By Dr. James M. Dahle, WCI Founder
On Oct. 6, 2021, the Department of Education announced some new rules regarding Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). The government is calling it a “limited waiver.” However, they come with a deadline. These rules will admittedly only apply to a small percentage of white coat investors. But if this applies to you, it's a big deal.
Changes to PSLF Program–FFEL Loan Payments Now Count
The main change to the PSLF Program has to do with Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program borrowers. These loans are not considered “Direct Loans,” and so they have never qualified for PSLF. Remember the PSLF requirements:
- Qualifying loans (direct only)
- Qualifying employer (501(c)(3))
- Full-time work
- 120 on-time monthly payments
What FFEL borrowers have done in the past is consolidate their FFEL loans into a direct loan. Then, any payments they make from that time forward count toward the 120 payments for PSLF.
New PSLF Payment Requirements
So what is the change?
Now, any payments you made in the past via the FFEL program count toward your 120 payments IF AND ONLY IF YOU CONSOLIDATE BY HALLOWEEN 2022! Cool beans, right? This means FFEL borrowers will be eligible for PSLF earlier—sometimes years earlier—than they otherwise would be. Especially if they never got the memo that they needed to consolidate into a direct loan.
This change also applies to Federal Perkins Loans, Graduate Plus Loans made to students, and any other federal loan that is not a direct loan. However, Parent Plus loans did not qualify before, and they do not qualify now.
Unfortunately, if you have already received PSLF, there is no credit for FFEL loans that are already gone. Sorry.
Payment Under Any Repayment Plan Count Toward Loan Forgiveness
There might also be a few people who were not enrolled in either an Income Driven Repayment (IDR) plan like ICR, IBR, PAYE, and REPAYE or the standard 10-year repayment plan. Previously, these were the only payment plans eligible for PSLF. However, now payments made under any plan can count toward your 120 payments. They don't even have to be on time. Or even full payments. Loan type doesn't matter, repayment program doesn't matter, timing doesn't matter, full payment doesn't matter. So any payments you have made that previously didn't count may now count, and you might be a lot closer to 120 than you think. These payments are supposed to automatically be recounted, but if I were you, I'd keep an eye on it.
If these new payments put you over 120 payments, you will get PSLF and all your extra payments will be refunded to you. Tax-free. Yay! You might have to fill out a few extra PSLF forms certifying your employment if you haven't already, but that's it. Otherwise, it should happen automatically.
Special Benefits for Military Members to Enroll in PSLF
While not too many military docs have a big student loan problem, some do. There's a provision for them, too. Every month you were on active duty counts as one of your 120 payments, even if you were in forbearance or deferment. While I like our military folks as much as anyone, this change irks me a bit as it rewards people who did the wrong thing (enrolled in forbearance and did not make payments) over people who did the right thing (enrolled in IDR and made payments). Such is life with the federal government and its bureaucracy sometimes.
What About IDR Forgiveness?
What if you are one of the (in my view) very unfortunate people going for fully taxable IDR forgiveness after 20 (PAYE) to 25 (REPAYE) years? Do these changes help you? Unfortunately no. To get IDR forgiveness, you have to be making payments in an IDR Program, and FFEL payments are not in an IDR program.
What If I Already Privately Refinanced?
Those of you who decided to privately refinance your ineligible loans are probably out of luck since they are no longer federal. Definitely a bummer for those of you who borrowed FFEL loans and worked for years at a 501(c)(3) or nonprofit out of training.
Why Is This PSLF Program Change Happening?
Naturally, one might wonder why this is happening, why this is happening now, and why there is a deadline. Reminds me of a very old beer commercial with the slogan, “Why ask why? Try Bud Dry!” But if you can't help it, here's why:
The Department of Education found an obscure passage in the Heroes Act of 2003 that allows it to waive certain federal student loan rules during periods of national emergency. The COVID pandemic apparently qualifies as a national emergency. That national emergency is currently scheduled to end (you can schedule these things to end?) on Halloween 2022.
