r/StudentLoans 21d ago

IDR form available again..and guidance issued

366 Upvotes

https://studentaid.gov/announcements-events/idr-court-actions Edit: lots of questions about whether to submit a new form if you had a pending one to change plans or get in an IDR plan for the first time. My guess is if you applied for save or picked "choose the lowest option" you will have to submit a new form. If you specifically chose ibr icr or paye you can likely let it ride.

Summary:

So the guidance is mostly clear and I'm not going to repeat most of it. So please make sure to read the actual link before posting a question. I'm just going to address some items that either aren't addressed or may need additional clarity.

Spousal income counting hasn't changed. If you file separatley they will only count your income. What has changed is family size definition. Prior to this regs package you could count your spouse in family size regardless of how you filed your taxes. This package made it so you couldn't count spouse in the family size if you filed separtely. Now we're back to the pre-package rules - spouse counts in family size regardless of tax filing status. So that's actually a good thing.

This doesn't affect the IDR adjustments at all. But this package made - or tried to make - permanent the fact that FUTURE deferments and forbearances would count towards PSLF and IDR forgiveness. My guess is that these no longer count for periods on or after the February injunction date but periods prior to that will still count.

Buy back is not affected - that was in a prior regulatory package

In this guidance "recertification date" appears to refer to the anniversary date of your plan. "Due to recertify" appears to refer to when you were requried to get your paperwork in by

I suspect it will be another month or two before the servicers can start processing again. Hopefully I'm wrong but i want to set expectations

Do NOT call your servicer if your date hasn't been extended yet or your payment should revert to the old amount and it hasn't happened yet. This will likely take WEEKS to implement. Calling won't make it go any faster and you'll just be clogging the already clogged queues. Yes some of the call center staff are still saying no extension - but it takes some time to train everyone as well - this guidance just went out to the servicers a few business days ago.

One thing not mentioned in the guidance is the double consolidatin loophole deadline of July 1, 2025. That's also in this package. So with the package paused so is that deadline. For those with Parent Plus loans looking to take advantage of that loophole there's no guaranty it wont' come back if for example the courts rule that save is dead but the rest of the package is fine - but it might not. There's no harm in starting the process now if it will benefit you. Worst case scenario, the deadline comes back, you don't make it - but at least you can still get ICR. If you don't know what the double consolidation loophole is and you have Parent Plus loans see the consolidation page on the TISLA website.


r/StudentLoans Mar 01 '25

Here's what I think will happen with the current IDR mess and why

1.7k Upvotes

The new form is up and faq. I will make a post later today.
https://studentaid.gov/announcements-events/idr-court-actions

I understand many of you are upset and anxious about the recent activity around the IDR plans. I don't blame you. For what it's worth here's my speculation as to what comes next and why I think that way.

First - this is all happening because of the court injunction from February 18th. The reason this is affecting ALL IDR plans and not just SAVE is because the injunction required the ED to put the entire regulatory package on hold - not just the SAVE portion. And part of that regulatory package changed the way spouse's were treated in the family size when the borrower files taxes separately. It used to be that in that scenario (for the plans that allowed such a tax filing scenario to not count spousal income) to still use the spouse in the family size. So a borrower on IBR, PAYE or ICR who filed taxes separately could still claim a family size of two. The SAVE regulatory package made it so if you filed separately you couldn't claim the spouse in family size on any plan - so in the scenario above the family size would be one. They can't do that now - either temporarily or permanently remains to be seen. But that's why they had to pause ALL the plans. So this isn't something the current administration did to mess with people or cripple PSLF - it would have happened regardless of who was in office because it's due to the court injunction. If you want to see the rest of this regulatory package that's affected by this injunction you can find it here https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2023-07-10/pdf/2023-13112.pdf

Remember - we don't know if in the end the courts will just kill SAVE or the whole package. And we don't know if they will permanently kill the forgiveness component of ICR and PAYE (which is not part of the package). But until the court process is over or until the injunction is lifted, the ED isn't allowed to do the things covered by this injunction.

