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'm pissed. I am LCSW in California, considered a "high earner". Husband and I file jointly. We have a mortgage, daycare costs, 1 dependent & another on the way. Even with high salaries, life is freaking expensive and we don't even spend crazy! I've been paying $111/mo for the past 4 years due to making much less money back then + Covid paused increases/payments etc. So yes I've been very blessed to have such a low payment! Now it's time to re-certify and I've been dreading it.

I service through EdFinancial and also on PSLF, 5 more years. The representative today quoted me $735 if I went on some "Graduated" plan (which i've never heard of). But since i'm on PSLF I need to stay on an IDR plan, so the new quote was $1065. Where do they think people/I can afford that in this economy?!!!? Especially such a big jump from what I've been paying. I can't afford that, along with all our other bills.

So now I'm thinking of going into forbearance, which sucks because you don't gain PSLF credits during that time. My plan may be do forebearance until I go on maternity leave in March, re-certify once my new pay is determined and if the numbers are okay then I'll go back to paying. If not, i'll stay on forebearance. I didn't want to use all the 36 months of forbearance at once but if I have to, I will. I can't imagine paying this $1,065 anytime soon. Any advice? Or just be mad with me?

EDIT:

I just want to say a huge THANK YOU to those who have commented with kindness, suggestions/advice, sharing your stories, encouragement, etc. There is so much darkness in this world and I appreciate you trying to bring light! I see you, I receive it, and I will be doing research tonight! Big hugs ♥️

For those who have done the opposite, I will truly pray for you and it concerns me the lack of empathy some humans have. Many of you would not say these things if we were face to face. Please do not think you know me, my thoughts, life/financial decisions based off Reddit posts. There are always reasons. You have no idea what goes on behind the scenes of people's lives. People can choose to live their life the way they want, judgement free. I pray none of you find yourselves needing the grace and kindness you are not offering me/others. None of your words have hurt me or enlightened me, but honestly it saddens me for how thoughtless some have become.

I work with some of the darkest, violent individuals that are unsafe to be released to the community...yet some of the most hate I've gotten has been from strangers online.

Am I right to assume many who have the means to pay are simply “holding the line” in SAVE - potentially to their own financial detriment with interest accruing again - because they’re morally opposed to what the government is spending money on right now?

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 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?

Want to share this with my friends but can’t because they are all at a different financial place….
Only place appropriate would be here to share my experience.

TLDR: took out 700k loans, paid 850k total.

Went to dental school private, did not specialize. Worked 6-7 days for almost 10 years. Paid off everything but in hindsight have been a lot better in the stock market.
Having huge student loans is no joke. Holds back your growth potential by missing out on compound interest.
Can’t get business loans because your income to debt ratio.

Was fortunate enough for the pandemic interest freeze and save plan which helped a lot. Feels good not to worry about this huge burden which kept me up many nights.

Quick words of advice, if you can, do your Ira or 401k if you’re focusing on your student loans. Even a little will grow over time. Don’t fall for get rich quick schemes. But if you make mistakes, you’ll be okay at the end of the day, learn from them and move on.

Good luck everyone with their plans and goals.

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.

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?.

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.

Like everyone else, the SAVE deadline forced us to submit a new app for a payment plan. The application process showed us that PAYE had the lowest monthly cost for our family so we chose that. Also pursuing PSLF. 3 days later we get a letter that we do not qualify and need to choose another plan (and they listed one option as PAYE lol).

Could anyone shed light if this is an error or what? I’m both on phone hold and chat hold but the wait time is crazy. Thanks!

And as a side note, we’re now past the 90 day deadline with no new plan. We submitted the app prior to the deadline though.

