ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — In March 2020, student loan payments were put on hold to help Americans deal with the financial impact of COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns.

More than 40 million people began repaying their loans again this week, after a three year hiatus.

“Nowadays college is so expensive it seems almost overwhelming to a lot of people,” said recent college graduate, Koleman Ficht. “I was the first sibling to go to college, so I was the first sibling to have any sort of debt. So for both me and my parents, it was a bit hard to navigate exactly how we wanted to pay our student loans.”

Andrew Burgess, operations manager at Anchor Wealth Management, said there is help available.

“Ignore that perception that you have to make a lot of money to work with an advisor because that’s simply not true. What people generally have questions on are how does this apply to me? What resources may be available to me if I can’t make these payments?” Burgess said. “There’s a lot of those scenarios and it’s specific to each individual situation. It’s a good thing to analyze and ask the questions.”

“If you do find yourself falling behind or wondering if you’ll be able to make the payment, just reach out to your loan provider or whoever you’re paying that debt back to. Just talk to them and let them know your situation and they’ll work with you,” he added.

While the repayments just started, interest began accruing on September 1st.

The US Department of Education says borrowers should receive a billing statement at least three weeks before the bill’s due date.