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Post by medinadodger on Jul 8, 2021 18:57:05 GMT -5
www.forbes.com/sites/adamminsky/2021/07/08/huge-student-loan-servicing-shakeup-this-major-loan-servicer-is-ending-its-contract/Huge Student Loan Servicing Shakeup: This Major Loan Servicer Is Ending Its Contract A major student loan servicing shakeup is in the works as one of the Department of Education’s primary student loan servicers seeks to exit the business. The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Authority (PHEAA), which operates FedLoan Servicing, has informed its employees that it plans to end its federal student loan servicing activities when its contract with the Department ends this December. The contract was originally supposed to end in 2019, but was extended several times, and PHEAA will not accept another extension or seek renewal. The news was first reported by PennLive and Politico. PHEAA and FedLoan Servicing have been accused of widespread mismanagement of federal student loans. As the primary servicer designated by the Department of Education to manage key federal student loan programs like Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) and TEACH Grants, the servicer has been scrutinized for what critics say are deep, systematic problems.
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Post by christina on Jul 10, 2021 8:44:02 GMT -5
www.forbes.com/sites/adamminsky/2021/07/08/huge-student-loan-servicing-shakeup-this-major-loan-servicer-is-ending-its-contract/Huge Student Loan Servicing Shakeup: This Major Loan Servicer Is Ending Its Contract A major student loan servicing shakeup is in the works as one of the Department of Education’s primary student loan servicers seeks to exit the business. The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Authority (PHEAA), which operates FedLoan Servicing, has informed its employees that it plans to end its federal student loan servicing activities when its contract with the Department ends this December. The contract was originally supposed to end in 2019, but was extended several times, and PHEAA will not accept another extension or seek renewal. The news was first reported by PennLive and Politico. PHEAA and FedLoan Servicing have been accused of widespread mismanagement of federal student loans. As the primary servicer designated by the Department of Education to manage key federal student loan programs like Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) and TEACH Grants, the servicer has been scrutinized for what critics say are deep, systematic problems. Wow I assume that means they will have major layoffs when the K ends |
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Post by Pixie on Oct 6, 2021 10:23:10 GMT -5
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Post by intothewild on Oct 6, 2021 10:55:53 GMT -5
I saw this today as well. I still find that site somewhat confusing. I am looking forward to their promise of making the application process a bit more streamlined. |
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cielo
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Post by cielo on Oct 6, 2021 11:00:12 GMT -5
It is still confusing. However, if you have student loans that are not direct loans, they must be consolidated into Direct Loans by Oct. 31, 2021, to be considered for this updated PSLF. I'm sitting on hold with Federal Student Loans now. I'll post if they clarify any information.
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Post by stevil on Oct 6, 2021 11:06:27 GMT -5
Amazing what power 60 Minutes has still! Hopefully, all the promises will be kept.
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Post by ba on Oct 6, 2021 11:37:37 GMT -5
Amazing what power 60 Minutes has still! Hopefully, all the promises will be kept. DOE had comments solicited well before 60 Minutes had a story. Post hoc ergo proctor hoc is rarely correct. |
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Post by stevil on Oct 6, 2021 12:44:58 GMT -5
And what did they do with the comments before it became a public story? \\
Anyway ba, what is that - ancient Greek? I didn't go to no Ivy league school!
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Post by nylawyer on Oct 6, 2021 13:19:36 GMT -5
This rock keeps away bears.