What Should You Do About PSLF Changes?
If you are in this situation (or think you might be), there are a few things you should do.
- Find out what kind of loans you actually have. Log in to StudentAid.gov and scroll down to the Loan Breakdown section. Look at the names of the loans. Direct loans start with “Direct,” FFEL loans start with “FFEL,” and Perkins Loans start with “Perkins.” Even if you have consolidated your loans, you should still be able to see the original loans there.
- Consolidate your loans. (Remember consolidation is very different from student loan refinancing.)
- Apply for PSLF using the standard PSLF form.
What If I Need Some Help with Student Loans?
If you are not sure what to do about your student loans, we recommend you spend an hour and a few hundred dollars with Andrew Paulson of StudentLoanAdvice.com, a White Coat Investor company started to help people just like you. Andrew is a student loan expert who can help
walk you through the ins and outs of your student loan situation. Even if you have received advice in the past, you may need another session (and new advice) because of these new changes. Andrew estimates that 10%-15% of his past clients have had FFEL loans. If you are still within the six-month period of purchase, additional questions by email are part of the package you purchased from StudentLoanAdvice.com, so there would be no additional charge for them.
What If PSLF Still Doesn't Make Sense for You?
The main PSLF requirement still exists. You still have to work for a non-profit, 501(c)(3) employer full-time. If you don't and you're not in such a terrible student loan situation that IDR Forgiveness actually makes sense for you, then you should refinance your student loans, live like a resident, and get them paid off ASAP. Here are the best deals from lenders trusted by thousands of white coat investors. If you go through our links (and clear cookies first if you have gone to these sites through any other links), you'll get hundreds of dollars of cash back, and we'll throw in our Flagship online course, Fire Your Financial Advisor (an $800 value) for free.
† Bonus includes cash rebates and value of free course. Borrowers who refinance more than $60,000 in student loans using the WCI links will be enrolled in The White Coat Investor’s flagship course, Fire Your Financial Advisor for free ($799 value). Borrowers will still receive the amazing cash rebates that WCI has negotiated with each lender. Offer valid for loan applications submitted from May 1, 2021 through October 31, 2023. Free course must be claimed within 90 days of loan disbursement. To claim free course enrollment, visit https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/RefiBonus.
What do you think? Do these rules change anything for you? How much more will you get forgiven? What do you think of the changes? Comment below!
What is the deadline for switching from a non-qualifying repayment plan to an IDR plan? Would it be when repayment starts back up in February or the Halloween 2022 deadline? Waiting until September/October 2022 to enter PAYE/REPAYE would save me a couple thousand dollars in monthly payments during that time as long as these payments still counted.
October 2022. Don’t procrastinate too much!
Why aren’t Parent Plus Loans included?
Parent Plus loans are not the student’s loan, they are the parent’s loan. That’s my reason though. The real reason is that the Department of Education didn’t include them for whatever reason they want.
Lots of great info here. Thanks for your time.
I’ve been paying since 2012. They’ve been direct loans since the get go. Been at 503c places that they’ve confirmed as I’ve sent in my yearly certification form. My issue is that my loans have changed servicers multiple times and each time it’s taken a few weeks for things to switch over so there wasn’t a payment. Therefore I lost 3-4 months because there wasn’t a “qualified payment”. Any chance that those will be able to get counted? I was working at the right place. Feel like it’s not really my fault there wasn’t a payment to make. (AND it’s going to happen again since Fedloan is getting out of the game)
No, I don’t think you’re going to get credit for payments that were not made for that reason. Let me know if you find out I’m wrong.
There is a question on the consolidation application relating to number of children in the home. If you have children living in the home, BUT they are over 18, do you still count them as children or adults? The way its worded made me question this. I haven’t been able to find clarification of this anywhere. The only instructions I could find reference the 4/30/2019 application and the application has since been updated. I tried to log into FSA to pull the question from the application to include in this question but I keep getting an error message when I try to log onto the FSA site.
