It's kind of a more of a marketing thing where they can say, 'well, we can match anybody's price.' That is where the issue is gonna start to arise- is people are gonna start to step away from that," Traub said.

While Target is pulling the plug on their price match program, other stores like Lowe's, Home Deport, J.C. Penney and Cabela's show no sign of wavering on their policy.

But Traub says he feels this is just the beginning.

"It's just the tip of the iceberg of what's gonna happen with other corporations as they start to adjust pricing for higher price for the higher costs," Traub said.

Target said this change is about customer behavior, citing the reason for most Price Match Requests were for Target's own pricing from other locations, not outside retailers.

"Everybody's gonna check Walmart, everybody's gonna check every other retailer, and if they're not gonna roll it back and match it, it's gonna be a problem because I wouldn't go there," Gary said.

Where Your Voice Matters

One of the biggest festivals in Macomb County kicks off this weekend starts today: the Sterlingfest Arts and Music Fair.

Watch the full report from Meghan Daniels in the video player below Sterlingfest Arts & Music Fair kicks off today; here's everything you need to know

The three-day extravaganza has something fun for the whole family, with everything from carnival rides to an art fair, and big names on the big stage.

Kyle Langlois heads up Sterling Heights Parks and Recreation. He said the 43rd annual Sterlingfest is sure to one for the books with big names headlining each night, like country music star Colin and 80s hair band Warrant, along with plenty of carnival games and rides.

"Nothing is more magnificed in the city than the three says of Sterlingfest and every year it gets bigger, it gets better," Kyle said.

It's not just expanding for visitors, it's boosting local businesses as well.

"Just for everybody to come out and support us, we show our support, it's pretty great," said Tony Boschian, the owner and operator of a Jet's Pizza franchise (right).

Vendros setting up for the festival tell me attending Sterlingfest supports your neighborhood Jet's pizza franchises and other local businesses.

"We both grew up in Sterling Heights and both our stores are in Sterling Heights," said Mark Brooks (left).

Then there's Detroit Wing Company.

"They have great music, great food, and the crafts and the vendors here are awesome," said Jon Garcia, Detroit Wing Company's business development manager. "A lot of different things that you can't find other places.

And some local vendors, like John Tompkins of the Woodcrafter.

"This is one of my better shows, you know, I've been doing this for maybe 6-7 years and it's always been good," Tompkins said.

"The people, mostly, they're really friendly when they come into everybody's booth," said James Stubbs with Oma and Opa's Laser Cut Designs.

Vendors like Stubbs, whose wife is the artist behind Oma and Opa's Laser Cut Designs, says Sterlingfest is their opportunity to get their art in front of the publicm and the great entertainment is a bonus for them.

"We get a lot of good feedback from people that buy stuff, and they keep coming back year after year, and the entertainment that's sitting out here is wonderful," James said.

"Getting our brand out there and getting people to know we are and that we are local, we try to do a lot of local events like this one," Garcia said. "My first time was last year and it was a blast.

"We got great food vendors, great musical entertainment on tap, and certainly the hospitality is second to none," Langlois said.

Sterlingfest will be open Thursday-Saturday this week, from 10 a.m.-11 p.m. at Dodge Park.

Where Your Voice Matters

Two Detroit emergency medical technicians recently returned to a home where they helped deliver twins in an unexpected home birth, this time bringing gifts and sharing a moment of joy with the grateful family.

Watch Meghan Daniels' video report: Detroit EMTs reunite with family after delivering surprise twins in home birth

EMTs Michael Bache and Bacarri Stanley were responding to what they thought was a routine call on July 1 when they found themselves in the middle of a surprise delivery.

"We thought it was only one baby until she was like, I got to push, and he was like You gotta push?" Stanley said.

Jessica Johnson, now a mother of five, was only about 32 weeks into her pregnancy when she began experiencing labor pains at home.

"I got up to pee, went to go lay back down felt pressure," Johnson said.

When she realized what was happening, Johnson's brother called 911, and minutes later, Bache and Stanley arrived at her door.

"I was pushing, I was hurting, and she came out! And I forgot it was twins. I was like 'oh no, where's the other one at?'" Johnson said.

The EMTs were equally surprised by the second baby on the way.

"When we got on scene, there was one baby out," Stanley said. "When she said she was like, 'Yeah, I gotta push, I gotta push,' we, me and my partner, looked at each other with the side eye like, 'What do you mean push?'"

With the EMTs' assistance, Johnson successfully delivered two healthy baby girls, Janiyah and Jaliyah.

"This was my first home birth. It was not planned. I did it with no meds, no nothing. But everything turned out good and blessed, and I thank the EMS for everything," Johnson said.

For Bache, the experience was memorable.

"It was very thrilling, very exciting. If it happens again, I'll be more prepared," he said.

Johnson explained that everything happened so quickly, she hadn't had time to prepare for the twins.

"When I found out I was having twins, 2 weeks after that, that's when I had them. So I didn't have enough time to get the stuff," Johnson said.

During their reunion visit, Bache and Stanley, with help from the Detroit Public Safety Foundation, brought much-needed supplies for the mother of five.

"When I say I'm speechless- I'm speechless and I'm thankful. I'm just thankful," Johnson said.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.