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Post by Burt Macklin on Oct 6, 2021 15:20:19 GMT -5
This rock keeps away bears. Lisa’s rock helped keep away tigers, not bears. The Bear Patrol handled the bears after all. |
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Post by ba on Oct 6, 2021 15:21:20 GMT -5
And what did they do with the comments before it became a public story? \\ Anyway ba, what is that - ancient Greek? I didn't go to no Ivy league school! The 30,000 comments were what led to what you see today. Post hoc ergo proctor hoc = after it therefore because of it. HTH. |
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Post by nylawyer on Oct 6, 2021 16:40:26 GMT -5
This rock keeps away bears. Lisa’s rock helped keep away tigers, not bears. The Bear Patrol handled the bears after all. Let the bears pay the bear tax. I pay the Homer tax. |
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Post by nappyloxs on Oct 6, 2021 22:21:18 GMT -5
It is still confusing. However, if you have student loans that are not direct loans, they must be consolidated into Direct Loans by Oct. 31, 2021, to be considered for this updated PSLF. I'm sitting on hold with Federal Student Loans now. I'll post if they clarify any information. October 31, 2022. The waiver will run through October 31, 2022. That means borrowers who need to consolidate will have to submit a consolidation application by that date. Similarly, borrowers will need to submit a PSLF form—the single application used for a review of employment certification, payment counts, and processing of forgiveness—on or before October 31, 2022 to have previously ineligible payments counted. The Department recommends borrowers take this action through the online PSLF Help Tool, which is available at StudentAid.gov/PSLF. I will be applying for the waiver and consolidating this month. I am over my 10 years so hopefully it will process quickly. I am glad DOE acknowledged the screw up and confusion when PSLF was first implemented. Now I need to find the PSLF info on the intranet. |
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Post by Topperlaw on Oct 7, 2021 7:36:00 GMT -5
Could someone please let me know if they think that I have this correct. I have been a) paying the wrong loan amount for the past 14 years since PSFL started. I've only been paying $265 a month because that's what I could afford 18 years ago when I started working for the federal government; and b) I've been in the wrong type of loan. I have a Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL). (For the first 7 years of the PSFL program I thought I was making qualifying payments. At that point someone FINALLY informed me that my payments weren't qualifying and that if I did make qualifying payments, I'd have already paid the loan off within 10 years anyway) So now with this waiver, I just consolidate back to a Direct Loan and all 10 years of payments in the past will count as qualifying payments and they're going to pay off the remaining balance on my loan as soon as I consolidate and complete the form certifying 10 years of payments and 10 years of federal work?  ? |
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cielo
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Post by cielo on Oct 7, 2021 8:57:28 GMT -5
Could someone please let me know if they think that I have this correct. I have been a) paying the wrong loan amount for the past 14 years since PSFL started. I've only been paying $265 a month because that's what I could afford 18 years ago when I started working for the federal government; and b) I've been in the wrong type of loan. I have a Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL). (For the first 7 years of the PSFL program I thought I was making qualifying payments. At that point someone FINALLY informed me that my payments weren't qualifying and that if I did make qualifying payments, I'd have already paid the loan off within 10 years anyway) So now with this waiver, I just consolidate back to a Direct Loan and all 10 years of payments in the past will count as qualifying payments and they're going to pay off the remaining balance on my loan as soon as I consolidate and complete the form certifying 10 years of payments and 10 years of federal work? ? This is my understanding and I am in a similar situation. I never applied for the PSLF program because the monthly payment was way too high and I would have them paid off in a few years with nothing left to forgive. I called yesterday and the operators had no information beyond what was announced in the news. On the studentaid.gov website, there is a section about this forgiveness and a PSLF form to complete. They will certify your employment and go through all of your payments to determine what was a qualifying payment. They will then let you know if you've met the 10 years or how many qualifying payments are left. It seems like many more people may qualify under these updated changes, so there may be a long wait. One interesting thing is that if you already have a direct loan, this time period of forbearance counts toward qualifying payments even if you have not made a payment in the past 1.5 years. The operator told me this info and I am hoping it is true! Also, if you need to consolidate to a direct loan, it must be done by Oct. 31st. Good luck to all of us and may the odds ever be in our favor!! |
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Post by intothewild on Oct 7, 2021 9:26:03 GMT -5