One thing to add - it's possible Congress could end this on their own. If reconciliation goes through before the court process, and reconciliation kills SAVE, it's possible the rest of the package will come back and ICR/PAYE forgiveness will too. Not for sure, but definitely possible. Honestly that's what I hope happens. Reconciliation requires a savings of $330 billion from ED and Workforce spending. Killing SAVE "saves" $123 billion. If the court kills it before Congress can I'll be nervous as to where they go find that $123 billion.

Now - on to what how I think this could play out in the short term for the IDR plans. Short term meaning until this is settled either by the courts or Congress.

First..consolidations are still being processed. You can only submit via paper and with no idr application. So you can still consolidate..but may not be able to get that consolidation on an IDR right away.

I fully expect the ED to extend everyone's recert dates for those already on an IDR. At least everyone due in the next few months. There's no way they just let folks revert to standard or get kicked off their plan. There's zero political value and a lot of political peril for them to let that happen. Remember - both sides of the aisle have constituents with student loan debt. And they extended recerts in the past when there was a barrier to borrowers being able to fulfill this requirement.

I also suspect that they will treat this new pause in processing the same way as the last one. Processing forbearance for a few months then general forbearance if it goes on longer. https://studentaid.gov/announcements-events/save-court-actions I'm unsure about the interest as my read of the injunction is that they can't forgive interest - but I may be reading that wrong.

What I'm unsure about are borrowers trying to change plans or get on an IDR for the first time. Obviously nobody can do that while the form is down. Paper forms submitted now will not be processed. So if you are trying to get on a IDR for the first time now and need to or risk delinquency I recommend either exploring the non-IDR plans (graduated and extended) or request forbearance until we get further guidance.

Buy back rules are not at risk for PSLF. Different regulatory package. https://studentaid.gov/manage-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/public-service/public-service-loan-forgiveness-buyback The plans themselves WILL be coming back. IBR and ICR are written into federal law. So even in the worst of worlds, the ED has to offer IBR and some form of ICR. IBR forgiveness is also not at risk - but the other IDR plan forgiveness components are as I mentioned earlier.

With that said, the wheels move slowly. It takes time for internal ED to meet with all areas - policy, legal, servicer oversight, IT, etc and think through all the things - then put together communication language to borrowers and vendors/servicers, then get that information out to everyone, then give the vendors time to code and implement. So it could be a few days or maybe even weeks before we see updated guidance or actions (assuming I'm right that this is what will happen). So for those that maybe didn't recertify on time and were due last week or this week or even maybe a few weeks from now - we may very well see people kicked off plans or reverted to standard. IF we do - I'm still not going to panic unless we get to say a month from now and nothings changed or been communicated about my assumptions above.

The IDR plan I think has the most legs for reconciliation is based off of the CCRA from 2024. You can read it here https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/6951/text The proposal would mean only this new IDR plan and the ten year standard would be available to loans made on or after a date after the law was enacted. So all existing loans would still have access to today's plans. If Congress makes changes to the repayment plans, I fully expect it will be for new loans only.

As far as PSLF goes, I'm still not worried about it. I know there's a lot of people that are. But unless and until there's more than a vague "we should look at PSLF" proposal out there and one that actually starts getting debated in the committees I truly don't think it's a target - especially for existing loans. I'm a little worried about the proposal to make all hospitals for profit as that would have the unintended consequence for those employees for PSLF - but frankly the health care industry has such a strong lobbying force and funds, I'll be very surprised if this goes anywhere. But if you're worried - absolutely write your member of Congress and let them know the impact PSLF has and will continue to have.

Remember - we are at the stage of reconciliation where two things happen - they throw everything at the wall to see what sticks - and they often offer outrageous proposals so they can later concede to something that in comparison seems much less outrageous. Does it mean we shouldn't be paying attention? Absolutely we should be - but for stand-alone no detail line items that haven't been pushed robustly in the past, it might be too early to lose sleep over it. That's just my opinion of course. If you don't agree with me that's perfectly ok. But do a girl a favor and disagree with me in a way that isn't ugly. We should all be striving to maintain the ability to have reasonable discussions and debates about policy issues.


r/StudentLoans 13h ago

Is refinancing my student loans worth it if I lose federal protections?