Missy,
If you’re still supporting them, then you can claim them in your household. This is also referenced in the Income Driven Repayment Certification Form as – “If the children receive more than half their support from you.”
Andrew StudentLoanAdvice
Thanks! I was able to locate that on the form and but needed clarification that although over 18, children can still be counted as “children” and not adults on the form. It just states “children” and makes no reference to age. I appreciate your assistance!
Family size always includes you and your children
(including unborn children who will be born during the
year for which you certify your family size), if the children
will receive more than half their support from you.
For the PAYE, IBR, and ICR Plans, family size always
includes your spouse. For the REPAYE plan, family size
includes your spouse unless your spouse’s income is
excluded from the calculation of your payment amount.
For all plans, family size also includes other people
only if they live with you now, receive more than half
their support from you now, and will continue to receive
this support for the year that you certify your family size.
Support includes money, gifts, loans, housing, food,
clothes, car, medical and dental care, and payment of
college costs. Your family size may be different from the
number of exemptions you claim for tax purposes.
Thanks for all the great info on this sight! Iwould be grateful if anyone was able to answer these questions. Based on new PSLF changes I have made 122 qualified loan payments while employed at 2 different 501c3 nonprofits. My loans of $110,000 should qualify for forgiveness. My loans are currently FFELP loans serviced by Navient. I have completed the application to have them consolidated into Direct Loans, so I can apply for forgiveness. In the meantime they are serviced by Navient (closed over the weekend). Am I required to keep paying my loans (next payment coming up) until the transfer takes place? Anyone have experience with how long this is taking? Thank you.
Thank you
Chris,
As long as you’ve already reached 120 qualified payments, you don’t currently need to be making payments. You can put your account into forbearance to avoid making additional payments. Or if you’d rather stay in repayment for the time being, they will rebate any extra payments you’ve made.
I haven’t heard of anyone in your situation who has had FFEL loans and received PSLF yet. I would expect the forgiveness to start coming early next year for those participating in PSLF due to the limited waiver.
Andrew StudentLoanAdvice
I was in 3 years of graduate school while working full time for a qualified nonprofit hospital. At the same time, I was paying on my previous undergraduate loans even though they had moved into an “in school” status. Do those payments now qualify even though they were not in a repayment status?
Angela,
Yes. Any past payment made, as long as you had qualifying employment, should count.
They are supposed to apply these payments automatically. But, I’d make sure you let your servicer know you were making payments on your undergrad loans while in grad school.
Andrew StudentLoanAdvice
My medical school financial counselor told me that PSLF didn’t make sense and I should go into automatic forbearance or deferment since I couldn’t pay my minimum payments with a family to support, too.
So I did. Then a few years into residency a smart person told me I was dumb for not being in PSLF. So I got in. My payments were $0. I missed 2.5 years of payments at $0 because the financial aid person at my school gave bad advice.
If partial payments under ANY plan count, even late payments of $1, why wouldn’t payments of zero also count for people in periods of deferment of forbearance? That implies that at least those people were playing by the rules and didn’t want to default on something. The people that had payments and didn’t make them on time or made partial payments didn’t play by the rules and come out winners? These changes need to benefit people that recognized (even if they were misled to do that, like me) that they COULDN’T make on time payments. It’s not right that I would be winning if I had just been in a program and paid $1 / month for 2 years, which in terms of my loan value is realistically the same as paying $0.
Think they’ll change it for people in forbearance or deferment that were qualifying at those times?
Unintended consequences. A good example of the classic problem of what happens when rules change frequently.
I wouldn’t count additional help there for you.
I worked for a 5013c for 14 years. I just recently left and no longer work for a 5013c. Would I be eligible to have my previous 14 years of payments considered for forgiveness, even though I’m no longer employed by an eligible employer?
As long as they’ll sign.
