Maybe reddit will be more helpful to me than my university. I graduated University of Montana in May of 2024 from a graduate program. In August 2024 I enrolled in a community college but in a non-degree program so I don't think that that would affect my in-school status on my loans. Despite the 6-month grace period already passing I have not been able to pay my loans because they show in-school status. I contacted MOHELA and they said that the university had to update the nslds. Considering I got the loan from financial aid, I contacted the financial aid department who gave me a lot of runaround and told me they can't help and to go to the registrar's office. who just emailed me back sending me to the financial aid office. Before I fly back to Montana and burn the place down, does anyone have any advice for it dealing with this situation? I want to paying for PSLF but can't until I start making qualifying payments. to

So I finally found a way to submit my IBR application and payment stub to my loan servicer. However, they only sent an email saying they received it but nothing about my payment stub. Even though I submitted it at least twice. Furthermore, nothing on my page has changed and it still shows me as owing $600+

How do I know it will go through? When can I expect to see a change to my account? (I make like $850 a month currently)

Hey all! Obviously I know things are a shit show and subject to change on a minutes notice. But as it stands now, my wife and I both have student loans. She makes significantly less than me, and is PSLF eligible. Considering doing Married Filing Separately so that the payments can be based on her income alone.

Wondering -- is this sort of a once a year decision? As in, if we decide to file jointly when we do our taxes next month, are we stuck in that joint income for IDR/ICR/etc. payments until we file next year?

Hello, when I was 20 or so ( 12-14 years ago)I didn’t take college seriously and took and didn’t complete quite a few classes (10+)bringing my class completion rate to something insane like 40% and I lost the ability to get fafsa and just quit college.

Now at 34 I would like to go to school for accounting again and I applied for fafsa and got an sai of -1500 meaning I get grants.

Will this previous horrible pass rate still require me to take a bunch of classes out of pocket to get my pass rate up to 67% again before I can actually get grants or loans or has it been long enough where It resets and I just qualify again?

I have an appointment at the school Monday morning but just wanted to get any advice before hand so I know what I’m walking into. Thanks all

Hey all - does anyone know if we are able to/should recertify our income if we are in SAVE forbearance? Would doing this affect the forbearance?

Thanks for your input!

Nelnet keeps telling me I can apply 90 days prior to the end of my grace-period. My grace period ends 05/03/2025, with a $986 bill due right after. I can't afford that.

Will I go automatically into SAVE forbearance? Other than my letters from Nelnet confirming my would-be payments if SAVE wasn't in limbo, I don't know how to check again if I am still on the SAVE.

All my loans are direct loans. My undergrad loans have been consolidated into an IDR plan since 2017. I am about to graduate from my graduate program and want to consolidate them into an IDR plan. My ultimate goal is to seek forgiveness at the end of the IDR term for all loans. Considering that my undergrad loans have been consolidated and have had nearly 10 years of qualifying payments I do not want to reset that count. Would I be able to keep those loans in the PAYE plan they have been in, and put my graduate loans in a SAVE plan when I gradaute? Or would all loans need to be consolidated into the SAVE plan? If it is the latter, would that restart my qualifying payment count?

I just got a formal response as to why my undergrad SAVE loans weren't forgiven at 20 years and one month; they "ACCIDENTALLY had them flagged as graduate loans, not undergrad". I call absolute BS on this, this was intentional.

Anyone have any petty advice on what I should do next? Is this lawsuit time?

I’m so confused. I haven’t had to make a payment in a few months because of the block on the Save plan. Has anyone heard anything of when payments are restarting? Mohela has been silent 🥲

Wife has $31,000 in student loans, and they fell off credit report after a mix of Covid pause plus her not paying the loans for 5 years prior to Covid. Enrolled in Fresh Start and loans transferred to Nelnet and first payment coming due end of February. Seems like the payment plan they put her in basically just covers the interest each month.

We plan to apply for a home mortgage this year for a primary residence, about $600k. I have the cash on hand for 20% down payment.

Trying to find the best strategy in regards to paying the loan payments, it's impact on her/our credit, as that could be huge in determining getting approved for a mortgage and the rates offered.

I have 800 credit with lots of history and accounts, wife has 750 with very few accounts and limited history.

I am unsure if once the loans come back on her credit report it will have the past history of missed payments which would negatively effect credit. Doubt they would but would like to know for sure before resuming payments.

Do I resume automatic payments at an amount more than the minimum due in order to start to pay down principle? Do I pay the minimum each month to not accrue more and pray in 4 years a new administration will find a way to waive the balance? Do I take $31k from our house down payment savings to just pay off these damn loans once and for all? Looking for advice from anyone who knows about strategizing for this. Thanks!!

I'm wondering if anyone has had success with Borrower Defense forgiveness on a loan from that long ago. I graduated with honors and never once found a job with that degree.

Submitted my IDR application to Edfinancial 12/24 (I make ~10k a year) and my loans were put back into a grace period while the application was processed. Only... I never heard back from them in any way, no confirmation of whether it was accepted/rejected/etc.

