What happened

Shares of the one-stop-shopping financial services company and digital bank SoFi (SOFI 1.97%) traded more than 11% higher as of 12:39 p.m. ET today in the hope that Congress will soon pass a bill to suspend the debt ceiling.

So what

After months of negotiations, President Biden and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy agreed on a proposal to suspend the debt ceiling until the first quarter of 2025. If passed, the bill allows the U.S. government to continue funding its previously approved obligations and avoid defaulting on its debt.

Within the bill, McCarthy negotiated several concessions, including the end of the student loan moratorium, which is a pause on federal student loan payments that first went into place more than three years ago at the very beginning of the pandemic.

Prior to the pandemic, SoFi's largest lending business had been student loan refinancing, but the moratorium really put a dent in that business. And borrowers had also been waiting on the Biden administration to decide whether or not to forgive some level of student debt.

The administration has since announced that it plans to forgive as much as $20,000 of student debt to select borrowers, although that matter is currently waiting for a decision by the Supreme Court.

Now what

Last night, the debt-ceiling bill passed its first big test when the House Rules Committee voted 7-6 to send it to entire House. It now awaits approval from the House and Senate.

Ultimately, passage of the bill and the end of the loan moratorium would help SoFi and likely enable management to boost its full-year guidance. But I don't see it as a huge overarching catalyst, primarily because the company has leaned heavily into personal-loan originations since the moratorium took effect. These are more profitable than student loans -- not that reignition of that business still wouldn't help earnings.

My core concern with SoFi is the bank's ability to sell and get loans off of its balance sheet at their current fair market value. Until I see more progress on this front, I plan to stay on the sidelines.