I thought it waived all interest that your payment didn’t cover. So why do I owe $100 more this month than last month? It’s in unpaid interest. I checked the statement.

I checked all my statements while under RAP. It’s grown by about $100 each month, with nothing being waived.

I just made my last student loan payment! 25k paid off after graduating December 2024. I was fortunate enough to live at home and hammer it out, and it feels great. That’s all 😁

So yeah how do I get loan rehabilitated and go on the repayment assistance plan (RAP)

Been putting this off for too long just need to get on a plan, and also soon I’ll be able to pay off a big chunk of my loan in one go so just need to do something to hold off the loans

My loans are 2700 monthly and after expenses I’m left with 2 k a month. Due to student loan payments picking up and everything becoming expensive I’m 13k in the hole right now on credit card debt.

Is there any way I can pause paying student loans? It’s hopeless anyway because I won’t be making a dent in any of it anyway.

This is an income based repayment plan.

Hi! I attended the Art Institute in Miami from 2021-2023 and finished my program in June 2023 just months before the school closed. Because I graduated I think I dont qualify for the closed school discharge, so I wanted to apply for borrowers defense, I had no idea of the recent limitation of 3 years after graduation to apply, just found out and 3 years was this june! Am I completely doomed if I apply for borrowers defense now 3 months after my deadline or should I still try and apply since it hasnt been that long?

I am on deferment for being unemployed and called MOHELA today. I was on hold for 2 hours and 35 minutes because you can’t do it yourself online. The representative but in the request to end early and said it could take up to 120 days. How long has it actually taken for deferment to end after requesting?

I know I can make manual payments, but I’m going for PSFL and only have about 36 months left, and I’m pretty certain my loans have to be in repayment to qualify for PSFL. And payments would go to interest first is what the rep told me.

Hi - I’m embarassed over how confused I am but want to ask real people for advice on what I should do next. I was paying back what I was borrowing pretty steadily in undergrad (or trying to) but graduated in 2020 and decided to hold out under the biden administration.

Now I’m on SAVE, and owe a remaining balance of $14,716.80 in subsidized loans. This is broken down into 3 loans ranging from 4.5–5% interest rates. For the last year I have basically been paying down the interest every month or two and not much more than that (avoidance, for sure, but not wanting the interest to beat my ass.)

I have basically been avoiding signing in — eek —but got the notice about having 90 days to switch plans on September 23rd. Previously I’d seen the “1% autopay” offer and kind of eyeballed it but ultimately didn’t want to sign anything letting them pull money from my bank on a regular cadence because I’m on a teachers salary (60k) in NYC and just don’t have it to give except certain months when the stars align. I’ve thought about PSLF but don’t really know if I’ll be doing this for that long, and don’t think my random payments under SAVE really count for much in that regard anyway. Plus 14k will probably be paid down altogether by the time anything substantial could be forgiven.

What do I do next? (Other than pay them, which I am going to start doing as much as I can. They’re low enough that I know I can do it within the next few years so I’m going to try.) Can I just stick to SAVE until they boot me off? I worry I might just be leaning towards that because I’m avoidant, not because it’s the right choice. At the same time, I literally don’t have the money for the massive monthly payments I’m afraid the other plans will saddle me with.

What do I do next? I really want to avoid asking Chat GPT, hoping a real human can suggest next steps because I am so confused and scared to make the wrong move in this administration.

I left college in 2014 with about $44000 worth of loans--$30000 federal, $14000 from the school itself. Joined Peace Corps in 2015, and after 2 years, I got about $3000 cancelled from my Federal Perkins Loans through the school.

Interest had accrued quite a bit by the time I left Peace Corps in 2017, and I'd been on $0 payments through plans like PAYE and SAVE, and applying for Forbearance here and there.

After Peace Corps, I continued to work in the country that I served in and steadily chipped away at the higher interest loans (7% from the school, 6.8% for some of the later federal loans). The housing provided by my employer here meant that I didn't have to pay rent, so all of my salary could be divided into just savings and food/entertainment. Once I had just lower interest loans (3.4-3.8%) left, I began building up my emergency fund and just making smaller payments of ~$500/month.

This month, I had a balance of $5500 left and since I had been saving up money to buy an apartment in this country, I decided to just cut the debt out of the equation and finish it off.

In total, with an initially balance of $44000, I think I ended up paying about $20000 in interest over these 12 years.

It's such a big relief because while I was in Peace Corps, I had many sleepless nights where I wondered how I would ever get such a huge amount of money paid off. I know that I was rather fortunate to not have to take out a huge amount in comparison to some of the posts I've seen here, but this is still a massive accomplishment for me. Good luck to everyone else--you can do it!