Today I got an email stating my statement is now available, and it's saying my monthly payment due at the end of Feb is more or less the same as before I submitted (ironically about 80 cents more than it was before!)

So, what gives, basically? Was I rejected? I never got a message saying as much, what I got today is a typical "monthly balance owed email." Obviously I'm gonna call/email, but like, what? What else can I do here? I can't afford this.

So, a while back, Advantage was taking my extra payments and applying them to the interest payments at the end of my loans. I called them out. They supposedly straightened it, and then a couple of months later, they took the extra money and applied it to the interest for the following month's loan. Repeated the process and said that that money was supposed to go towards the principal. They told me that was not in my original loan. I told him it was because these loans were originally privately held right around 2006 before the federal government kicked out private banks. So they finally gave in, and I had one month's extra payment towards the principal. We're back at taking my extra money and putting it towards interest. What happens when I call them up? They tell me that if I make an overpayment, it's got to go to fees, etc, before it can go to any sort of principal. I tell them to look at their screen cuz that's not the case. There are no fees or outstanding balances of interest, but they end up giving me the runaround every time. One of my loans is pretty tiny, just about $4,000, so I'm saving up money to try to simply pay that loan off. I want the federal government out of my life as much as possible. These people are liars and cheats. At this point I'm thinking about just making payments without one extra penny. They get the exact amount that's on each month's billing statement.

6 semesters➡️$18,000

😭😭😭 I am now to the point of avoiding even looking because I can’t even stomach it.

I also have about 3 years left in school…

Last November I submitted my electronic application with FSA to switch from SAVE to IBR (old). Yesterday, Mohela sent me this denial excuse: "Direct Consolidation Loans disbursed prior to July 1, 2006, that include a Direct or Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Parent PLUS Loan are ineligible for an income-driven repayment plan."

There are so many things wrong with this excuse. I NEVER had a Parent Plus Loan. I'm not a parent - I couldn't qualify for a Parent Plus Loan if I wanted to! Also I do qualify for an IDR and am currently in the SAVE plan. I was on IBR with Mohela 2015-2023, then SAVE 2023-now. I have the same low and qualifying income I've had for the last 10 years.

My IDR payment count adjustment is 301 and I can't help thinking that Mohela is trying a last desperate attempt to squeeze me for more money.

Hey everyone,

I was going to pay my student loans today when I noticed they’re in forbearance when I did not ask for it. They are through Aidvantage. Does anyone have any idea why that is?

Title sets up the situation. When SAVE was stopped, mohela put me on the standard plan instead of back on REPAYE/PAYE. I have a lot of loans, I’m employed by a non-profit in my field. I can’t afford $5686 per month (that’s more than my take-home pay by more than $1000). My application for IBR is pending. My payment is due on February 26. The calculator says I’m not eligible for PAYE/REPAYE because I’m not on those plans, but that’s not my fault, I was switched from REPAYE to SAVE. And I thought that was reopened anyway, but if it is not I guess this post is mute?

I’m currently on the phone waiting to defer payments again. Having to do this repeatedly when THEY are the ones who put me on the stupid standard plan is maddening. Like at the very least I thought they were supposed to default to the lowest monthly payment!?! I swear that was what the applications have said if you select “let my servicer choose the best plan for me”. I want to start payments but I can’t because they have been processing this for months.

I just received my first collections letter ever for two private loans that I stopped paying in 2020. The total is around 60K. The statute of limitations in the state I live in is, 6 years so it's funny they are starting to send me collections letters right before the 6 year mark (not really funny...) does anyone have any advice on how to move forward? I have just been laid off, and am married. My husband didn't put my name on our house deed on purpose so no one could come for the house if this happened. I am going through IVF treatments and am trying to have a baby at almost the age of 40. I know I messed up but my college closed years ago and isn't even a college anymore. I feel like my degree is null and void. Looking for any and all advice. TIA

Holy hell

Edit: got through after 8 hours, extended my interest, free forbearance for 60 more days

Today I got a notification from MOHELA that repayment is coming due on a student loan next week.

I’m in my first year of grad school, currently enrolled and taking a full course load. I got in-school deferment in October on my loans and have MOHELA’s confirmation of that. Even weirder, my loan info page states that my loan is on in school deferment. But they’re telling me my due date is next week.

I tried emailing and have been on hold with MOHELA for half the afternoon. Does anyone know how to fix this online or if there is something else I can do to get them to actually understand that I have an in school deferment??

So I’m enrolling in the College of Court Reporting for Stenography and I need to purchase my own materials separately. The machine is probably going to be 500 and the program it runs on is 400. Factor in expedited shipping because arguing with the VA (ch 35) is a mess and I got some bad info that made me wait that’s roughly 1,000.

I already filled out the FAFSA and everything says I’ve got to do that to file for a subsidized loan. I’m pretty sure I’m just confused about something so I figured Reddit might be helpful.

Additional info, I’m a military dependent of a deceased family member and I use the Pell.

In April (I think- whenever Biden said we should for the one time adjustment), I consolidated my loans and applied for SAVE. before I consolidated, I was on SAVE.