Matt,
In the past, the rules required you to still be employed by a 501(c)(3) or non-profit organization to receive PSLF even after you submitted your last PSLF form certifying 120 payments.
With the issue of the limited waiver this isn’t the case. Have your past employer sign your PSLF form and submit it to FedLoan.
Andrew StudentLoanAdvice
Like others who have posted, I have FFEL loans. Because I never qualified under that program and had a great interest rate, I paid little attention to loan forgiveness–until now. I graduated in 2005, but I understand that payments made after 2007 are the only ones that count–still great news. I’ve always worked for government entities and have already confirmed that my employers are eligible. Where I am struggling is that I currently pay 1.625% in interest due to incentives from the loan servicer and lender. If I consolidate and am not forgiven, however, my interest rate will increase to 3%. I feel like the language under the current guideliness is too uncertain to guarantee forgiveness and do not want to get stuck paying the higher rate long term. Am I worrying unnecessarily?
Hi Kate,
Very valid concern and one that has come up in many consultations lately. With the PSLF limited waiver in place, you should be able to consolidate your FFEL loans into direct, and assuming you already completed 10 years of payments have your loans forgiven immediately tax free.
If this is worrying you, something you could try is just take your two smallest FFEL loans and consolidate them into a direct federal loan, certify your employment and wait to see if you receive loan forgiveness. If this ends up working out for you, repeat the process with your other loans. Remember, in order to qualify for the limited wavier, you need to have this completed by October 2022.
Andrew StudentLoanAdvice
I can’t quite tell what’s going on with you. You may ALREADY qualify for forgiveness, no?
At any rate, if you need someone to help you walk through this and make a decision, it seems like a few hundred bucks and an hour would be time and money well spent.
https://www.studentloanadvice.com
Hi Kate, Andrew, WCI team,
I am in the exact same position, with the same rates. Made >120 payments, wasn’t eligible until this waiver due to FFEL loans, so didn’t track payments etc. Any follow up? What did you decide to do?
My concern is that my current loan servicer (Nelnet) only has payment records since 2018. Prior to that my servicer was ACS/Conduent which got shut down for fraud, and prior to that KHESLC. It is not clear when one applies how one’s payment history is gathered. Can anyone speak to whether these payments will be “found”? What is the mechanism for documenting this from my bank statements (and the success rate) if it comes to this? This uncertainty coupled with the rate increase the consolidation will trigger (1.6% to 3%) is giving me pause, with over $100k balance.
Sounds like a good reason to hire Andrew to me! What a mess.
https://calendly.com/studentloanadvice/student-loan-consult?month=2022-07
Dave,
On studentaid.gov there is a data file called the NSLDS which should have all of your past payment history. This document is used by servicers, so as they come and go, the records still still exist there.
Banks will only records back a couple of years. Could definitely try to call them to see if they can pull up old statements so you could validate when you made payments in the past.
Probably worth a shot to check out your NSLDS file and apply for PSLF. I’ve had a bunch of clients in your same shoes who were worried about the 1% interest increase and have had their loans forgiven.
The forgiveness process takes about 4 months from consolidation, pslf application submission, etc. Definitely worth looking into.
Andrew SLA
This is the situation I’m in as well. My first step is getting my employer to fill out the employment certification form. If that goes well I will consolidate and take the risk. I don’t think sending in the form to the fed will help as mine are still FEL loans. I’m also listed as 0.75 FTE as are all the ER docs in my group so the first go around with my employer certified the form as “part time”. Although for practical purposes I’m full time and 0.75 FTE qualifies for all benefits. Some employers are using the FTE that qualifies for full benefits “full time” for PSLF. Lots on unknowns.
Hi Ano,
You could repeat the process I mentioned above to Kate. Consolidate your smallest FFEL loan and submit the employment certification form (ECF).
As long as your employer is comfortable signing off on the ECF form, then you should be fine. Employment eligibility requires a minimum annual average of 30hrs p/week.
