Trump administration officials are preparing to impose financial penalties on millions of Americans in default on their federal student loans next year, according to five sources familiar with the matter.

The Treasury Department is moving forward with plans to hire private debt collectors, three of the sources said, possibly as soon as November. The sources said those plans are unlikely to be announced before the midterm elections.

The planning — which has not been previously reported — shows the administration gearing up to move forward with a policy it previously put on hold out of concern for the potential consequences for the nearly 10 million borrowers in default.

The administration has grappled with internal divisions between federal agencies over how to manage the government’s $1.7 trillion student loan portfolio. Last year, the White House Office of Management and Budget began assisting the Education Department in preparing to seize federal benefits and wages from defaulted borrowers, the sources said. Treasury Department officials blocked that effort, expressing concern about the economic costs of taking punitive measures against workers.