I couldn't find where this was asked directly on the sub where it's not about FFEL or other loan types or consolidation. I started taking out Direct Loans in 2005 and continued until I was finished with my master's. All my loans are Direct Stafford Loans. Studentaid.gov says that all Direct Loans qualify for PSLF, but I am wondering if that the loans I took out between 2005 and when PSLF was created (2007) will qualify. Currently, all the loans are counted together in my PSLF tracker.

Wanted to share a draft of an email I’m sending to my representative in case anyone else wants to use it.

Subject: Urgent Action Needed to Address PSLF and SAVE Injunction Impact

Dear [Representative’s Name],

I hope this email finds you well. My name is [Your Name], and I am a constituent in [Your District, e.g., “Colorado’s 1st Congressional District”]. I am writing to express my deep concern about the impact of the SAVE Injunction on Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)-eligible public servants like myself.

For the past 10 years, I have dedicated my career to [briefly explain your work, e.g., “protecting public health and environment”]. The PSLF program, a bipartisan initiative, was a significant reason I chose public service, as it recognizes and supports the essential contributions of government and nonprofit workers across America. However, I, along with many others, am currently stuck in limbo.

For over a year, I have been trying to resolve issues with outdated loan statuses, which are preventing me from making qualifying payments. The SAVE Injunction has only compounded these challenges, leaving me—and thousands of others—unable to move forward with PSLF. This situation is not only financially stressful but also deeply discouraging, especially for those of us who have committed our lives to public service.

Beyond the immediate financial uncertainty, this situation is impacting my ability to plan for my future. For example, my spouse and I have been considering starting a family, but the uncertainty around the financial burden these unresolved issues might bring is making that choice incredibly difficult. I know I am not alone in this struggle, as many other public servants are likely grappling with the same decision. Deciding whether or not to have children is a monumental choice, and it is profoundly unfair that this legal and financial limbo is complicating such a personal and life-changing decision.

I urge you to take action to ensure that PSLF-eligible workers are no longer caught in the crossfire of political and legal disputes. We deserve a resolution that allows us to continue making qualifying payments and ensures that the promises of the PSLF program are upheld.

I understand your commitment to serving your constituents, and I believe your leadership can make a meaningful difference in this matter. Please work to advocate for PSLF workers by addressing the SAVE Injunction and protecting the integrity of this critical program.

Thank you for your time and attention to this pressing issue. Please let me know if I can provide any additional information or further illustrate how this situation is impacting public servants like me.

Sincerely, [Your Full Name] [Your Contact Information] [Optional: Your Address to confirm constituency]

Was only working for nonprofit for PSLF. With the changes that will likely occur in 2025, i will be better off refinancing my loans via private bank and no longer doing PSLF (payments will be so high i could rent a penthouse lol) Im better off quitting the non-profit and doing more lucrative cash pay only work in healthcare. F the non profits if theyre screwing us over with SAVE.

(Edit: i am lucky to make a lot, but i dont have a lot left over at the end of the month due to out of pocket costs for something that i dont want to talk about on here. )

The details,

• 2.5 years into PSLF
• In SAVE Forbearance (had $211 payments)
• Currently adjusted gross income is around 80k
• Currently owe around 118k
• Spouse and I file, "married filing separately"
• We have one kiddo

It seems like I can switch to IBR later this month if I want to, which brings my payments to about $550/month. (A standard repayment would be about $1400). Since I have to recertify every year and I will make more each year there could be a point where I no longer qualify for IBR, right?

To qualify for IBR the "partial financial hardship" requires that the 10 year payment plan cost ($1400*12= $16,800) to exceed 15% of the difference between my AGI and 150% Oregon's poverty line (household of 3 = 38,730, I think).

$16,800 > 0.15 * (AGI - $38,730), ---> (solve for AGI to get allowed AGI)

Max AGI = $150,730

Does this seem correct?

I just spoke to a FedLoans agent since I am now at 121 payments as of Nov. She told me to submit another ECF but that I need to check the box in section 2 (to explicitly request loan forgiveness). She said the fastest way was via the PSLF ECF navigator on the StudentAid.gov site.

The problem is that it will not permit me to proceed, because I have both the original loans and the consolidated loans listed, and while the consolidation loan is at 121 payments, the original loans are still showing the April 2024 payment count of 113. So it seems like because the navigator picks that up, once I get to the analogous check box, it will not permit to proceed if I click Yes, instead giving the message that "Based on your loan information, you have not been in for at least 10 years and do not yet qualify for PSLF."

