Recovery of defaulted student loans
Federal civil · Contract · 166,903 cases filed and closed (1988–present).
166,903
Cases filed
30.2%
Ended before a merits judgment
50,330 of 166,903 cases
97.4%
Plaintiff win
of 116,573 merits judgments
1%
Defendant win
of merits judgments
How they closed
- Plaintiff win68%
- Dismissed26.4%
- Settled3.3%
- Decided — other0.9%
- Defendant win0.7%
- Transferred0.3%
- Mixed0.2%
- Other0.1%
- Remanded0.1%
- Affirmed0%
- Denied0%
Where you file matters
The same claim resolves differently across districts. Plaintiff-win rate among merits judgments, busiest courts first.
- District Court, C.D. California21,415 cases · 12,929 decided99.1%
- District Court, E.D. Michigan15,894 cases · 11,801 decided98%
- District Court, S.D. Texas12,757 cases · 8,449 decided95%
- District Court, E.D. New York12,245 cases · 9,594 decided97.2%
- District Court, S.D. Florida10,062 cases · 6,429 decided97.9%
- District Court, N.D. California6,776 cases · 4,222 decided99.6%
- District Court, M.D. Florida5,539 cases · 3,839 decided98.7%
- District Court, N.D. Illinois4,643 cases · 3,095 decided98.8%
- District Court, District of Columbia3,775 cases · 2,656 decided99.3%
- District Court, N.D. Texas3,211 cases · 2,238 decided97.2%
- District Court, N.D. Ohio3,143 cases · 2,604 decided96%
- District Court, D. New Jersey3,050 cases · 2,094 decided98.3%
- District Court, N.D. Georgia2,775 cases · 1,925 decided95.1%
- District Court, D. Minnesota2,685 cases · 2,012 decided96.7%
- District Court, W.D. Texas2,447 cases · 1,861 decided98.2%
- District Court, S.D. Ohio2,413 cases · 1,682 decided96%
- District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania1,945 cases · 1,483 decided99.2%
- District Court, D. Maryland1,831 cases · 1,126 decided98.2%
- District Court, D. Arizona1,681 cases · 1,291 decided97.1%
- District Court, D. South Carolina1,606 cases · 1,151 decided99.3%
- District Court, W.D. Pennsylvania1,581 cases · 1,291 decided99.1%
- District Court, E.D. Missouri1,569 cases · 1,181 decided98.2%
- District Court, N.D. Alabama1,478 cases · 948 decided97.4%
- District Court, S.D. Mississippi1,292 cases · 986 decided94.3%
- District Court, S.D. New York1,281 cases · 1,013 decided98%
- District Court, E.D. Louisiana1,218 cases · 913 decided96.6%
- District Court, D. Massachusetts1,184 cases · 702 decided94.7%
- District Court, W.D. Louisiana1,156 cases · 903 decided99%
- District Court, E.D. North Carolina1,150 cases · 929 decided96.8%
- District Court, E.D. Virginia1,146 cases · 789 decided95.7%
Source: FJC Integrated Database (public domain), via CourtListener — federal civil cases filed and terminated, 1988–present. Figures are descriptive statistics about how cases of a given type have closed in a given court. They describe the historical record — not a prediction or assessment of any specific case. Not legal advice.