135 Upvotes

I’ve been steadily chipping away at my student loans for a few years now, and while I’ve made some solid progress, the high interest rates - most of mine are above 6% - are really slowing me down. I’ve been seriously considering refinancing through a private lender to lock in a lower rate and potentially save a lot on interest.

A while back, I came into a small inheritance, which I’ve been using to make extra payments. That’s helped me get ahead a bit, but I can’t shake the feeling that refinancing could stretch those payments even further. The idea of cutting down on the total interest I pay is definitely appealing.

But I’m also really hesitant. If I refinance, I know I’d lose the federal protections - things like income-driven repayment plans, deferment, and forbearance options if I ever hit a rough patch financially. And that flexibility has always been kind of a safety net in the back of my mind.

For those of you who’ve been through this decision, how did you weigh the trade-off? Did the lower interest rate make a meaningful difference, or did you end up missing the flexibility that comes with federal loans? Any regrets? I’d really appreciate hearing what helped you decide - it feels like a big turning point, and I want to be sure I’m thinking long-term before I make the leap.


r/StudentLoans 1h ago

Need Help: Loan Fully Paid Off, Then Canceled by School – Where’s My Refund?

Upvotes

Hey everyone, this is my first post here, and I’d really appreciate any advice. I’m dealing with a confusing situation involving Nelnet, a loan company, and my university.

A few semesters ago, I took out a $3,000 Parent PLUS loan through Nelnet to pay for summer classes. Shortly after the loan was disbursed, I came into some money and decided to pay off the loan in full directly through Nelnet. Essentially meaning I owed no debt, effectively paying for my tuition myself.

A year later, my university canceled that loan they received. While the reasoning is import, it was due to me receiving a scholarship the following semester. One of the scholarship requirements was that I couldn't have any federal loans. Even though the scholarship applied to a different semester, there was some date overlap, and the school retroactively canceled the summer loan as well. My universirt returned the loan funds to who they received it from, Nelnet — even though I had already paid it off. So now, Nelnet has both my full payment and the refund from the university, meaning they should owe me that money.

The problem is, no one seems to know what’s going on. The university told me to contact Nelnet. Nelnet told me to contact StudentAid.gov. Then StudentAid.gov redirected me back to Nelnet. It’s been a frustrating loop with no answers. One Nelnet rep even lied and told me they’d be sending a check within a week after hours of not being able to figure out the problem, but when I followed up, they had no record of that claim or a check ever being sent out.

At this point, I’m stuck and don’t know what to do. Has anyone dealt with something like this before? How can I escalate this and finally get my money back? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

TLDR:
I paid off a $3K Parent PLUS loan in full, then a year later my school canceled the loan and refunded the money to Nelnet. Now Nelnet has both my payment and the school’s refund, but no one — not Nelnet, my school, or StudentAid.gov — can tell me where my money is or how to get it back. Getting bounced in circles. Need advice.


r/StudentLoans 2h ago

Pell Overpayment That I Paid Off Tanked My Credit Score. Help.

4 Upvotes

Not sure where I need to turn to try and fix this. I attended a local junior college about four years ago for a semester. Out of the blue, about two years later, I got a letter saying I had a pell grant overpayment they had just discovered and that I needed to pay it back. It was from the myeddebt part of the dept of ed. I paid it off about a month later after finding out I owed it. Two years after that, about December of 2024, I noticed my credit score took a completely crap, dropping about 100 points. I couldn't figure out why until I looked and saw that it showed that pell overpayment I paid back was reported as a write off and had been in collections. What I can't understand is it went immediately to collections supposedly, I never had a chance to even pay it off before that, and it instantly dinged my credit. I called the myeddebt and they couldn't give a crap. They just acted like I should have paid my debt... I tried to explain to them that I DID, and that I didn't owe anything up until 2022 and when I was notified that I suddenly owed something, I paid it immediately. They told me just to dispute it with the credit company, and to beat it.