My application to consolidate went through, but my payment plan application was pending when all the SAVE litigation started. I called Mohela and they put me on a 60 day forbearance “with interest” which I renewed 3x. To renew, I have to call at the end of the forbearance and ask them to renew it. For context, the standard payment is nearly $300 more than I was paying under SAVE and I literally cannot afford it.

During this whole time period, I’m getting emails from Mohela saying that I will be placed in another type of forbearance (I forget what it is called) as directed by the department of education with 0% interest. But I never am. That said, when I look at my loan history, it looks like I haven’t accrued any interest during these months.

Anyways, my 60 days are up tomorrow, and Mohela is showing I have a payment due. I called yday and got disconnected after 3 hours on hold. I called today and there was a “call back” option for 5 hours and 40 min later. Well, it’s been 7.5 hours now and I haven’t received a call back.

I’m so upset and confused. I would have never consolidated. I cannot afford this payment at all, but don’t want to destroy my credit. I can’t reach anyone. This post is a desperate attempt for some answers! Thank you all

Howdy, so. Essentially I'm trying to get myself a student loan but I don't have anyone to be a cosigner for me, which means I've been hitting a wall. I was wondering if anyone knew of a place I could apply to? I already got rejected from Sallie Mae

So I got a notice stating that I have to do exit counseling, but it says that it only applies to those graduating or that are now enrolled halftime. I had to drop a class for this spring semester but I’m still taking 12 credit hours which is still considered a full time student?

So what’s up with that?

Currently only have 1 $7k loan that qualifies for an IDR plan. $70k balance that includes mix of direct, subsidized and unsubsidized loans. Should I consolidate that balance into 1 loan to make it qualify for an IDR plan. I also will be starting a job where I qualify for PSLF. What should I do?

Hi!
Just another person highly confused about what to do with my student loan repayments.

I get public service loan forgiveness for working in a non profit hospital. It is my understanding that I have to make 120 qualifying payments over ten years in order to get my loans forgiven through this program.

Starting out I had the SAVE program repayment plan + PSLF which put my monthly loans at $28 (great!!). My loans have been in and out of forbearance throughout the last 2-3 years and now are stuck in forbearance mode with the administration freezing the SAVE plan. I have only made 13 qualifying payments out of 120 needed for PSLF to forgive my loans.

Now.. I am at a crossroads. I am 99.5% sure I will remain working for a nonprofit for the bulk of my career. Not 1000% sure if I would stay full time as I look to start a family within the next few years. I am trying to decide on the best repayment plan. I recently bought a new car operating on the thought that I had $28 loan payments and NOT several hundred dollar payments, and currently have other financials that are making my budget feel a bit tight. Do I...

1. Stay on the SAVE plan and wait with everyone else until Fall 2025 when we will get more info? During this time I accrue no interest on my loans BUT I also am making zero qualifying payments toward my PSLF. So if there were a finite time that I would be working at a non profit hospital, this is essentially just adding months/years onto the time I would have to stay working for one until PSLF will forgive my loans.

OR

2. Do I change to the PAYE income driven repayment plan which is currently a $353/mo payment (and expected to hit a ceiling of $645. This will allow me to make qualifying payments towards my PSLF, but obviously increase my monthly bills quite a bit.

OR

3. Any other viable options?

Forgive me if this has been addressed in other threads. I’m wondering if I can recertify through studentaid.gov or if it has to be through my servicer. I think I remember doing the recertification through student aid last year, and I also got an email from USED with a link to do auto recertification. All feedback is welcome. Thanks.

As it stands, I graduated from college in May while SAVE plan was in litigation. I was unable to submit an IDR application right away because my account status was not updated as “graduated” and then FSA.gov stopped all online IDR application processing. Once they opened back up in September/October, I applied for both consolidation and to be enrolled in the SAVE plan. Eventually, my loans were consolidated and I was moved over to MOHELA. However, around late-December, I got a letter in the mail stating that I would be starting payments on the standard repayment process. After this, I re-submitted my IDR application for the SAVE plan. However, just today I received a letter saying I am now past-due $1600 with another upcoming payment coming up. I am currently trying to get in contact with someone at MOHELA but the current wait time to talk to someone is 4hrs. Does anyone have any advice on how to handle this? I am certainly not paying that as I don’t even make that much biweekly.

I didn’t know if this flair was for giving or receiving advice.

So apparently I took a loan out to pay for college back in 2020. I didn’t know anything about it and my parents didn’t either (I was the first to go to college.) I ended up taking out a $5k loan and now owe like $6k. I don’t make much money. I called to ask the school about it and they just told me I had 24-48 hours to reply to the email or it would automatically be added to my account. They said they did this because my financial aid didn’t cover the full term of fall and spring. Which I never replied to the email but still got the loan. I thought financial aid was covering it 😅. Is there anything I could do to help with this bill?

In the VA EDRP program, and recently finished up a service period with completion of the annual review. Wondering how long it took for you to get the check deposited to anyone once the funds were confirmed to have been sent?