Your student loans likely say "no payment due 2025" because you're in a temporary SAVE Plan forbearance due to ongoing legal challenges, meaning payments were paused for most of 2025, with some borrowers seeing payments resume in late 2025 or early 2026 as servicers transition, but interest started accruing again in August 2025. This widespread pause happened after a court blocked parts of the Biden Administration's SAVE plan, putting millions of borrowers into administrative forbearance while the Education Department worked to implement new rules or alternatives, leading to these temporary payment breaks and confusing notices.
This settlement would force the 7+ million borrowers enrolled in the SAVE plan to switch into a different repayment plan far sooner than many expected; SAVE was terminated via statute in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), but the statutory termination is not effective until July 2028.
In June 2024, a federal court blocked parts of the SAVE Plan. As a result, borrowers enrolled had their federal student loans placed in forbearance with a zero percent interest rate. In February 2025, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the SAVE Plan is unlawful.
Grace Periods. One of the most common reasons you might have a $0 monthly student loan payment right now is because you're in something called your grace period. This is generally the six-month period after you leave college when no loan payments are required. It can take a minute to get used to life after college.
Your student loans likely say no payment due in 2025 due to the ongoing pause and legal challenges surrounding the SAVE plan, placing many borrowers in a general forbearance where payments aren't required, though interest might accrue, with extensions often granted until late 2025 or 2026, pending court approvals and new rules. It could also mean you're in an in-school deferment or grace period, or your income-driven plan (IDR) calculates a $0 payment, but always check if interest is still building up.
Yes, student loan forgiveness continued in 2025 through existing programs like PSLF and Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plans, but major changes occurred, with the SAVE plan facing a proposed end (pending court approval) and tax-free forgiveness ending December 31, 2025, meaning new discharges after that date could be taxable, creating uncertainty and urging borrowers to check their status on StudentAid.gov.
You can request a general forbearance if you are temporarily unable to make your scheduled monthly loan payments for the following reasons: Financial difficulties. Medical expenses. Change in employment.
The "7-year rule" for student loans generally refers to when negative marks, like defaults, are removed from your credit report (around 7 years after the first missed payment or default date for federal loans, 7.5 years for private loans), but the debt itself doesn't disappear and must be paid off; it's also a benchmark in bankruptcy proceedings where federal loans can become dischargeable after 7 years from when payments were due, though proving "undue hardship" is required and difficult.
Within your Federal Student Aid account, you will see your loan balance, the types of outstanding loans you have, who your servicer is, when payments are due, and other details about your loans. In addition to the account with FSA, we also recommend setting up an account on your servicer's website.
Among those who do borrow, the average debt at graduation is $27,420 — or $6,855 for each year of a four-year degree at a public university. Recent college graduates earn $24,000 more annually than peers of the same age whose highest degree is a high school diploma.
While a portion of those borrowers resolved their default during the pause—either through the “Fresh Start” program or via having their debt discharged—new ED data released in November show that as of October 2025, more than 5.5 million borrowers with over $140 billion in outstanding federal student loans were in ...
Borrowers who enrolled in or applied for the SAVE Plan remain in forbearance, unless they obtained a different status. Borrowers with loans in the SAVE forbearance began seeing those loans accrue interest on Aug. 1, 2025.
Yes, federal student loans can be forgiven after 25 years (or 20 years for some plans/loans) through Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plans like IBR, ICR, or SAVE, where any remaining balance after making consistent payments is forgiven, though this forgiven amount may become taxable income after 2025, while Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) offers forgiveness in just 10 years for public servants.
If you repay your loans under an IDR plan, the end of term balance on your student loans may be forgiven after you make a certain number of payments over 20 or 25 years (240 or 300 monthly payments). Use Loan Simulator to compare plans, estimate monthly payment amounts, and see if you're eligible for an IDR plan.
Whether you should pay off student loans early depends on your financial situation, but generally, it's good if you have a solid emergency fund, high-interest debt, and don't need federal loan benefits (like forgiveness); however, it's often better to prioritize an emergency fund, retirement savings, and other high-interest debts first, especially if you have federal loans that qualify for forgiveness programs. Paying early saves interest and lowers debt-to-income (DTI), helping with future loans like mortgages, but it reduces your cash liquidity and can cost you potential tax deductions or loan forgiveness, according to Bankrate and US News Money.
Yes, student loan forgiveness continued in 2025 through existing programs like PSLF and Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) plans, but major changes occurred, with the SAVE plan facing a proposed end (pending court approval) and tax-free forgiveness ending December 31, 2025, meaning new discharges after that date could be taxable, creating uncertainty and urging borrowers to check their status on StudentAid.gov.
Are student loans forgiven when you retire? No, the federal government doesn't forgive student loans at age 50, 65, or when borrowers retire and start drawing Social Security benefits.
Yes, student loans can cause your tax refund to be garnished in 2025, but only if you're officially in default. Default typically means you've missed at least nine consecutive monthly payments (270 days) on Direct Loans and FFEL Program loans or missed payment deadlines on Perkins Loans.
As interest continues to accrue, forbearance can significantly increase the amount you owe if used repeatedly. It's not necessarily “bad,” but it comes at a cost. Use it sparingly and only when you've ruled out options like income-driven or alternative repayment plans.
The best way to pay off student loans involves a combination of strategies: pay more than the minimum, use the avalanche method (highest interest first) for savings or snowball method (smallest balance first) for motivation, automate payments to save on interest, consider refinancing for lower rates (federal loans lose benefits), and explore federal income-driven plans (IDRs) or Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) if eligible. Budgeting, increasing income, and tackling extra payments with bonuses or refunds also significantly speed up repayment.