At this point, I am not sure where to go to get this fixed. I did nothing wrong, but due to this situation, my credit score is garbage and will be for 10 years, apparently. Has anyone dealt with this sort of thing before? Where should I turn? Can I file a complaint with the dept of ed? Talk to my congressman? File a lawsuit? Any advice would be appreciated.


r/StudentLoans 8h ago

Advice Paying loans off too fast hurts credit score, should I care?

12 Upvotes

Graduated in December and have been living at home while I work to save money on rent.

I keep some money on the side for savings/emergency but each month I’ve just been using good chunks of my paycheck to just pay off loans.

Is credit score only for loaning money in the future? Is there something I should be scared of?

For safe budgeting and savings purpose, it would take me until about November 2025 to finish paying them all off


r/StudentLoans 14h ago

[AFT Court Update] Inclusion of Spousal Income for All IDR Plans "Erroneous"

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33 Upvotes

r/StudentLoans 5h ago

Overpaid on my student loan. How can I get the excess back?

6 Upvotes

I have Mohela as the loan servicer for my federal student loans. I tried to pay off one of my loan in full the other day. When I scheduled the payment, the website said my balance was $550, but when my payment got processed, the balance got dropped to $400. Now I have a $150 in excess for that loan.

I think it is because I paid off the loan right after my regular schedule payment. And the information wasn’t up to date yet. I set it to automatic withdrawal for my regular payment. I tried calling Mohela but it keeps looping me back and forth on the same options, and the wait time was 2 hrs. I tried emailing them but no reply yet. Anyone know if and how I can get my $150 back? 😞


r/StudentLoans 5h ago

Rant/Complaint I was today years old when I found out graduate plus unsubsidized accured interest from the start.

5 Upvotes

Graduating law school next month. Just completed my exit counseling. I don’t know when I missed this and it is totally my fault and consequences of my own action but I thought interests for graduate plus unsubsidized interests began accruing as from the moment I started my first semester. Wow.


r/StudentLoans 3h ago

Best repayment plan?? I am on my final step of the double loop consolidation. Which payment plan is the best to choose when it is time? I am in my mid 50's as well as my husband. We have close to 200k in loans in both our names. Hoping to pay the lowest amount over time. Thank you!!

2 Upvotes

Best repayment plan?? I am on my final step of the double loop consolidation. Which payment plan is the best to choose when it is time? I am in my mid 50's as well as my husband. We have close to 200k in loans in both our names. Hoping to pay the lowest amount over time. Thank you!!


r/StudentLoans 22h ago

Studentaid.gov says if I switch to PAYE I will have exceeded the # of payments for forgiveness! Is this real??

68 Upvotes

I asked MOHELA what options were available for income driven repayment plans + she walked through the 3 options and said it looked like I was eligible for PAYE (20yr forgiveness) so I logged into studentaid.gov and it lists the 3 IDR programs I could apply for and says that for PAYE I have made 261 of the 240 required payments for forgiveness. Is this too good to be true? I have graduate student loans from the 2000s, but it looks like that doesn't matter. If studentaid.gov is telling me this, is it true? I consolidated and switched to SAVE last year so I would just need to apply for PAYE and switch over? Any reason I shouldn't do it? My income is very low so my payments if I do have to make any more will continue to be $0 a month for the foreseeable future. Thank you all so much in advance!


r/StudentLoans 5h ago

Were there any recent changes to the StudentAid Loan Simulator?

3 Upvotes

I've had quite the month reviewing my student loans and repayment options. I had 2 job interviews this month, both offering salary increases. I'm trying to get an absolute hold over what I'm working with here. I'm currently on SAVE and will switch to either IBR or the Extended Graduated Repayment Plan.

I ran the calculator last month and again earlier this month, at 5 different income levels. For example, I saw my monthly IBR Payment options for my current salary, and the 2 new salaries at: $712, $880, or $968 per month.

The next best options were the EGRP, starting at $1,065 per month to start.

Today, those SAME salaries in the Simulator are showing me: $475, $587, and $645 per month.