The agent then said I could fax or mail the ECF (she said that they cannot fix the web site to address the actual underlying issue), but I am concerned that manual processing would take too long. Is there a way to upload an ECF in PDF directly to the web site? The only way I can see how to do that is to go through the navigator and, at the end, upload the entire Application in word format. But, I am concerned that since I then still have to answer the above question before I get to the final screen where I upload the PDF, that that initial selection of "Not at 120 payments" that I would have to do to proceed to the next screen would invalidate the entire thing (and an agent would not bother to consider that the PDF contradicts the prior question).

So, it does seem that I can either fax or snail mail it? Any other suggestions?

(complaint was about inconsistent June/July/aug months counted for saves, (I was set back 120 to 117) as well as buyback. said 'the lack of communication from Dept of Ed is unacceptable") buyback is sitting at 40 biz days as of today. their response was obliquely somewhat hopeful:

"Per research conducted you currently have an open Borrower Reconsideration case on file. A PSLF Reconsideration case should be completed within 45 business days however because of the number of requests, reconsideration reviews may take some time. We appreciate and thank you for your patience. You will be contacted via email once a decision has been made."

maybe this doesn't say or change much of anything, but perhaps better things are approaching. I am choosing not to worry.

I am trying to download completed ECF forms for my records, but the link on the FSA website to do so is simply a dead link. Is anyone else experiencing this? I thought this had been fixed. Anyone know how to get copies of these completed documents as way to keep records?

Man, I have been trying to reach Mohela since 7am Central time! They finally gave me a call back just now. This is from them exactly: "Please disregard interest accruing forbearance letter sent Dec 2, 2024. This was automatically system generated, your student loans are currently at a 0% interest rate. No interest will be added to your SAVE forbearance."

I also asked about my current forbearance ending. They said before Jan 31 2025, if the federal courts case was still pending about the SAVE Plan, Federal Student Aid would automatically apply another 6 month forbearance to my SAVE student loans.

And while in forbearance if you do need to recertify loans, just proceed to do it via Federal Student Aid and it will be processed after the SAVE forbearance ends.

I hope this information helps someone!

Going for PSLF. Applied for loan consolidation / SAVE in February ‘24 - through all the admin crap was automatically placed on the “standard repayment plan” for some reason, and was on auto-pay per my own choice. I made an “auto-pay” payment in July and was then placed in “paid ahead” status - I wasn’t paying attention and payments were being collected throughout summer / fall 2024. I called and was told I cannot be in forbearance because my account is in “paid ahead” status. So basically I was forced into making payments that won’t qualify for PSLF - so frustrating. After tons (tons) of hours waiting on the phone, I was able to take “paid ahead” status and auto-pay off my account so that they can put me in forbearance. I was told the forbearance takes 5-10 days to process and extends until January 31 2025. The only problem is I have a payment due today - should I just pay it so that my account doesn’t go delinquent ? Or do you trust that Mohela would go back and apply the forbearance for my “late” payment due today since my forbearance was requested / processed today ?

I’ve been in the SAVE plan for a year and just logged in to find I have an overdue payment. Anyone else have this happen? Idk why or what to do? I have several loans all in the SAVe plan on forbearance and only two loans say overdue.

I just realized a job I had 12 years ago qualifies for PSLF. I submitted the electronic signature request for the employment verification but they declined it. I'm asking them why. It was 12 years ago though so it's possible they just can't verify.

What are my other options to get employment verification since it was that long ago? I think I read provide a W2. I'm going to search for W2 but what if I can't find that either?

Getting this approval would put me into the 120 amount.

Just checking to see if there are any other people who received a July 2024 letter from FSA and are still waiting on Mohela to discharge. I’ve called Mohela several time in the past to be told there’s nothing else I need to do and to just wait but now I’m getting worried that this isn’t going to be processed by the new year and something will get stopped by the new administration. My eligible date of forgiveness is 10/2023- my last ECF was processed 1/2024 and most of my loans were already discharged in 4/2024. Anyone else still waiting or know if there’s anything else I can do- I put in an online complaint to FSA and Mohela but I never heard anything back.

Anyone resubmit for re-evaluation? Were you successful? How long did that process take?

I noticed that my payment history has a gap from 4/2009 until 4/2010 with no payments shown during this time period. I have currently 112 payments out of 120 and started a job with my qualifying employer in 8/2009. The payment of 4/2010 qualified with this same employer so months 8,9,10,11,12,1,2, and 3 should have all counted towards PSLF. I submitted a request for reevaluation Nov 18th and they said it would be 45 business days for them to investigate and make a decision.

Just curious if anyone else has been through a similar situation or been successful with reevaluation?

I hit 120 payments a few months ago. Do I need to be on Save Plan now after I was congratulated for hitting the 120’mark?

I am sitting at 15 payments left for PSLF, not including June/July so should be 13

1.) I applied to switch from SAVE to IBR (obv in limbo on that)

2.) I re-certified my employment with the public library I work for (signed electronically by employer anyway)

Is there any other action I can possibly take before the Trump nightmare begins to help me reach my forgiveness when I’m supposed to?