Andrew StudentLoanAdvice
Wow, I just looked it up I have two FFEL consolidation loans. One of them is only $16K. So I can consolidate each of those FFEL consolidation loans independently? Some how I thought I would have to consolidate both loans together into a direct loan. I don’t yet qualify for PSLF due to working for a contracting group that worked for my tax exempt hospital and now directly employed for 7 years. But if my employer agrees I’m full time I can consolidate the smaller loan at the higher interest rate and if StudentAid qualifies the employment I would just consolidate the second FFEL loan before October and submit the employment certification again and hopefully qualify for PSLF in three years.
Ano,
I believe you would need another loan to consolidate it with. An FFEL, direct, perkins, etc.
If you have another federal student loan with a small balance I would consolidate it with that one.
Andrew StudentLoanAdvice.com
I graduated medical school in 2005 and ended up with two federal loans totaling about $80,000. In 2006, I consolidated with a private company at 1.6% and have been making regular payments since that time. Over my carrier, I have worked for 2 non-profits (2009-2011 and 2011-2019) which MAY total to 10 years (I have to sit down and look at it closely). I have not been paying attention to this loan forgiveness stuff as I assumed I would never qualify. Here is the kicker- I JUST paid off the rest of the loans (~46k) a few weeks ago (can you believe this?).
1. Should I still explore this even though all loans are paid off?
2. Does it matter if I am no longer working for a non-profit?
TY.
Private loans don’t qualify for PSLF and once you refinance with a private company, that’s what you have, so I think it’s great that you paid them off. Congrats!
JR,
1.) once the loans are paid off you wouldn’t receive any loan forgiveness
2.) No it doesn’t
Nice job getting them out of your life!
Andrew StudentLoanAdvice
I thought I’d read just about all of the WCI blog posts, but somehow missed this one.
I’m a military dentist and paid 120 payments in 10 years to Sallie Mae, then eventually made my final payment around year 13, after consolidating a few years prior via Navient.
Does that mean I could file for PSLF after the fact, and potentially get 3 years of payments refunded to me?
Thank you kindly.
You finished years ago? No, I don’t think you can get a refund.
I didn’t see many updates for active duty military so wanted to share with those that might be in a similar situation. I graduated in 2009 and was on a military deferment until 2012 when I started on a graduated repayment plan. I had not planned on pursuing PSLF. However, after the October announcement, I applied and was credited with 99 payments in November.
This week, the unknown question of “Will military deferment months actually count as payments?” was answered when my remaining loan amount was forgiven. So yep, I’m benefitting from doing everything wrong, but couldn’t pass up the opportunity either!
CD,
Wow that’s great to hear the years in the military worked and how quickly they turned around your application. I hear a lot of people have been waiting 2-3 months already for Fedloan to process their PSLF forms.
Andrew StudentLoanAdvice
Andrew, big THANKS to you, Jim, and the WCI community, or I would not have known about this opportunity. There has also been talk of potential reimbursement/refund for the additional deferment months counting as payments prior to actual payments made, but I would be very surprised if that were to be the case (all conjecture, even if in my opinion I think it goes beyond the intention of the October announcement goals). I have to admit though that I’m already quite shocked at the current situation, so who knows?! I’ll post again if anything changes.
*As a follow-up for anyone in a similar situation, I did end up getting reimbursed for the deferment months and ended up receiving about $8K back for those.
Has anyone had to use the paper Direct Loan application to consolidate their loans? If so, did you experience any issues with the mail, loan documents being received and/or processed in a timely manner? I am unable to do the application online because the IRS retrieval tool is not working for my spouse to co-sign and there are no other options to complete the form online if the IRS tool doesn’t work (which is ridiculous, you should be able to upload your W2 at least) I’m a bit nervous to send the form in the mail, this provides me with no real record of applying at all. There is no place on the paper application to indicate that I am consolidating for the purposes of applying for PSLF, as the online application does. So I’m wondering if anyone else has had luck with the paper Direct loan consolidation application (btw its dated as exp. 4/30/2019, I hope its the most up to date version, got it right from the StudentAid.gov site today)
Melissa,
I have not heard of any clients using the paper consolidation form recently. They’ve all used the electronic form. If you use the paper form then photo copy it or scan it to keep a saved copy on your end.
