If you have loans with different counts and one of those loans qualifies for forgiveness, you may benefit from consolidating in order to get all of your loans forgiven at the same time. If you do, you will receive forgiveness because the consolidation loan will be credited with the longest amount of time in repayment.
What loans qualify for forgiveness? Only loans you received under the Direct Loan Program are eligible for PSLF.
All Direct Loans are PSLF-eligible. If you have FFELP loans those must be consolidated to make them eligible. If you have Direct Loans from different time periods with eligible employment in between then you may want to consolidate before 12/31/23 to take advantage of the IDR adjustment.
If you consolidate undergraduate and graduate loans together, then you will have to make 25 years worth of payments (300 payments) in order to qualify for forgiveness, unless you are part of the PSLF Program or PAYE (not to be confused with REPAYE or SAVE).
You must be a direct employee of a qualifying employer for your employment to qualify. This means that employees of contracted organizations, that are not themselves a qualifying employer, won't qualify for PSLF including government contractors and for-profit organizations.
Consolidation has potential downsides, too: Because consolidation can lengthen your repayment period, you'll likely pay more in interest over the long run.
Consolidation allows you to combine all or some of your private and federal student loans into one large private consolidation loan through a private lender or bank.
If you work in certain public service jobs and have made 120 payments on your Direct Loans, you may be eligible to have your loans forgiven. If some or all of your payments were not made on a qualifying repayment plan for PSLF, you may be able to receive loan forgiveness under a temporary opportunity.
What loans can be forgiven? Only Direct Loan Program loans that are not in default are eligible for PSLF and TEPSLF. Loans you received under the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program, the Federal Perkins Loan (Perkins Loan) Program, or any other student loan program are not eligible for PSLF.
What student loans are not eligible for forgiveness? Private student loans, by definition, are private and are not eligible to be forgiven.
Any borrower with ED-held loans that have accumulated time in repayment of at least 20 or 25 years will see automatic forgiveness, even if the loans are not currently on an IDR plan. Borrowers with FFELP loans held by commercial lenders or Perkins loans not held by ED can benefit if they consolidate into Direct Loans.
Generally, no. The Standard Repayment Plan for Direct Consolidation Loans is not the same repayment plan as the 10-Year Standard Repayment Plan, and payments made under the Standard Repayment Plan for Direct Consolidation Loans don't usually qualify for PSLF.
What does paid in full by consolidation mean? Paid in full by consolidation in student loan terms means that multiple loans have been combined into one larger loan — typically with improved repayment terms, such as more flexible repayment options, lower monthly payments, or greater loan forgiveness opportunities.
You can still apply for Student Loan Forgiveness in 2024. Despite the Supreme Court striking down Biden's initial plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student loans, the president has introduced other programs that have provided $167.3 billion in student loan forgiveness to over 4 million borrowers.
If you do it right, debt consolidation might slightly decrease your score temporarily. The drop will come from a hard inquiry that appears on your credit reports every time you apply for credit. But, according to Experian, the decrease is normally less than 5 points and your score should rebound within a few months.
What types of student loans does MOHELA service? MOHELA services federal student loans, including all loans being paid off with the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. MOHELA is also the loan servicer for some private student loan companies, like SoFi and Laurel Road.
In July 2024, AFT sued MOHELA for a wide range of unlawful practices, including illegally executing a “call deflection” scheme to deny service to borrowers who need help.
If you're enrolled in an IDR plan and earn less than $120,000 as an individual or $240,000 as married couple filing jointly, the amount of your current balance that is more than what your balance was at the time that your loans entered repayment may be forgiven under the proposed rules.
If you consolidate loans other than Direct Loans, consolidation may give you access to forgiveness options, such as income-driven repayment or Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). If you consolidate, you'll be able to switch any variable-rate loans you have to a fixed interest rate.
Once your loan has been funded, you will receive a Federal Loan Consolidation Disclosure Statement and Repayment Schedule from the servicer of your new Consolidation loan.
Direct Subsidized Consolidation Loan — combines federal student loans eligible for interest subsidies, such as subsidized FFELP and Direct Loans, and Federal Perkins Loans. Direct Unsubsidized Consolidation Loan — combines federal student loans not eligible for interest subsidies.
Private student loan refinancing requires a hard credit check. This credit inquiry can temporarily lower your score by a few points for a short period of time. Additionally, refinancing might affect your average age of credit accounts and other factors that contribute to your credit score.
Consolidating your debt can help you save money in the long run. Getting out of debt is usually a much harder thing to do than getting into debt, especially if you end up with a large balance and a high interest rate which makes it feel like it'll take over a decade to pay off.
Employment with a U.S. government entity at any level (federal, state, local, or tribal), or an organization that is tax exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code is a qualifying employer for PSLF regardless of the specific services that are provided.