It said on the MOHELA website that my income recertification was due on October 31. I submitted it on the MOHELA website and a few days later I received a message that said my recertification date had been pushed out to next year. A MOHELA rep also said that they wouldn’t be processing my income recert app because they were on a processing pause. However, the other day I received a message in my account that they had received my ICR application and are placing me in an administrative forbearance due to a processing delay. The problem is, the administrative forbearance allows interest to accrue. From my understanding, they should have left me in the SAVE forbearance because my recertification date had been pushed out, correct? Is there anyway to get them to put me back into the SAVE forbearance? And on another note, would this month of administrative forbearance count toward PSLF?

I had posted on here earlier that I had called and cancelled my loan payment recalculation application and was told that my PAYE IDR wouldn’t go into forbearance by Mohela. And was told that my payments would stay as scheduled. Well I just checked and it now say $0 for loan payment 12/9. Now what?

Hello!

I was placed on administrative forbearance by MOHELA for two months this summer during the website transfer. I've seen reports of people speaking to MOHELA on the phone, some of whom said that those months of admin forbearance WILL count toward PSLF. Has anyone had their PSLF form recently certified that proves in black and white that the months of MOHELA website transfer forbearance did or did not count toward their 120 payments?

My specific background: I'm 119 months into an IBR plan (I never opted into SAVE). I sent in a PSLF form three months ago to see if those two months of forbearance were going to be included in my updated official count, and I've not yet heard back. I was hoping to have this info before submitting my final(?) form after my #120 later this month.

Thanks for any help! I'm sure this has been answered before, but sorting through the different caveats to find something that directly answers this question gets stressful and tiring.

September through now (December) don't exist in my FSA account. Does anyone know if these months will be eligible for buyback? I'm assuming not, if they don't exist, but am wondering if anyone has called and asked.

After a terrible experience with a MOHELA phone rep yesterday I don't feel like spending hours on the phone today to be fed misinformation and be hung up on again.

To those of us who got to 120 as part of the 11/11 group, have any of you received a letter or actual forgiveness?

At a loss as what to do. I have the congrats banner. I received letters saying approved and it will receive forgiveness. It has been over 5 months now and still waiting. Phone calls don’t help. Complaints don’t help. It’s so discouraging

I do not expect help and I ask from pure curiosity. What's the vibe over there at ED? Does anyone have a sense of what they are prioritizing, if anything, right now? Is it a noble scramble to see what they can get done, or are they resigned to riding out the clock?

I was looking through the Mohela site and I cannot find the option for PSLF Employment Verification under the Upload option. Am I missing something? Do we have to submit it on Studentaid now?

This month is payment 120 for two of my loans. The rest of my loans still have another 2-3 months left. If I do an ECF to start the process of cancelling the two eligible loans, will FSA recalculate my eligibility for PAYE based on my new amount of debt? I'm concerned that if enough debt is cancelled, that it could lower my debt to income ratio used to determine a partial financial hardship and then I would be removed from PAYE for my remaining months. Or, do they only recalculate the partial financial hardship when I recertify my income?

That was supposedly our way to still get PSLF despite the ongoing litigation.

And if nobody has, why did Ed even say for us to try?

I have reached 120 eligible and qualified payments and the PSLF website says “congratulations you have satisfied your obligation and no additional payments are required for this loan”, but my loan servicer website (AidVantage) says my loan satus is “Awaiting Documentaion - Administrative Foreberanve” . I have already requested forgiveness. Do I just wait? Anyone know how long it takes once you have submitted everything and hit your 120th payment?

For a pay ahead lump sum do we choose auto allocation for mohela ? I’m worried they are going to mess it up, really need this payment to be pay ahead.

I received my letter on October 4, but I still have not been discharged. I’ve seen other posts where people who also got a letter on 10 four ended up with their $0 balance. Just wondering if there are other others who still have a balance on their loans and received a letter at the same time I did)

I remember reading that this would be done in December

I commissioned as an officer in May (years ago, for what it’s worth) and began active duty in September (same year). Up until this point I’ve put my begin date in September on all my employee verification forms not even thinking to ask the question. May-August I was on “EAD” status (I don’t even understand the implications of that, if any)…but I never went to work or put on the uniform. Sounds to me like less than “full time”…but I was actively employed and receiving certain full time benefits (i.e. insurance — not pay).

Looking at a glossary online I see that “EAD” (extended active duty) is “an active duty status other than active duty for training or temporary tours of active duty. Personnel in EAD are assigned to an active duty unit, and accountability is against active force strength.”

Can I include May-August on my employee verification? Anyone have experience here?