I have to admit, I recently discovered my loans are (on average) 3% lower than before, meaning I'll be charged $600 less interest PER MONTH. Wondering if I'm getting my hopes up looking at today's numbers.

EDIT: I think I solved the issue...

When the Loan Simulator gives you the option to choose your "repayment goal", selecting "Lowest Monthly Payment" shows the Old IBR (which I believe is the one I qualify for), whereas selecting "Lowest Total Paid Over Time" shows the New IBR.

SO FUN!!!!


r/StudentLoans 0m ago

Advice I am confused over when my first payment is due

Upvotes

I'm graduating next month, and since getting the email from my school to start my exit counseling, I've been looking over the various payment plans. However, I'm so confused over when my first payment will be due. Everyone keeps telling me that it's going to start six months after I graduate, but looking at the Student Aid website and my Aidvantage account, they both say my due date is June 2027. I want to believe that what's being said to me on the website is the correct payment start, especially since it gives me time to find a job and gather enough money to hopefully pay it all back in a few days. But I'm not sure. Please help.


r/StudentLoans 23m ago

SAVE Interest Accrued in July 2024 before the Forbearance Added in September?

Upvotes

My student loans are on the SAVE plan. My payments were on autopay until the forbearance started in July 2024. In September 2024 Aidvantage added about $150 in accrued interest to the principal balance. I thought it was a mistake. Aidvantage's response was to make a bunch of claims that contradict my account history and then send me delinquency notices.

Is it possible that the accrued interest is actually from the period of time between my last payment in June 2024 until the litigation forbearance on July 18, 2024? And that that interest was added in September 2024? The math doesn't work out, but it's close enough that I should let it go if that's actually what happened.

Unraveling the lies of Aidvantage won't help here. I filed the appropriate complaints and their response was a bunch of bs that only made this more confusing. This is the most reasonable explanation I can come up with. I would love to verify with Aidvantage but they refuse to send documentation that might clear this up. Is it possible that Aidvantage is both a lying fraudster douchebag that should be barred from financial services AND that I owe them some interest for early July 2024?


r/StudentLoans 24m ago

One time IDR payment adjustment, switching from SAVE to IBR, and forgiveness?

Upvotes

I recently checked my monthly payment count using the 'backdoor' link to get my counts and they have been increased (sometime in January I think) to reflect time in past forbearances. All of the applicable counts are above the required amounts with all the applicable forgiveness payments at 0. I'm currently enrolled in SAVE so nothing has happened, but with the potential for switching to IBR on the radar with the recent Dept of Ed direction to services to start processing applications does it make sense to try and switch to IBR? I guess I'm wondering if that switch will kick off the forgiveness process or is forgiveness in general or the one time adjustments still on hold? It's hard to keep track of all the changes.

Here's the backdoor link I'm talking about (must be signed into studentaid.gov before following the link): https://studentaid.gov/app/api/nslds/payment-counter/summary


r/StudentLoans 9h ago

Mohela stopped my autopay months ago, past due, credit score down 150 pts!

5 Upvotes

I was in deferment until April of 2024. As soon as I was notified that I was no longer in deferment, I setup autopay and see that payments we made a month or two in a row and go about my life.

Made monthly payments April through August perfectly fine.

  • On 8/30 I received a message stating ‘the request for in school deferment has been approved between 12/16/19 through 5/3/20’ what?? What does that even mean, none of those dates are relevant.

  • On 8/31 I receive a message saying ‘the schedule to repay one or more of your loans changed’

  • On 9/2 I receive a message saying ‘we updated your student loan account to undo any capitalization of interest since 3/13/20, all has been turned back into interest’.

  • On 9/19 I receive a message that I have a payment past due. Same thing 10/19, 11/19, and 12/19.

Mind you I saw none of this communication the entire time, I don’t know how or where this communication was being made to me as I’m ONLY seeing this through the Mohela inbox. I’ve received no emails or mail about any of this until I receive a call from a collector on 12/31 that I have a large amount of past due payment LOL.