Re-financed in early March of last year after paying a significant sum toward two student loans serviced by aidvantage. I was told at the time any remaining balance would be sent to the new loan servicer in the form of a check. Its been 8 months and the check still has not arrived. I've attempted multiple requests for information from aidvantage who claims to have escalated the matter but still can't provide confirmation of the payment or any details to confirm a check was issued. Whats even more odd, I've kept record of all of my communication with their team and have on a number of instances recorded information that is in direct conflict with what they have previously stated (one agent claimed the check was cashed by the new servicer on 3/26/26 while another stated the check was not dispersed until 4/27/26). They claim there is still an open ticket regarding the matter but I haven't received an update in over three weeks and when I attempt to chat with their team my chat is ended as soon as I ask to escalate. Is anyone aware of an escalation resource within aidvantage, an advocacy group who might be able to get this escalated, or a free legal resource I can contact. I'm honestly just shocked they are able to operate with this little transparency.

Something I just learned that I'm sure many of you were already well aware of or are just about to discover with Nelnet..

SAVE is over for me. My first payment due date is right in the beginning of November after readjusting my payment plan. I entered the information needed to make a payment. On just about any other payment method anywhere else that involves a bill or amount due, I'm usually asked if I want to pay a custom amount and what day I would like it to be withdrawn. Sometimes they're on the same page as the information entered, sometimes they're on the next page. The custom amount is there, but the date isn't. So I assumed it was on the next page.

Nope. "Thank you for your payment." Transaction pending immediately. There is no way to set up a one-time payment for a date of your choosing.

(edit: Just learned that this is with debit card payments. It seems that pulling directly from a bank account will allow for a determined date)

This created two unique problems that I learned after this.

1. There is supposed to be a "cancel pending payment" button in the payment activity page, but that area was blank. There is no clear means by which to correct a mistake or stop a payment that was made literally seconds ago. I called Nelnet to see if an individual could help with canceling it for me, which is where I learned about problem #2 (and no he couldn't cancel the payment...of course).
2. While the person wasn't able to stop the payment (he suggested that I can try getting the bank to halt the transaction, using the word "hopefully" when saying they might do it), he did state that once the transaction fully clears and is out of pending status, that I could call back and he would move that payment to the November due date so it would count as that payment. "I'm sorry...what?" was my immediate thought. But yes...that's right, paying even a couple weeks early (by accident or otherwise), if not close enough to the due date, means that it won't count towards the amount due that month. I paid a payment and I'm still due that payment in a couple weeks as it stands right now. I can't even pay ahead of time without being punished here.

So my advice based on this experience earlier today, is to wait until as close to the due date as you can to make your payment. If you have set up the autopay, then that should work as is. For those that don't, be diligent!

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

My 90 day notice expired yesterday. I have not received a 30 day extension notice but my loans still show being in forbearance with 0.00 payment due. StudentAid.gov says I qualify for Extended Fixed so right now this is the lowest option, hoping for a raise at the EOY so maybe I can switch to something I can pay off faster. My confusion comes in when I try to apply, I’m told to d/l request, sign it, upload it to my servicer, which is EdFinancial. When I sign back in to EdFinancial and try to change plans, all I get is the box that tells me if I want to change plans I’m at risk of losing protective benefits and if I want to proceed I must call them. So, first has anyone else experienced this, and second, am I safe to call and go ahead and switch, or should I wait until there is something more concrete on EdFinancial that says to do so? I don’t understand why I’m told I must switch or be changed to another plan when it seems like a huge hassle with inconsistent information when I try to do so.

Where are we supposed to see the reduction of interest rate for changing plans and being enrolled in autopay by end of September?

I have Aidvantage. I applied for my RAP plan Sept 30 and was already enrolled in autopay. got approved within a week and payments are due next month. I am not sure where I am supposed to see the interest rate reduction on the website?

I have never heard this, until just now getting my loans back into payment and seeing all the capitalized interest. These are 20 year old loans, where I have mostly made payments and paid down. But have experienced some unemployment over the years.

First time I am seeing significant accrued and capitalized interest and I'm just wondering if anyone has advice to clear that interest. I had no idea it was cumulative 3 years max of interest deferment.

I applied through MOHELA’s website for forbearance and got a notice that the processing time is up to 90 days! My payment is due next month. Any way to expedite this, is it worth it to call?