There shouldn’t be trouble in submitting a paper copy. I know that when people submit their income certification by paper instead of using the online form there isn’t any trouble other than the fact it may take longer via mail.
You could give the hotline # a call to verify this: 1-800-557-7394
Andrew StudentLoanAdvice
Thanks for your response. I decided not to mail the paper application. I just felt as it wouldn’t have been processed timely or at all. I completed the online application and checked the box stating that I didn’t have access to my husbands financials, because in this situation, I don’t have access to confirm them via the IRS retrieval tool. I’m hoping they will request them if needed and I can provide them via email or fax. We shall see!
Since this thread is still going. I’m one of the folks who didn’t really think about this until this new info came out. Unfortunately as an ER doc I can’t get certified as full time by my employer as I’m .75 FTE (as is everyone else in my group) and just miss the 30 hours for some years. Some employers are letting this go by agreeing that .75 FTE that meets criteria for full benefits is considered full time for PSLF but not mine.
Ano,
Sorry to hear this. Just to verify, the employment requirement to be eligible for PSLF is either
-Full-Time Employment (whatever your employer is willing to sign as full-time) or
-Part-Time Employment at multiple employers with 30 hours p/week on average
So if you could pick up couple of hours each week at another qualifying job then your employment could be eligible.
Andrew StudentLoanAdvice
Get them to add in the time you spend after shifts doing charts, administrative activities, the holidays that you don’t get, the DOMA days etc and you’ll hit full time status!
I have 43k left from two FFEL consolidation loans that I’ve been chipping away at since 2008. I will hit 120 months of full-time 501c3 employment November 30th. I plan to a direct loan consolidation now as well as submit the PSLF form to certify my employment so far. I will start the new consolidation with the lowest monthly payment plan available, Extended Graduated, and make those payments through October. Any payment plan qualifies until Halloween, right? Then, the old rules go back into effect in November, so I will switch to an income-driven repayment plan for the November payment – income-contingent repayment (ICR). Go into deferment in December and hold my breath.
Do you still have to email [email protected] after you are initially denied?
My loans are currently 1.8% and will go to 3.3% after direct loan consolidation because I lose a discount I was awarded after making a certain amount of on-time payments, so I do have some risk involved if this doesn’t work out. Am I missing anything?
Hi Aron,
Any repayment plan counts up until October 2022 as long as you have qualifying employment. You should enroll into the lowest monthly payment now and then switch to a qualifying repayment plan in October assuming you need more qualifying payments to receive PSLF.
The time-limited waiver is regular PSLF and you wouldn’t need to apply for TEPSLF unless your PSLF application gets rejected. This definitely sounds like a risk that could be worth it when they forgive all your student debt tax free.
Andrew StudentLoanAdvice
Hi, do you know if there is a way to get reimbursed if you have already paid off your loan but you would have been eligible for pslf? I would have been eligible in 2017 it looks like and ended up paying off my loan in 2020. The three years add up to about 4k. I’ve tried asking both the financial aid site that has the forms and my loan servicer but they both told me to ask the other so not really sure what to do. I’m going to go ahead and fill out the employee cert form and the actual pslf form and see what happens, has anyone heard of anyone having any luck doing this?
No. You’re out of luck. Go ahead and try (and please let me know if I’m wrong) but I don’t think you’re getting anything.
Appreciate the post. I’m lumped in with all those slightly hesitant about losing my bonus rate reduction with FFEL -> Direct consolidation if things don’t work out. At this point in time, have you received any feedback from docs who were successful or unexpectedly denied after seemingly meeting all the criteria?