New to RAP. Currently monthly payment is $240 and interest is $700. At MOHELA, my September payment via autopay triggered the interest subsidy and principal pay down, but the October payment on the same autopay did not.

Anyone have experience with this bug?

^

Has anyone had this happen to them? For extra context, I received an email saying I owe my school 4,000. But a month ago, I received a disbursement check that was basically my entire loan.

No one at the school can tell me why this happened. Additionally, my student portal shows them adding and taking away random charges, including changing my residency from out of state to in state then back again several times so I don’t even have an accurate itemized bill. The bursar is not returning my calls or email at this time.

I am an in-state freshman at a public university in Virginia, coming from a low-income household (parents make $70k combined, but we live in NoVA). My financial aid, grants, and federal student loans finally hit my account, but because our school is notorious for stingy aid, I'm still left with a remaining balance of $3,348 for this first semester.

I currently cannot pay this in full out of pocket. Because of this balance I have a hold on my account that will block me from registering for Spring 2027 classes when my enrollment window opens in about a month.

My parents have near-perfect credit scores, so they easily qualify for Parent PLUS Loans that is currently sitting as "offered" in my portal. However, I am terrified of the student loan horror stories I read on here, and I don't know if taking out a PLUS loan is a terrible idea considering the current 9.07% fixed interest rate and the 4.228% origination fee, especially since it's for a relatively small amount under $4k.

My current plan is:

1. Accept just a reduced $3,500 portion of the Parent PLUS loan right now to get the pending aid on my account and force the school to lift my registration hold before November.
2. Start a campus dining job next week to begin earning biweekly paychecks.
3. Work with my parents to use my job earnings to pay off the $3,500 over the next few months.

Is using a Parent PLUS loan as a short-term to protect my class registration safe when it's an amount this small? Also, if anyone has tips on how to handle the next semesters without getting stuck in this exact same cycle, please let me know. Thanks!

I read that there's no limit on how many times you can change your federal student loan repayment plan. Servicer’s can put you in processing forbearance (up to 60 days) while a plan is changed.

In theory, what's stopping someone from switching RAP → Standard → RAP over and over and staying in forbearance? Is there an actual rule or servicer policy against it, or just practical downsides like accruing interest and no forgiveness credit?

If I don’t care about interest or PSLF, and want to buy myself 6-8 months, why not just log on every other month and switch plans?

I have a private loan that has already been refinanced twice (originally Wells Fargo then refinanced to Commonbond then refinanced to Earnest, my current lender). I’m 31 and have been paying it since I graduated. It’s about $64,000 left at 4.7% fixed interest, estimated payoff is October 2037. I was in SAVE for federal loans and need to begin repaying soon, so I’ve been trying to find a lower interest rate for my private loans that I’ve been paying $620/month because I won’t be able to afford my federal payment on top of this. The rates are awful. For reference I’ve never missed or paid late, my credit score is 833, and the only other debt I have besides student loans is $2,000 credit card. I’ve looked at sofi, citizens bank, earnest, etc and the rates are all much higher than what I have now. Has anyone had success finding a lower rate?

I called my servicer (edfinancial) two weeks ago to have them put my loans in extended fixed but I called back today to see how that was coming and was told nothing was on my account for this or under my SSN, which turns out apparently a ticket was never put in only a note. has this ever happened to anyone? did they quite literally never put my application through?

when i was on the phone with them today they then actually entered a ticket for me today. how can i ensure they dont do this again?

Got the notices, checked the options and applied for a new IBR. Called and spoke with Mohela over the phone to go over options because new IBR is nearly $500/month which I cannot afford.
I have been in public service since graduating with my bachelors and then masters. I have roughly 53 qualified payments so far.
Person on phone said my only options are the $500/month IBR OR relinquish my PSLF and get on graduated payment plan at roughly $250/month (which is still very difficult for me to afford). They said auto payments will begin 11/12/2026.
Anyone else going through this and have any ideas? I’m really worried.

Anyone else have their Save plan deadline this week? Mine is tomorrow and not sure whether to wait for the FSA 30 day extension or apply today. What is everyone due this week doing?

staying in SAVE until they kick me off.

My current monthly payment is still $0. Need to start paying about $100/month to stop interest accrual but probably can't until January. Wondering if I can still enroll in autopay to get the 1% interest perk even though my payments are $0?

I think I’m between IBR and RAP plans but I’ve been avoiding choosing until forced and am in no rush to pay these off because I’m aware I’m going to be paying ~forever~ and resent the whole thing in the first place.