Could someone please let me know if they think that I have this correct. I have been a) paying the wrong loan amount for the past 14 years since PSFL started. I've only been paying $265 a month because that's what I could afford 18 years ago when I started working for the federal government; and b) I've been in the wrong type of loan. I have a Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL). (For the first 7 years of the PSFL program I thought I was making qualifying payments. At that point someone FINALLY informed me that my payments weren't qualifying and that if I did make qualifying payments, I'd have already paid the loan off within 10 years anyway) So now with this waiver, I just consolidate back to a Direct Loan and all 10 years of payments in the past will count as qualifying payments and they're going to pay off the remaining balance on my loan as soon as I consolidate and complete the form certifying 10 years of payments and 10 years of federal work? ? This is my understanding and I am in a similar situation. I never applied for the PSLF program because the monthly payment was way too high and I would have them paid off in a few years with nothing left to forgive. I called yesterday and the operators had no information beyond what was announced in the news. On the studentaid.gov website, there is a section about this forgiveness and a PSLF form to complete. They will certify your employment and go through all of your payments to determine what was a qualifying payment. They will then let you know if you've met the 10 years or how many qualifying payments are left. It seems like many more people may qualify under these updated changes, so there may be a long wait. One interesting thing is that if you already have a direct loan, this time period of forbearance counts toward qualifying payments even if you have not made a payment in the past 1.5 years. The operator told me this info and I am hoping it is true! Also, if you need to consolidate to a direct loan, it must be done by Oct. 31st. Good luck to all of us and may the odds ever be in our favor!! I never applied for PSLF, but my federal loans were all consolidated with one servicer. It sounds like if your in that type of situation you need to consolidate again with direct loans? Anyone with ten years of qualifying public service “should just” automatically qualify. 🤷🏻♂️ |
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cielo
Full Member
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Post by cielo on Oct 7, 2021 13:01:01 GMT -5
Yes, if you have consolidated loans with another servicer, you need to consolidate with a direct loan. I did this earlier this year to take advantage of the 0% interest.
I agree with your statement that if you have 10 years of public service, they should just be forgiven. It'll be interesting to see how many people with actually receive forgiveness with this updated process.
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Post by intothewild on Oct 7, 2021 13:05:16 GMT -5
Yes, if you have consolidated loans with another servicer, you need to consolidate with a direct loan. I did this earlier this year to take advantage of the 0% interest. I agree with your statement that if you have 10 years of public service, they should just be forgiven. It'll be interesting to see how many people with actually receive forgiveness with this updated process. Yes and that is just frustrating. |
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cielo
Full Member
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Post by cielo on Oct 7, 2021 14:07:28 GMT -5
My bad--The loans must be consolidated into direct loans by Oct. 31, 2022. I'm in the wrong year, so there's time to consolidate.
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Post by marathon on Oct 7, 2021 20:04:17 GMT -5
Could someone please let me know if they think that I have this correct. I have been a) paying the wrong loan amount for the past 14 years since PSFL started. I've only been paying $265 a month because that's what I could afford 18 years ago when I started working for the federal government; and b) I've been in the wrong type of loan. I have a Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL). (For the first 7 years of the PSFL program I thought I was making qualifying payments. At that point someone FINALLY informed me that my payments weren't qualifying and that if I did make qualifying payments, I'd have already paid the loan off within 10 years anyway) So now with this waiver, I just consolidate back to a Direct Loan and all 10 years of payments in the past will count as qualifying payments and they're going to pay off the remaining balance on my loan as soon as I consolidate and complete the form certifying 10 years of payments and 10 years of federal work? ? This is my understanding and I am in a similar situation. I never applied for the PSLF program because the monthly payment was way too high and I would have them paid off in a few years with nothing left to forgive. I called yesterday and the operators had no information beyond what was announced in the news. On the studentaid.gov website, there is a section about this forgiveness and a PSLF form to complete. They will certify your employment and go through all of your payments to determine what was a qualifying payment. They will then let you know if you've met the 10 years or how many qualifying payments are left. It seems like many more people may qualify under these updated changes, so there may be a long wait. One interesting thing is that if you already have a direct loan, this time period of forbearance counts toward qualifying payments even if you have not made a payment in the past 1.5 years. The operator told me this info and I am hoping it is true! Also, if you need to consolidate to a direct loan, it must be done by Oct. 31st. Good luck to all of us and may the odds ever be in our favor!! This is me too. My fear is that I consolidate and they go “oops, not for you even though you have a FFEL loan,” or worse, I’m required to make the new consolidated loan payment in the many months while they are processing the forgiveness, which results in my payment doubling. My husband is in the same boat. We both have 15 + years with the govt and doubling both our monthly loan payments would bankrupt us. |
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