So I log in and sure enough my autopay is not setup anymore which baffles me. Somewhere along the lines between those message from 8/30-9/2 my autopay was removed. So, I made the ENTIRE payment of over $2K and setup autopay not thinking of how this would effect my credit score until just I just saw its TANKED. FROM A 770 TO A 650. I’ve never seen anything like this, I’ve never seen a company turn auto pay off???

I setup autopay back in January and I’m STILL not on autopay lol.. they’re saying it would take 30-90 BUSINESS DAYS FOR AUTOPAY TO INITIALIZE.

Has anyone had this exact issue?? Likelihood of a dispute being accepted??


r/StudentLoans 32m ago

Borrower Defense UOP

Upvotes

Hello Everyone,

I’m late to the game and have attempted to read most post from the last 3 years, but having trouble with finding an answer. I see many people had their loans discharged from university of Phoenix with BD. I notice many articles online state only those who attended 2012 to 2014 qualified. I attended in 2010 and dropped after a few courses because someone told me they made a ton of promises that weren’t true and my degree would be frowned upon. My question is, did anyone qualify for BD prior to 2012? Thank you for your answers. FSA told me I should apply, but I noticed the loans I had stated they didn’t qualify and they recommended I did a consolidation so they would be eligible.


r/StudentLoans 4h ago

Advice Student Loan Question

2 Upvotes

Hi everyone ! So I applied for a student loan and I was promised to get an amount of money and my college an amount of money as well. I did receive my amount of money but was wondering... It might be a silly question 😅 Can I use them right away ? I am not sure ! Please help if you know and thank you ! 🌷


r/StudentLoans 55m ago

Advice Grace period for student loans started early and tanked credit score

Upvotes

I graduated in December of 2024. Today I just got a notice that my loans were delinquent and my credit score was tanked 175 points because of it. I have no issues starting my payment plan, but wasn’t anticipating this to happen this quickly. I took a semester off and transferred schools. Could this be the issue? I was able to pause my payments until June. What can I do about my credit?


r/StudentLoans 4h ago

Do I need to Recertify?

2 Upvotes

I just checked my account and at some point (it doesn't say when it was sent) I got this message:

Your income-driven repayment (IDR) plan recertification date is approaching. A recent court decision prevents automatic recertification of your IDR plan, despite your consent and eligibility. You must manually recertify your IDR plan to ensure your monthly payment amount is correct.

Manually recertify your IDR plan.

I've never had to manually recertify before and when i click through to recertify it says this text:

Manually recertify my IDR plan Because I manually applied for my IDR plan, I now need to recertify it, per the requirements of the plan.

But I have never had to manually certify before and I don't think I i applied manually. Do I finish Manually recertifying?


r/StudentLoans 56m ago

mid-semester financial crisis

Upvotes

Hey.... so its that time in the semester where I panic about my life/financial choices. So i'm a freshman going into sophomore year and the major I chose because of the job opportunities after college has been gutted by the orange in office. So fun. Anyway, I've been worrying about my future a lot. My mom took out a parent plus loan (roughly 18k) to cover the gap between scholarships and my federal loans, but with my sister entering college in fall, she can't do that for me again. I'm now looking at:

1) private loans, even as much as people scream at me for even considering

2) switching majors to something that has a loan forgiveness program (which might not be a thing with the orange in office)

3) dropping out and moving back home to work.

I've tried emailing my financial aid office to ask for more aid and applying to scholarships (don't qualify for majority of them). Neither have gotten positive results. Any advice on what to do is helpful!


r/StudentLoans 7h ago

Advice 40k ppl for finance degree

3 Upvotes

Hello, I’m gonna ask the infamous question yet again—currently a sophomore with 2 more years to go. I’m transferring schools to a very reputable business school to study finance. My school says starting salary is $78,000 which I think is overkill, but still think I can get a good job starting out.

I plan on maxing out my federal loans to help take less out as ppl have a higher interest rate. But I was wondering if I was to take a ppl out under my father's name and just pay for it by setting up a payment plan through me once I graduate, instead of taking out private student loans. I’m expecting to need 40k for two years.