For context I am married filed jointly. My spouse has no student loans. We have no dependents and will not have any children.

But the pros and cons for these plans that I’ve been reading are confusing. Will anything be forgiven after 240-300 payments? Will I have a “tax bomb?” Why is my RAP end of term date sooner than IBR when it seems everyone else’s is later? Is RAP a scam?

My repayment calculator gives the following:
(Btw vs SAVE monthly payment was $305 🫠)

IBR:
Monthly payment: $1,047
Total to be paid: $228,054
Principal paid: $125,783
Interest paid: $102,271
End of term date: April 2041

RAP:
Monthly payment: $1,318
Total to be paid: $205,546
Principal paid: $125,782
Interest paid: $79,746
End of term date: November 2037

I had to submit this today, so pissed. Was in PSLF for years as a librarian, they consolidated my loans without my consent and said the ones i had paid were no longer eligible for PSLF and since they consolidated them and sold them to a new servicer i would have to start over. Sick of this nonsense, I got out of public service to make a living wage so all my PSLF was for nothing and now this craziness. We treat our vets and students like shit:

I submitted an IDR application through StudentAid.gov and explicitly selected the option to leave my loans in their existing deferment/forbearance rather than begin repayment immediately.

I have now received a notice dated October 13 stating that my RAP payment of $154.97 begins November 11, 2026. The notice also lists a future payment of $641.39 beginning November 11, 2027.

Please verify my current loan status and the instructions received with my IDR application. I did not intend to end my existing forbearance or begin repayment immediately. If my forbearance has been ended, please explain why and tell me how to request correction. Please also explain why my payment is scheduled to increase to $641.39 and whether that amount reflects a standard-payment fallback if annual income recertification is not completed.

I need written confirmation of my current status, my next required payment date, and the steps needed to resolve any discrepancy.

What is going on with EdFinancial? I've reached out to them multiple times in the last 4 months asking to be switched to a Standard plan.

Every time they tell me that my request has been processed, but every time I check I'm still on SAVE and they're emailing me about choosing a new plan.

What?? I've asked multiple times.

Is it going to hurt me at this point to just wait for them to move me to standard on their own? Since they won't listen to me.

I made my first monthly payment in RAP about a week ago with aidvantage but I’m not sure how to find where they applied the interest subsidy on my account. Having trouble figuring out how to keep track to make sure they are doing that

I logged into my MOHELA portal, and I don't have any new communication aside from a 7/29 notice about having 90 days to pick a new plan. I'm seeing people post here about getting an extension sent from their servicer that they don't have to switch until 12/31. Is that actually happening?

On a different front, there's no way I can even uncomfortably afford a loan payment right now. I'm coming off 6 months of unemployment earlier this year, and rapidly trying to pay down credit debt and get out of a float so I can rebuild my savings — I have a lot of medical expenses that put me in the hole alongside not having a job. I now have a good paying job in my field, so things are stable, but I'm bailing myself out every month as is until I hit 3 paycheck December.

Is forbearance even an option? I'm one of the REPAYE borrowers forced onto SAVE, and my stomach just twisted looking at how any progress I made toward my loans was wiped out by the interest reduction being suspended. My current balances are now surpassing my original balance. I'm seeking PSLF, so it's ultimately a non-issue, but irritating nonetheless.

Hello!

I have been in forbearance since COVID and prior to that had a stint in grad school that delayed me having to pay my loans. My deadline to pick a plan is Oct 26th. I follow this page closely and still am so confused and scared to pick the wrong plan.

Context: I make $58k before taxes and work for a nonprofit so I've been assuming that PSLF is the way to go but recently have been seeing people post about what a disaster that's been.

I don't know where to go with this. I'm lucky in that my partner and I currently live with his mom since he has been struggling with employment for the last couple years. So if anything I can always ask if I can reduce my rent I pay her ($500 and about $200 in utilities per month).

PLEASE HELP, from a very confused/ scared person.

Also, I'm planning to go back to get my masters, if I pick PSLF route can I still make payments towards that while in school? Could I make smaller payments or would it have to be the specified amount?.

I never received the specific “90 day deadline” notice, but received this exact text today:

“This is Aidvantage. Action Needed! Don't delay. The SAVE Plan has ended, so it's time to choose a new repayment plan by October 26 at StudentAid.gov. New options may be available. Miss the deadline, and you could be placed in a plan that ignores your income and costs you more each month. Reply STOP to opt out or HELP for help.”

What’s with the random October 26th date? Very confused, if anyone has any insight. I assumed I had more time than that since I hadn’t received my 90 days.