Management of the road to student loan forgiveness involves tracking qualifying payments, particularly under schemes such as Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) and Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plans. Attention to the precise conditions and leveraging resources available for tracking progress is necessary to ensure that each payment qualifies for forgiveness.
Understanding qualifying payments
A qualifying payment is a payment:
- Made on or after October 1, 2007.
- Made under a qualifying repayment plan.
- Paid on time as indicated on your statement.
- Paid on or before 15 days before your due date.
- Paid when you’re working full-time for a qualifying employer.
For PSLF, you will have 120 qualifying payments. For IDR forgiveness, 20 or 25 years of qualifying payments, based on the plan.
Tracking payments for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)
To effectively monitor your progress toward PSLF:
- Submit the PSLF form annually: Regular submission of the PSLF form confirms your employment and tracks your qualifying payments. This form can be submitted through the PSLF Help Tool.
- Review your payment count: After processing your PSLF form, your loan servicer will provide a count of qualifying payments. Ensure this count matches your records.
- Keep records up to date: Keep copies of all returned completed forms, payment records, and work certificates.
Tracking Payments for Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) Forgiveness
Borrowers on IDR plans applying for forgiveness after 20 or 25 years:
- Utilize the IDR payment tracker: The Department of Education has implemented an IDR payment tracker on StudentAid.gov where borrowers can monitor their journey to loan forgiveness for income-driven repayment plans.
- Income information updates annually: Revise your family size and income every year to enable appropriate payment to be computed.
- Review statements of loans: Review your statements of loans every few months to confirm payments are being credited accurately and indicate the pace towards forgiveness.
Latest trends and factors
The latest administrative developments have created uncertainties in the student loan scene:
- Department of Education restructuring: Budget cuts to eliminate the Education Department that services the student loans might ultimately confuse and disintegrate loan servicing and payment tracking.
- Website outages: Issues with StudentAid.gov have resulted in borrowers being unable to access information or monitor payments.
Borrower Recommendations
As a result of these incidents:
- Stay up-to-date: Stay informed on official sources of information for release on loan forgiveness programs and administration restructuring.
- Maintain personal records: Maintain a complete record of all payments, communications with loan servicers, and received forms.
- Contact loan servicers: Contact your loan servicer for payment computation information and program requirements.