^

In the same situation as everyone else being forced off SAVE. Currently have $89k in my 401K & $39k of loans. New payment expected to be $435. My job does not qualify for PSLF and I have 20 years left to pay which would mean I’ll have paid about $104k if my payment stays $435/mo.

Is there any reason I SHOULDN’T use my 401k to payoff my loans now & just put everything I can into rebuilding it and my other HY/retirement/investment accounts?

For real, thank you to those of you who are helping & giving advice while we all navigate this.

I received the email with the excerpt below on 10/6. The subject was “Final Notice - You will be Placed into a New Repayment Plan in 30 Days.” My original “you have 90 days” email was sent 7/15.

“A recent legal settlement ended the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan, and it is no longer available to borrowers. As a result of the settlement, MOHELA was directed by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to move all borrowers out of the SAVE Plan.

We previously notified you that you had 90 days to select a new repayment plan; otherwise, you would be placed into another plan. You did not take action within that 90-day period.

This is your FINAL NOTICE. If you do not take immediate action to select a repayment plan, we will place you into a repayment plan in 30 days.”

I’m riding it out for at least another two weeks, but wanted to see if anyone else had gotten a similar email and if so, why they’re extending another 30 days.

So as title suggests, my IDR recert date was last week and this morning, I woke up to emails from AidVantage that my monthly payment would skyrocket from less than $50 per month (IDR) to over $1,500 per month (IBR). For context, I'm planning to go on PSLF next year (joining the military) so I've been keeping repayment low with IDR.

I have IDR auto-recertification on, so I called AidVantage, and was told by the rep who answered that she had put in a request to their banking (or finance?) office to check since she could see I had auto-recertify approved. She also wasn't sure what had happened, but told me I should expect to hear back by October 21st, a week from now.

My next payment is due November 10th so I have some time and can afford to wait out this week, but it's all a bit jarring. Has this happened to anyone else and is there any advice/experience anybody has to this situation? I can pay the $1,500 and not go homeless, but it would become a massive burden out of nowhere. Thanks all!

I have about $190,000 in federal student loans at 6.125% interest. My original loans are from 2014-2018, and I consolidated them in 2021 and I'm still on SAVE. I am a high earner but have a lot going on now (new kids, big move, career change etc) so my goal is to have the lowest possible required monthly payment with a goal to pay much more than this monthly to pay off early. I just want the safety of having a lower mandatory payment in case money is tight for a while.

I applied for the extended fixed repayment plan but was denied. The denial letter says I “currently have a repayment term of 25 years or more.” I guess my consolidation changed the term to 30 years which I didn’t realize. I called Nelnet and was told two things:

First, that my standard repayment term would be only 7.5 years, despite my consolidated loan having a 30-year term.

Second, that I would qualify for the graduated extended payment plan but not the fixed extended. The rep couldn’t provide any further clarification…

Can anyone help me understand why my standard repayment term would be 7.5 years if my direct consolidated loan has a 30-year term?

And why would I be eligible for extended graduated but not extended fixed? Aren't the eligibility requirements generally the same?

Thanks!

She's working now, but she's nowhere near a typical nurse's salary, and she has to recertify her income driven plan. Makes about $40/hr at 32 hours a week.

A few questions:

What's the best route for her now? Should she stay on PAYE, or switch to another plan (RAP, IBR, standard, etc.) given her income and the changes to the repayment plans?

Should she recertify now or wait until the December deadline? Is there any benefit to doing it early (or any risk), or is it better to wait until the deadline?
Is there anything she should be doing to protect her progress toward forgiveness, or anything we're missing?

Extra details: lives in Northern California. She does not intend on working for a non profit and having her loan forgiven, mainly because that would be near impossible.

Thanks in advance. We're trying to make the right call before the deadline.

I called my servicer to switch off of SAVE today but studentaid.gov has a glitch on my account saying it’s still processing an application from 2024, so I can’t apply for anything right now. My servicer said this is a common thing they are running into and the work around is to apply with a paper form. Just putting this out there if it may be helpful for anyone.
It’s frustrating that the system is so broken and they expect us to navigate it and have the audacity to punish us if we don’t.