You may be eligible for income-driven repayment (IDR) loan forgiveness if you've have been in repayment for 20 or 25 years. An IDR plan bases your monthly payment on your income and family size.
Once we've received all of the documentation needed to determine whether you qualify for loan forgiveness, you'll be notified. A final review of your account will be done to process forgiveness, which will take at least 90 business days.
After you Make 120 Qualifying Monthly Payments for PSLF
After you make your 120th qualifying monthly payment for PSLF, you'll need to submit the PSLF form to receive loan forgiveness. You must be working for a qualifying employer at the time you submit the PSLF form.
A loan forgiveness period is a period of 12 consecutive months where you have been employed or in practice and have provided in-person services for at least 400 hours in an eligible community.
What will happen if my Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) application is approved? If you are approved for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, you'll be notified that the entire remaining balance of your eligible Direct Loans, including all outstanding interest and principal, will be forgiven.
Ensure you meet ALL PSLF eligibility requirements; part-time employment does not meet the qualifications for loan forgiveness. Employees who average more than 30 hours per week are given credit for time worked at qualified employers.
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.
Many student loan borrowers have an opportunity to receive full student loan cancellation or more credit towards cancellation. The U.S. Department of Education will conduct a one-time adjustment this summer , but you may need to take steps to qualify. The deadline to act is June 30, 2024. Here's what you need to know.
The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program
The program allows borrowers to have their Federal Direct Loans forgiven after ten years of qualifying payments (120 payments total) under an IDR plan.
Student loans disappear from credit reports 7.5 years from the date they are paid in full, charged-off, or entered default. However, education debt can reappear if you dig out of default with consolidation or loan rehabilitation. Student loans can have an outsized impact on your credit score.
“From Day One, the Biden-Harris administration made fixing this broken program a top priority, and today, I'm tremendously proud that over one million teachers, nurses, social workers, veterans, and other public servants have received lifechanging loan forgiveness.
First, the U.S. Department of Education (Department) approved 6,100 borrowers for $465 million through Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). Second, the Department approved nearly 85,000 borrowers for $1.26 billion in relief based upon borrower defense findings.
Credit mix: Those who qualify for loan forgiveness may see their scores drop by a few points if the student loan was their only installment loan, as their credit mix (i.e., the different types of credit accounts they have) accounts for 10% of their FICO Score.
PSLF counts will continue to be adjusted each month until the IDR counts for all federally held FFEL Program and Direct Loans are adjusted in 2024. Your student loan servicer(s) will notify you directly after your forgiveness is processed.
PSLF processing times vary based on whether you've previously submitted employment documentation and other factors. But you can generally expect to wait one to three months for your loan forgiveness application to be fully processed.
If your federal student loans are forgiven, you could get a refund, and you might see your credit score dip.
If you qualify for forgiveness of the full amount of your loan(s), you won't have to make any more loan payments. If you qualify for forgiveness of only a portion of your loan(s), you're still responsible for repaying the remaining balance.
To check the status of your PLUS loan application, contact the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-433-3243, or initiate a chat on StudentAid.gov. Was this page helpful? When will I receive my financial aid?
If you're working toward Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), complete and submit the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) & Temporary Expanded PSLF (TEPSLF) Certification & Application (PSLF) form annually or when you change employers. If you've made 120 qualifying payments, fill out and submit this same form.
Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) Forgiveness
If you repay your loans under an IDR plan, any remaining balance on your student loans will be forgiven after you make a certain number of payments over 20 or 25 years—or as few as 10 years under our newest IDR plan, the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan.
Only borrowers who have entered repayment on at least one of their loans when the debt relief is applied would be eligible for forgiveness on the loan(s) in repayment.