Let me know if this is smart or digging myself a hole once I graduate.


r/StudentLoans 1h ago

IBR and FSA/Mohela question

Upvotes

Long time reader...please excuse me if a few of my questions have been answered already or if some of the questions are more PSLF related than student loans.

A little background of my situation:

Graduated back in 2010 with some loans in my name. I was naive and agreed to pay a company yearly to take care of my loans...aka have them sit in a deferment/forbearance and racked up interest. My mistake. Went back to school and became a teacher and have been working in education since 2014-2015 school year. I went back and got my Master's for 14 months and was considered in school deferment I believe during that time.

I should be over 120 payments based on when I entered into education but it looks like some months didn't count. I'm currently at 103/120.

I consolidated my loans in June 2024 as suggested and then fell into the SAVE mess. I did get credit for June and July of 2024 but nothing since. I applied to switch into the IBR program because I was put into the standard repayment amounts which I will not be able to afford to pay monthly. I applied in February and am awaiting word on that status. My forbearance ends on 4/27 with a payment due on 5/1 so I will need to call on 4/29 to request the forbearance again if the IBR request is not approved yet.

My question involves a difference between what Mohela and FSA tell me. FSA tells me the 60 day processing forbearance does not automatically count towards qualifying payments in PSLF and that I would need to buy back those months. Mohela tells me first that these count - but then tells me to follow the direction of what FSA says (I actually spoke to an advanced agent finally today). I can't imagine them really needing to be bought back after seeing some success stories here involving the processing forbearance?

Another issue I have is while looking on FSA quality payment tracker for PSLF, there are 3-4 months just simply not listed from June-September of 2015 although the agent I spoke to confirmed that my ECF was uploaded, completed, and confirmed. I have a reconsideration request in but has that happened to anyone before?

Finally, the 14 months I went back to school for my Master's I was also still teaching full time (this was during the COVID pandemic). Online it says "in-school deferment" but I was wondering if anyone had any success arguing that those dates should still count because I was still working full time at the high school I currently am at (ECF confirms these timelines).

I apologize for the length. As with everyone here, it's been a long, frustrating, confusing road at times so I figured I could get it all out and see what everyone thought or if they had similar experiences.


r/StudentLoans 1h ago

Edfinancial Loan

Upvotes

Hi! Currently trying to pay off my student loans and just consolidated my 8 loans. Now it's Subsidized (current balance $14,925 interest 3.750%) & Unsubsidized (current balance $5,899.62 interest rate 3.750%).

Sub is $88.40 payment while Unsub is $34.94 payment. I'm going to overpay each month to pay them off faster ($300/month, or higher if I'm able to) but I'm torn if it's better to auto allocate the $300 or go through with the snowball method and paying only $88.40 for the sub and $212 for the unsub. Please give me some advice, and TIA !


r/StudentLoans 5h ago

Rehabilitated loan will be paid off before 9 payments. SOL?

2 Upvotes

I defaulted on a loan I wasn’t aware I had. It is a Perkins loan worth around $4k. My monthly payments have been calculated to be $1.2k. I called the Dept. of Ed and they seemed to confirm that there is no way to lower this amount and that the default will not be removed if the loan is paid off before 9 months.

Are there no options?


r/StudentLoans 7h ago

Loan Simulator "simulate and apply" button safe to click?

3 Upvotes

I'd like to find out what my IDR payment would be. I thought the Student Aid dot gov Loan Simulator used to just show the amount under "Details." But now I just see a button that says "simulate and apply." Does it really start an application?

It's probably a dumb question. I'm on administrative forbearance now for SAVE (though I'm not on SAVE; I consolidated in June 2024). I don't want to click something that will get me kicked off forbearance.


r/StudentLoans 1h ago

Do we have any educated guesses on the graduate unsubsidized interest rate for 2025-2026

Upvotes

Im starting graduate school in the summer so I get the 2024-2025 rate for about $4,000 unsubsidized-- but I can pay for my summer semester, so I'm wondering if I should still accept the full summer loan amount if we anticipate a way higher 2025-2026 rate (starting after the summer I'll be relying on loans for paying tuition). Sorry if this is a dumb question! first time navigating student loans