Doug H,
I’ve met with tons of docs recently who are in the exact same position as you. Worried about throwing away their super low interest rate through direct consolidation. Just had an orthopedic surgeon client have 150k forgiven by PSLF due to the waiver. It took about two months for the dept of ed to process the consolidation and then another 2 months for the PSLF forms to be applied. The four months of the waiting game were worth it for him.
It’s definitely worth it for some to go through the process. People are receiving loan forgiveness in droves. The number of people who have now received PSLF is over 100,000 now.
Andrew StudentLoanAdvice
Thanks. I didn’t realize the consolidation step would take so long. Do you recommend waiting until that is final to submit the PSLF paperwork? And should everyone also convert their consolidation to and income based payment plan?
Doug H,
Yes. They won’t accept your PSLF paperwork until the consolidation has gone through. It depends. If you have already completed 120 payments you don’t need to pick a qualifying repayment plan. I would recommend the lowest monthly payment if you’ve already completed 120 payments. If you haven’t reached 120 qualifying payments yet then enroll into the IDR plan which provides you the lowest monthly payment.
Andrew StudentLoanAdvice
So I am very late to this game. I just assumed when we went into private practice we wouldn’t qualify. But now we want to purchase a home and the student loans are frustrating.
I replied to his because my husband and i are both 10 years out of training. I am fortunate my loan burden and savvy moves by my father helped. My husband not so much.
He has 4 years of residency (im’ sure loans in forbearance) + 1 year PP + 6 academic not calendar year) in a qualifying institution + 1 year of fellowship (he went back after being an attg for 7 years). He has paid loans during entire attending life and fellowship year. Now he’s in private practice again building up (slowly) his practice.
Have you heard of any one successfully applying even after being out for 10 years and getting retroactive forms filled out from those qualifying instituions? I replied to this particular comment it’s similar scenario except that friend is a the same insitution for 10 years. I want to know if its possible and if it can be done even after that one year of PP work. I don’t know if he reconsolidated but i know this could affect things. We called sofi and laurel road from all their spam mailings but they haven’t offered my husband anything better in terms of interest rates. Also we graduated during the lowest interest rate period. I think one year it was only 2% but after paying loans for 10 years, I want to know if we can do anything else. Been letting my husbnad call etc, but i’m taking this into my own hands now. Thank you!
Also apologize if this posted repeatedly. it kept giving me recaptcha errors
Luna L,
If he has 10 years of past employment at a qualifying employer you should definitely apply. You need to do it by October 31st though to qualify under the limited PSLF waiver. The forms can be done retroactive but you need to get this done right away.
This is something I could help you do in a consult. I’ve personally helped hundreds this year in a similar situation navigate PSLF and the PSLF waiver to ensure they have everything completed to qualify.
Andrew SLA
That’s a tough one. But you might have so much money to save by doing it that paying a consultant a small fee to sort it out would be well worth it to try. But the first question you need to answer is if you consolidated, I think. Because that would ruin everything. Unless you consolidated AFTER the 10 years of payments.
Jason,
Maybe I misunderstand your comment on consolidation. The consolidation rules are temporarily relaxed because of the PSLF waiver. Usually, when you complete a direct federal consolidation your payments are reset. Due to the waiver, payments made (post Sept 2007) at a qualifying employer on ANY loan will carry over post consolidation.
Andrew SLA
No I misunderstood. I read “refinanced” when the post said “consolidation.”
And of course consolidation is NOT the same thing as refinancing. Once you refinance, you no longer have federal loans to be forgiven.
This one may be worth a consult at Studentloanadvice.com.
Really too bad about that forbearance during residency as you now know.
But the residency forebearance is likely to count. The waiver announcement a few months ago said that anybody with >12 consecutive months or >36 months total would have those forebearance periods counted. Is that not the case?
Yes, I believe it is now the case. But this should have been forgiven years ago right? That was the point I was making.
Gotcha, I see where you’re coming from now.